CHARLIE EDWARD – Let Me Go (2025) + First Demo

Meet the 20-Year-Old Guitar Hero discovered onstage at Canadian Music Week: after a chance encounter playing in someone else’s band, CHARLIE EDWARD is now working with some major names in the rock music industry.

Many artists playing industry music events dream of getting discovered onstage at their festival showcase. For Charlie Edward, he got discovered at somebody else’s. Edward was a hired gun for a local band at Canadian Music Week (CMW) 2022, but he was the one who caught Festival Director Andrew Valle’s eye that night.
After watching the young musician sing backup vocals and shred on his blue Strat, Valle approached the band’s manager and asked “Who’s the guitar player?” – The manager brushed it off. Edward was the only one who wasn’t an official member of the group.
Let’s get one thing straight, this kid was made for rock ‘n’ roll. Charlie Edward first made his debut in 2024 with an explosive single featuring a Grammy award winning group of Canadian producers and musicians. Since then, he has spent his time travelling North America and sharing the stage with acts such as Stone Temple Pilots, Greta Van Fleet, and Mötley Crüe.
”Let Me Go” is Charlie Edward debut EP, a classic rock n’ roll collection of songs with a 70s / ’80s Melodic Rock inspiration. And in exclusive, we have his unreleased pro-demo recorded before with Kid Rock guitarist Marlon Young along with producers Al Sutton & Herschel Boone — the team who discovered and developed fellow classic rock revivalists Greta Van Fleet.

Before his impressive first single last year, Charlie had already been making significant waves in the industry, performing at renowned venues like Toronto’s Massey Hall and collaborating with some of rock’s biggest names. His unwavering dedication combined with his charisma and commanding stage presence, establishes him as a true powerhouse in a time when the world is starving for authentic talent.
“There is a bit of a rock resurgence happening right now, but unfortunately you do still have to look for it,” Edward says. “When I was just a teenager, I didn’t really have that community. So if there’s any chance to bring back rock & roll in its dirtiest and realest and nastiest sense, I want to be that guy. “

After the Canadian Music Week, Valle found him again at a show at the Horseshoe Tavern a couple of months later, and this time he was ready. He signed on as Edward’s manager as part of LOFT Entertainment, a company led by Canadian music industry mogul Randy Lennox. He also set them up with three agents from Paquin Artists Agency (Ralph James, Jason Furman & Mike Graham).
All are big industry names, but Edward didn’t feel out of place. “These are a lot of the people who put out the music I loved when I was a kid,” he says. “So it feels natural. It’s in my DNA.”

For a 20-year-old just starting to record his own music, Edward has been in the same room with a lot of his rock heroes. When he was a teenager, spent time recording his demo with Guns N’ Roses’ Steven Adler and Foreigner’s Jeff Pilson. He recorded a three-song EP in Detroit with Kid Rock guitarist Marlon Young along, produced by Al Sutton and Herschel Boone. All these tracks are added here by .

His songs are heavily influenced by ‘70s and ‘80s hard rock, with lyrics taken from his own experiences — no metaphors. Charlie also does a slow-burning cover of the country-tinged acoustic ballad “Simple Things” by up-and-coming songwriter Teddy Swims (who debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 last summer).
As of right now, though, if you want to hear Edward’s music it’s mostly on stage. He was handed his first guitar as a four-year-old at his parents’ wedding and he says he was on tour the day he graduated high school. His parents are both musicians, and so he was dreaming of rock stardom for as long as he can remember. “I was in kindergarten fantasizing about getting to go and play some big shows,” he says.

In the last year, Edward got the chance to play at some prestigious events with legends of Canadian music. He returned to play the Canadian Live Music Awards at last year’s CMW, then the Canada’s Rock of Fame event at Massey Hall.
Slightly hungover from a late night at the hotel bar with Mike Reno of Loverboy, he joined Big Sugar’s Gordie Johnson to riff and solo as heavy as he wanted in tribute to rock heroes Prism, Max Webster and Geddy Lee from Rush.
Now that he’s been in the right rooms, his 2025 goal is to play live. A lot. “I think 200 shows is pretty admirable, no matter how old or how young you are,” he says. “I’d like to do that.”
Highly Recommended

 

01 – Bad Looks Good
02 – Are You Happy Now?
03 – Reckless Lovers
04 – Simple Things
05 – Let Me Go
06 – Addicted To You (Bad Looks Good early version)
07 – Are You Happy Now (Demo version)
08 – Sweet September (Demo – Unreleased)
09 – Let Me Go (Demo version)
10 – Reckless Lovers (Demo version)
11 – Simple Things (Demo version)

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