Charles Title

Charles Earl Title (born April 5, 1940, St. Louis, Missouri) is a prolific composer, lyricist and performer of what is known as industrial music and industrial musicals. Active from the late 1960s until early in the 21st century, he wrote music for many corporate clients including General Electric, International Harvester, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, White Farm Equipment. One of his more well known pieces, "The Eight Seasons of Chromalox," can be found on various internet radio sites but like most music written for this purpose, LP, tape and cd copies are extremely hard to find. For the most part his works were relegated to the eyes and ears of the business world but occasionally he was commissioned to write for broader public audiences such as his work for the Lutheran Church ("The Purple Puzzle Tree"), Minnesota Tourism Board ("Minnesota Overtures") and the United Way ("Love makes the difference"). Occasionally he was also hired to write commercial jingles for radio and television ads. As the creative mind that business big wigs would come to when they needed a theatrical way of rallying the sales force, rolling out a new product or celebrating a great year, Charles Title and his company "Titlesong" was tasked with concepting, writing, recording, staging and sometimes performing in these events. And events they were. In the heyday of corporate theater, companies spared no expense, sometimes spending the same amount as broadway productions. The staging of these musicals was often a mixture of audio visual (automated multi projector slide shows set to music), live speakers, dancers, singers and musicians all performing intricately scripted and choreographed sequences. Most often these shows were performed over a number of nights during a companies annual meeting, but some that were only audio visual shows were installed into theaters within a company's headquarters. A/V was king in the 1970s but gradually gave way to video in the 1980s and the nature of corporate theater changed. In the late 1990s as technology and tastes evolved and business balance sheets favored less discretionary spending, the era of the industrial musical came to an end. For Charles Title his writing and creative skills were still in demand but writing original music became less a part of what he did. Besides writing for commercial clients, Charles Title also wrote musicals and songs for himself. One of which, "Isn't it Amazing" ranks with "All you need is Love" by the Beatles, "Do you Realize" by the Flaming Lips and Louis Armstrong's version of "What a Wonderful World", as one of the most life affirming songs ever written. He exhibits in his personal work a lyrical style and melodic sense that might have made him successful as a popular artist but, in his own words:

"I was a 'commercial' artist. Much as I would have liked to have been a true 'creative' artist it wasn't in me to do the things necessary to be one. I always wanted a family and like my father it was important to me I be a good provider for that family. Being a "commercial" artist, whether as a graphic illustrator, a copywriter or a songwriter, seemed to me a perfect match for my talent and temperament. But, as my father once said, I got lucky; my career managed to parallel a fantastic creative age, one that seemed to prize what I had to offer. Also, I got to work and play, collaborate and grow with a lot of very talented people, all of whom influenced my progress along the way."

Charles Title retired in 2004 but continues to write and perform. He lives in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.