Charin Mendes

Charin Mendis or Mendes (Sinhala: Help:Sinhala Font Guide/; born December 1986), is a Sri Lankan singer-songwriter, musician, producer, audio engineer, and entrepreneur. He was the lead singer of the band ‘JADA’. In 2016, he signed with Universal Arts United Kingdom and released his original "Curls". In 2017, he signed with EIQ Records. His first single “About Us” was released in March 2018. In April 2019, he premiered one of four songs “Satellites”, which featured Brian McKnight Jr. of the Brian McKnight
. His first Sinhala language|Sinhalese language single “Aalakam”, was released in August 2020.
== Early life ==
Charin began his education at St. Peter's College, Colombo|St. Peter’s College, Colombo. He later joined Royal College, Colombo for a brief period to study for the GCE Advanced Level in Sri Lanka|GCE Advanced Level Examinations.
Charin grew up with a musical family. He took piano lessons from his grandmother at a young age. He also learnt to play the guitar and compose on his father’s piano during his teenage years.
== Career ==
In the early 2000s, Charin was the lead singer of the band ‘JADA’. The band performed at festivals and concerts in his hometown Colombo, before he went solo. In 2006, Charin moved to Singapore to study Performing Arts at LASALLE College of the Arts. While in Singapore he performed with and fronted jazz ensembles. In 2009, he came back to Sri Lanka for a brief period, to perform with the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka|Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka (SOSL) at a seasonal concert held at Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall|Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo. 
After Charin graduated from LASALLE, his family moved to England, where he qualified as an audio engineer and producer at the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford, Surrey. While studying at ACM, he learned the ropes of the United Kingdom music industry and studied under Chad Jackson (DJ). 
In 2012, Charin graduated with a bachelor’s degree in jazz from the Leeds Conservatoire. Since then, has worked with international artistes as a producer, engineer and writer, and became a member of the ‘Songwriters Hall of Fame’ New York City|(New York). In May 2017, in an interview with Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan Magazine (Sri Lanka), Charin mentioned that his musical success is owed to a combination of talent, hard work, studying different areas of the music industry, and encounters with Karsh Kale, Jeremy Lascelles, Trevor Horn, Don Was, and Chad Jackson (DJ)|Chad Jackson. 
In December 2017, Charin released the single "Never Give Up" which featured Brian McKnight Jr. of the Brian McKnight|McKnight family. In April 2018, his first single "About Us", the acoustic version, was released through his record label 'EIQ records'. In April 2019, he premiered the song “Satellites”, which featured Brian McKnight Jr. In October 2019, Charin's album “Retrograde Brigade” was released. Following this release, he recorded and released two more songs with Brian McKnight Jr.; “Heart of The Problem” in December 2019 and “I Wanna Love You Again” in July 2020.
Charin also released his jazz-funk song “Purple People" in 2020. Charin's first Sinhala language|Sinhalese language single “Aalakam” was released in August 2020. In September 2020, Charin appeared on Yes FM|YES FM's Home Grown Top 15 radio show as a guest host with Yasmin Yousuf. In November 2020, Charin released his first international duet “Nothing” with NFRTAY.
Charin’s album “20 TWENTY” is expected to be released in 2021.
In July 2021, Charin collaborated with Brian McKnight Jr. on the duet "Marry Your Daughter (Aradhana)," released under ABS-CBN Corporation's Tarsier Records. The track, produced by Manila-based Tarsier Records producer Moophs, premiered on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist in both India and Sri Lanka and subsequently trended for over eight weeks on Spotify’s "Sinhala Pop" playlist.
Since 2021, Charin’s other notable releases include "Hero" (2021), "Heal The World" (2021), "Crawling Back To You" (2023), and "Be With You" (2023).
== Discography ==
Singles
* Popsycle (2015)
* Curls (2016)
* Nevermind (2016)
* Clocks (2016)
* About Us [Acoustic Version] (2018)
* Purple People (2020)
* Aalakam (2020)
* Angel (2020)
* Wonderful Tonight (2020)
* Fire Sonata (2020)
* About Us [EDM Version] (2020)
* Finally Feeling Again (2020)
* Hero (2021)
* Heal The World (2021)
* Crawling Back To You (2023)
* Be With You (2023)
Featuring Brian McKnight Jr
Never Give Up (2017)
Satellites (2019)
Heart of the Problem (2019)
I Wanna Love You Again (2020)
Nothing (2020)
Solo albums
Album 	Track list
Retrograde Brigade (2019)	Deimos Natini
 	Phobos Watukana
 	Aphrodite Maskanda
 	Ares Rah i444
 	Ares Rah i636
 	Ares Rah i828
20 TWENTY (2021) 	[To Be Released]
==In the media==
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Category:1986 births
Category:Sri Lankan musicians
Category:Sri Lankan singer-songwriters