Charlie Gillingham

Charles Thomas Gillingham was born on January 26, 1960 in Torrance, California. Gillingham attended Richard Henry Dana Junior High in San Pedro, California, and also attended Miraleste High School in Rancho Palos Verdes.^[5] Gillingham studied philosophy and artificial intelligence at University of California, Berkeley.^[6] Before entering the music industry, he worked as a software engineer in the field of artificial intelligence.^[7]

He was a member of Slip Stream, Clark, Kent, and the Reporters, Midnight Radio,^[8] Zip Code Revue, and played keyboards on Train's 1998 debut album.^[9]

In 2004, Gillingham was nominated for an Oscar as co-composer of the song "Accidentally in Love". He was put forward in the category Academy Award for Best Original Song with his fellow songwriters Adam Duritz, Jim Bogios, David Immerglück, Matt Malley, David Bryson and Dan Vickrey.^[10] The track was used in the film Shrek 2.

In 2004, Charles divorced from his first wife, Gretchen Rosenblatt - daughter of the late Geffen Records co-founder, Eddie Rosenblatt. The couple had two children Josephine and Dashiell. In 2006, Gillingham married television producer Nikki Varhely. Together they had two sons, True in 2008 and Ever in 2013. Ever has performed on stage with counting crows many times over the years, playing piano and organ.

Apart from his work with Counting Crows, Gillingham also contributed to the following recordings:^[11]

• Low Stars – Low Stars – 2007
• Comfort in Sound – Feeder – 2003
• Propeller – Peter Stuart – 2002
• Nowhere is Brighter – Garrin Benfield – 2002
• Still Waiting for Spring – Matt Nathanson – 2000
• Train – Train – 1998
• Whatnot – Cola – 1997
• The Golden Age – Cracker – 1996
• Abundance – Zip Code Revue – 1996
• Slipaway – Jerry Shelfer – 1992
• United Kingdom – American Music Club – 1990

• List of Hammond organ players