Charlie Colin (1965/1966 – May 2024) was an American musician. He was the bassist for the rock band Train. He also played guitar and provided background vocals for many other bands after his departure from the group in 2003.
Early life
Colin began playing guitar at about eight when he lived in Virginia. Later, his family moved to Newport Beach, California. At Newport Harbor High School surfing, playing water polo, and the guitar became his constant companions.
Berklee College of Music
Colin attended University of Southern California to explore his artistic gifts; then he transferred halfway to focus primarily on his musical gifts at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Attending Berklee got Colin fully immersed in music. He started playing with seniors for lessons and so he could learn more. Pat Metheny was quite a discovery, as well as other kinds of music discovered during Berklee.
Shortly afterwards, Colin got an offer from some friends to go to Singapore to write and play jingles.
Apostles
After Singapore Colin, Jimmy Stafford (Train’s future lead guitarist and mandolin player), and Rob Hotchkiss moved to San Francisco and started the group Apostles. The group got a record deal, recorded the album Apostles in 1992, but when the label folded, the members went their own ways. However, they had a hunch that one day they would end up back together.
Train (band)
Hotchkiss headed to San Francisco and met Pat Monahan, Train’s future lead singer. The two collaborated on songs in the Bay Area and invited Jimmy Stafford to be the guitarist and Colin as the bassist. Colin brought in Scott Underwood to play drums. Thus formed in 1993 Train became very successful. Train scored their first Top 20 hit with 1999’s “Meet Virginia,” although their big breakthrough came with 2001’s “Drops of Jupiter,” which reached No. 5. The album Drops of Jupiter reached No. 6. on the Billboard 200. The group toured nationally, opening concerts for Hootie & the Blowfish, Sheryl Crow, Counting Crows, and Barenaked Ladies.
In 2003, Colin left the band because of substance abuse.
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Colin was a longstanding curator, art collector, homeless-artist advocate, and philanthropist.
Later life and death
Later on, Colin moved to Brussels, Belgium to teach a music master class at a conservatory. At the time of his death, he also served as musical director for the Newport Beach Film Festival, per his social media profiles.
On May 22, 2024, it was revealed that he had died at the age of 58. He slipped and fell in a shower while house-sitting for a friend in Brussels. His mother told TMZ that his body was not found until after his friends returned home from a five day trip.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Colin
Photo: Charlie Colin | From a Facebook post
Charlie Colin, Ex-Bassist for Train, Dies at Age 58 From a Bathroom Fall
