Charlotte Irene Caffey is an American rock and roll musician and songwriter, best known for her work inthe Go-Go's in the 1980s, including writing "We Got the Beat".
Career
Caffey began her musical career as a bass guitar player in the early Los Angeles punk band The Eyes before joining the Go-Go's in 1978 and switching to guitar. She remained friends with fellow band member Belinda Carlisle after the initial break up of the Go-Go's and wrote songs for Carlisle's solo albums. From 1988 till 1992, she led her own band, The Graces, with Meredith Brooks and Gia Ciambotti, who released the album Perfect View in 1989. Caffey also co-wrote the theme song to the television series Clueless with Anna Waronker, and played piano on the album version of "Foolish Games" by Jewel, as well as co-writing the No. 1 U.S. country hit "But for the Grace of God" with Keith Urban. Caffey wrote the book, music, and lyrics for with Anna Waronker. The rock musical debuted at the Hayworth Theatre in Los Angeles in 2008. A new production of Lovelace: A Rock Musical made its United Kingdom debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2010. A number of her songs will be featured in the 2018 debut of the Broadway musicalHead Over Heels, with a story suggested by Philip Sidney's Arcadia set to the songs of the Go-Go's and Belinda Carlisle.
Personal life
She grew up in Glendale, California, and graduated from Immaculate Heart College. She is also in Ze Malibu Kids with her husband, the Redd Kross singer and guitarist Jeff McDonald. Their only child, a daughter named Astrid, was born in 1995. She was the third of thirteen children born to Ann and Michael Caffey, a well-known television director from the mid-1960s on into the 1990s. Charlotte semi-retired in the late 1980s because of crippling carpal tunnel syndrome. Her brother Tom composes music for films; his most recent work was the trailer for 10,000 BC.
1987: Belinda Carlisle – Heaven On Earth – track 4, "Should I Let You In?" ; track 7, "We Can Change" ; track 9, "Nobody Owns Me" ; track 12, "Love Never Dies..."
1998: Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Album – track 12, "Smash"
2001: Birgit – Few Like Me Netherlands – track 2, "Oblivious"
2003: The Bangles – Doll Revolution – track 3, "Something That You Said"
2011: James Durbin – Memories of a Beautiful Disaster – track 3, "Love in Ruins"
2012: Redd Kross – Researching the Blues – track 1, "Researching the Blues"
2016: Redd Kross/ Side Eyes – Songs that Chargo Taught Us – "Screaming" co-written with Jane Wieldin. Done by Redd Kross & "Don't Talk to Me" co-written with Joe Ramirez. Done by Side Eyes which features daughter Astrid on vocals.
Also appears on
1980: The Specials – More Specials – backing vocals
