Charles' father Lennox was a black anglophone of Trinidadian origin; his mother was a white francophone Canadian. Charles was born in Grenville, Quebec, and studied at École de musique Wilfrid-Pelletier in Montreal. At the age of 7, he won a category of the Canadian Music Competition, after which he performed with most of the country's symphonic orchestras. In 1979, he represented Canada at an international piano contest in Paris. Charles was also a part of Petits-Chanteurs du Mont-Royal choir, which performs at the Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal and graduated from College Notre-Dame high school in Montreal as well. Shortly after entering law school in 1989, Charles obtained a television role which brought him to the attention of a wider public: that of Julien, a young student who comes to study in Montreal, in a TV show called Chambres en ville.He also co-hosted the show The Débrouillards alongside Marie-Soleil Tougas from 1990 to 1997. Charles then became host of a daily radio show at the Montreal station CKOI-FM in 1991. The following year, he began hosting a television game showQue le meilleur gagne on Radio-Canada, for five years. In 1995, he began hosting a late night talk-show Cha-ba-da. In 1998, Charles worked on Céline Dion's world tour, mostly in the chorus but also as a pianist. The same year, Charles made the first of nine appearances at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. Since 2001, Charles has hosted a weekly radio show on the national Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada network, and a series of television shows, such as Culture Choc and "Les Debrouillards", in French and English, and a variety show on TV5. Charles conducts the chœurs du nouveau monde which includes notably Les Petits Chanteurs de Laval and Les Voix Boréales, and before that, le Chœur Gospel de Laval. Charles presented his first variety show, Noir et Blanc to more than 400,000 spectators across Quebec and the rest of Canada. He also performed in New York City in 2004. A unique feature of his show is the second half, in which he offers to sing and play on the piano any known song submitted randomly by the spectators. At the end of 2004, Charles released his first album called Gospel Live Noir et Blanc. On October 16, 2006, he launched his album I Think of You, which sold 109,000 copies in its first week, making Charles the highest selling Canadian artist in a one-week period for the year 2006. It debuted at number 1 on the Nielsen SoundScan album chart. It sold 41,000 units in its second week, to bring it to a total of 150,000 units after two weeks. Charles sold more albums in 2006 than all other Canadian musicians except Nelly Furtado. Charles was one of the headliners on Parliament Hill at the 2007 Canada Day celebration there, playing the evening's longest set, to an audience of thousands. He performed in English and French. However, one of his next scheduled appearances in Ottawa, where audiences were required to pay, did not fare so well. According to reports in the Ottawa Sun, Doug Moore, the city's manager of Venture Properties, said that Grégory Charles' scheduled concert at the Ottawa SuperEx was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. In the fall of 2007, Charles began hosting a CBC radio program, In the Key of Charles until September 6, 2009. In April 2012, Charles did a one-week stint at the Cafe Carlyle in the famous Carlyle Hotel in New York City. In December 2014, it was announced that Charles would acquire the two Radio-Classique radio stations, CJPX-FM in Montreal and CJSQ-FM in Quebec City, under the banner Groupe Musique Greg, pending approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. While financial details were not announced, the Journal de Montréal reported that he paid at least $10 million. The same year, Charles won the Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award for his musical achievements. On June 30, 2016, Charles was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada by Governor GeneralDavid Johnston for "his infectious energy, creativity and dedication to ensuring that the performing arts and culture thrive in Canada and abroad."
