| Carah Faye Charnow | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Carah Faye, Carah Charnow |
| Born | August 3, 1984 |
| Origin | Newbury Park, California, USA |
| Occupations | singer, songwriter |
| Instruments | bass, keyboards, tambourine, timpani drums |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Associated acts | Versant Shiny Toy Guns |
Carah Faye Charnow (born August 3, 1984, in Santa Barbara, California) is an American singer and songwriter. She is currently the female vocalist of the band Shiny Toy Guns (2004–2008, 2011), with whom she scored a Grammy nomination, and is also currently the frontwoman/vocalist of the band Versant. She officially returned as a vocalist for Shiny Toy Guns in February 2011.
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In 2004, Carah joined the indie/rock/electronica band Shiny Toy Guns. Shiny Toy Guns gained popularity in California as well as through their MySpace page.[1] On October 17, 2006, they released their first album, We Are Pilots (UNI-MOTOWN), after previously recording and independently releasing it two times with varying tracklists. The album’s best-known tracks are "Le Disko", "You Are the One", and "Don't Cry Out". On December 6, 2007, We Are Pilots received a Grammy Award nomination in the category of Best Electronic/Dance Album. Carah remained the female vocalist of Shiny Toy Guns until she was released in the summer of 2008.
After her release from Shiny Toy Guns, Carah started a new band, Versant.[2] Samples of their songs "Push Away", "Out Of Touch", "Quick Escapes", and "Heartbeats" have been posted on their MySpace page, and the full versions are included on their self-released digital EP heartbeats ep released on September 21, 2010.[3]
As of February 11, it was announced at the end of the Shiny Toy Guns' countdown timer in a YouTube video[4] that Carah was part of the band again. Her husband, Daniel is also joining. Versant was also quoted on Facebook saying, "Boys and Girls, Carah Faye and Daniel Johansson, of your beloved Versant, are joining Shiny Toy Guns for album number three. Please enjoy this piece of music history! Here is another announcement: Versant isn't going ANYWHERE!"[5]
Carah was born in Santa Barbara and moved to Newbury Park at age 5. She started taking voice lessons at an early age and sang in a professional show choir called Fresh Chances for America for about four or five years (with performances at events and venues like the Reagan Library and Amway Diamond Convention).
She has said that her main musical influences were Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James and Nancy Sinatra, and also Whitney Houston and Björk, among the contemporary singers. Carah's earliest muse was her grandfather, Arnold Moselle, a World War II fighting captain who sang in a "big band-ish" group called "The Nightingales". He used to sing lullabies to her like Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, and he encouraged her to pursue a musical career.
After high school, Carah's dream was to go to New York and attend The Juilliard School. Instead, she went to Moorpark College and "did some garage band stuff that didn't go anywhere". Through a friend she met Jeremy Dawson, who needed a vocalist to record dummy versions of pop songs he was writing for other artists.[6]
In early 2004, Jeremy Dawson invited Carah to sing with Shiny Toy Guns, which he'd formed with Chad Petree in 2002. She remained the female vocalist of this band until the summer of 2008, when she was released. Almost immediately after her sudden release from Shiny Toy Guns, her current band Versant began to form in Sweden. In a February 2009 interview, Carah said that she spent most of her time in Sweden (Vänersborg) working on music for Versant and takes occasional trips back to California.
Carah is married to her bandmate Daniel Johansson.
On February 11, 2011 it was revealed that Carah had re-joined Shiny Toy Guns as their co-lead singer and that Daniel Johansson had joined the band as well.