Born in Montreal, Charles Etienne was raised on the east coast after his family settled in Connecticut in the late 80’s. When he was ten, he started his piano training under Claire Beaudry Bario, and won a number of youth piano awards. A few years later, he discovered drums and studied session drumming under Rick Haddad. This was the beginning of what would become a lifelong passion.

Charles graduated from Lyme-Old Lyme High School in Connecticut where he studied both in public classes and privately with Grammy-Nominated producer Richard P. Robinson at Trod Nossel studios in Wallingford. ­­Afterwards, Charles moved to NYC where he studied at the Drummer’s Collective (now associated with New York University). All the while traveling back to Connecticut almost every weekend for shows. In the late nineties, Charles found work as an assistant sound engineer and apprentice composer for Richard Lavsky’s Music House. It was there that he had the opportunity to work with a variety of clientele, including the Food Network, Dwayne Reed, Seventeen Magazine, and Nick Jr.

In the early 2000’s Charles moved to Los Angeles, and eventually enrolled at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) where he had the opportunity to work at The Postma Lab, a nanotechnology research center, before receiving his BS in Astrophysics. During and after his studies he starting working in the Musical Instrument industry. He’s worked for, or closely with Line 6, Propellerheads and now Strymon where he is the senior Mechanical Designer. Charles lives in a quiet neighborhood not far from Northridge with his wife Darcy, and his adopted Pitbull Liberty.