Charmaine Carrasco

1984 -

Charmaine Carrasco, a Christian contemporary music singing artist, has traveled and been associated with major artists in that field. She has worked with Grammy Award winning artist and native Australian Rebecca St. James, serving as an opening act and as a background vocalist. She has also traveled with other artists, including Casting Crowns, Jeremy Camp, The Newsboys, Rachal Lampa, and others.

Charmaine was born in West Covina, California, during a tour of Endless Praise, a full-time music ministry that originated in Sydney, Australia. Five days after her birth, her parents, Werner and Najee, who ran the group, were back on the road. They subsequently home-schooled her on the road during their tours.

She wrote her first song at age nine and recorded it a year later. At age eleven, Charmaine became a full-time member of her parents' group and was featured as a soloist in its concerts, until she moved to the U.S. in 2001 at age seventeen. During her six years with EP, she completed a CD, released when she was fifteen. The album of ten songs, seven of which were composed by her, sold in the thousands when it was released in Australia.

This record caught the ear of music executives in Nashville, Tennessee, and Carmaine signed a recording contract with Elevate Records, a sister label of Inpop Records. At that time, she was asked to tour with and sing back up for Christian music veteran Rebecca St. James. Charmaine traveled internationally while singing on several of James’s tours.

In August 2002 a second CD, All About Jesus, was released which included traditional worship songs in arrangements with a bit more of an edge, as well as others that she helped co-write. Her first radio single, "All In All," was in the top ten listings of Contemporary Hits radio charts for fourteen consecutive weeks. In 2004 she began working on another recording which was recently released as Escape. She wrote all the songs and co-produced the recording.

In addition to touring in Australia and the U.S., Charmaine has now traveled and performed in over thirty countries. Although not a formally trained musician, she has proven to be an apt composer, arranger, and producer. She is a member of the Gracepoint Adventist Church in Franklin, Tennessee, where, when not traveling, she is a worship leader.

ds/2009

Source: Information provided by Werner Carrasco (father), 10 December 2008.