The music journalist and broadcaster Charles Shaar Murray, birth name Charles Maximillian Murray, grew up in Reading, Berkshire. He attended Reading School. He was one of a number of children who applied to edit the April 1970 issue of the satirical magazine Oz. This was his first experience of journalism. He worked briefly for the International Times before joining the New Musical Express (NME) in 1972. He wrote for NME until around 1986. He has worked for many other magazines and newspapers, and has been interviewed for a number of television documentaries and reports on music. He has published a number of books on music, including a profile of David Bowie and a biographies of Jimi Hendrix and John Lee Hooker.