Green Bay is home to many talented musicians, but few pursue a career and even fewer make it. However, there is one recent Notre Dame Academy alumni that has spent the last year working in the music scene and gaining popularity by the day.

Charlie Urick, class of 2017, has been working hard every day since graduation to turn his dreams into a reality.

The summer after senior year, Urick packed his bags and headed to McNally Smith College of Music in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Once there, he focused on vocals and production while taking other classes such as studio technician courses and jazz composition.

However, after only one semester and no warning, McNally Smith closed its doors.

“They emailed the students right before break and said something like, ‘You know how you’re going home for Christmas break? Well, you can’t come back.’ Not even the teachers knew beforehand,” said Urick.

Urick came back to Green Bay without a plan, but knowing that he still wanted to pursue music. Shortly after, he started working with a production company called Good Vibes, performing at different venues in Green Bay.

Through that connection, he became close with Wisco Y.D., one of the members of a hip hop group out of Green Bay called Wisco Kidz.

After this, Urick and Wisco Y.D. were given the opportunity to travel abroad for the first time to Turin, Italy, to visit the hometown of their friend, Gabriele Fuggetta. Fuggetta does music management in Italy as well as the US, and introduced Urick and Wisco Y.D. to people in the Italian music industry.

While in Italy, Urick played at clubs and began working with other people in the industry, one of those being Keezy, a popular singer and producer from Bari, Italy. Another person was Jvli, also a popular musician, dj, and producer from Aosta, Italy.

Together, the three of them wrote “U,” tracked in only three hours.

“U,” released July 9, 2018, instantly became a hit in Italy as well as the US. As the perfect summer anthem, all of Green Bay was listening to it. In less than a month and a half, the single had over 100,000 streams on Spotify.

Today, it stands at over 230,000 streams. In December, a music video was released, shot in various places around Green Bay.

On October 31, 2018, Urick and Wisco YD released an EP called TOWRO. Consisting of five  songs, this EP did not disappoint. On the writing process, Urick said, “TOWRO was written and produced in Italy. We recorded every night for two weeks, thus became this EP.” The most popular song from this is “4 Days,” with almost 50,000 streams on Spotify.

On December 10, 2018, they released a music video for “4 Days”shot at various places in the area, including the halls of Notre Dame Academy. Many familiar faces can be seen in this video, including current students Elizabeth Bolin and Tommy Tressler, as well as alumni Nate Ihlenfeldt and Urick himself.

The video also features other characters played by Green Bay natives, including Matthew Wautier, a talented performer from Southwest High School.

Recently, Urick released a three-song EP titled Dream Well on February 12 of this year. For this, he went back to his roots of acoustic guitar playing.  Self-produced, this was written in less than two nights.

The story behind the title Dream Well is nothing short of heartwarming.

“Right now I’m in one of the most serious relationships I’ve ever been in, but currently she’s studying abroad in Ireland. Every night before she sleeps, I text her ‘dream well.’ It’s become our thing,” explained a smiling Urick.

After a week in Ireland with his girlfriend, Urick will be in Italy for yet another secret project.

Stay tuned for updates on music, and possibly a new tour, by following “Sofa Boy” Urick on Instagram @charlieurick and Spotify @ Charlie Urick.