Stanley Charkey was born in Brooklyn N.Y. in 1948. He holds degrees from the Hartt School of Music and the University of Massachusetts. For the past twenty-five years he has been a member of the faculty at Marlboro College in Vermont where he teaches Music Theory, Composition, and Music History. His compositions include works for a variety of chamber ensembles and soloists, including the Apple Hill Chamber Players, cellist Paul Cohen, pianist Luis Batlle, and violist Michael Tree. In addition, he has written works for dance, theater, and television (PBS). He is a winner of the 1998 Renée B. Fisher Composer Award, 1997 VMTA Composer of the Year, and a frequent Fellow at the Ragdale Arts Foundation in Lake Forest Ill. and the Kimmel-Harding-Nelson Center for the Arts. His 3 Small Inventions for Piano have been recorded by Michael Arnowitt.

He is also well known as a lutanist, who has performed extensively in the United States and Europe and can be heard on a number of recordings.