Charlie Rich
| Charlie Rich | |
|---|---|
Rich in 1973.
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Charles Allan Rich |
| Born |
December 14, 1932 Colt, Arkansas, United States |
| Died | July 25, 1995 (aged 62) Hammond, Louisiana, United States |
| Genres | Country, countrypolitan, rockabilly, jazz, blues, Gospel, blue-eyed soul |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, Piano, Guitar |
| Years active | 1958–1995 |
| Labels | Sun, Phillips, Groove / RCA, Smash Records, Hi Records, Epic, UA, Elektra, Sire |
| Associated acts | Roger Miller, Janie Fricke |
| Website | CharlieRich |
Charles Allan "Charlie" Rich (December 14, 1932 – July 25, 1995) was an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. His eclectic style of music was often difficult to classify in a single genre, encompassing the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, soul and gospel genres.
In the later part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname the Silver Fox. He is perhaps best remembered for a pair of 1973 hits, "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl". "The Most Beautiful Girl" topped the U.S. country singles charts, as well as the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles charts and earned him two Grammy Awards. Rich was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015.
Rich was born in Colt, Arkansas, to rural cotton farmers. He graduated from Consolidated High School in Forrest City, where he played saxophone in the band. He was strongly influenced by his parents, members of the Landmark Missionary Baptist Church in Forrest City, as his mother, Helen Rich, played piano and his father sang in gospel quartets. A black sharecropper on the family land named C. J. Allen taught Rich blues piano. He enrolled at Arkansas State College on a football scholarship and then transferred to the University of Arkansas as a music major after a football injury. He left after one semester to join the United States Air Force in 1953.
While stationed in Enid Oklahoma, he formed "the Velvetones", playing jazz and blues and featuring his wife, Margaret Ann, on vocals. He and Margaret Ann Greene had married in 1952. Upon leaving the military in 1956, they returned to the West Memphis area to farm 500 acres. He also began performing in clubs around the Memphis area, playing both jazz and R&B. It was during these times that he began writing his own material.
...
Wikipedia