Country singer-songwriter Charlie Rich is perhaps best known for setting John Denver’s acceptance letter ablaze when announcing him as Entertainer of the Year during the 1975 CMA Awards. But that incident threatens to overshadow the accomplishments of a multi-instrumentalist who infused country music with elements of the the jazz and blues he grew up loving. Let’s take a closer look at the career of Charlie Rich, aka “the Silver Fox,” who was born on this day in 1932 in Colt, Arkansas.
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The son of rural cotton farmers in Forrest City, Arkansas, Charles Allan Rich learned to play the blues piano from a Black tenant farmer named named C.J. Allen. Post-high school, Rich enrolled at Arkansas State College on a football scholarship. After an injury ended his athletic career, he transferred to the University of Arkansas to study music. However, he left after just one semester, joining the U.S. Air Force in 1953.
During a stint in Enid, Oklahoma, Rich formed a jazz-and-blues band called the Velvetones, which featured his wife, Margaret on vocals. The couple moved to a 500-acre West Memphis farm after his military service ended in 1956. There, he began performing jazz and R&B music on the local club circuit.
This Record Label Deemed Charlie Rich “Too Jazzy”
Eventually, Charlie Rich submitted a few demos to legendary Sun Records producer Sam Phillips. Although Phillips wrote off Rich’s music as “too jazzy,” the future two-time Grammy winner soon found work as a session musician and songwriter for the label.
“At first I didn’t dig country,” Rich said. “As a matter of fact, we put it down because we wanted to be jazz pickers. I had to make a drastic change at Sun Records and I didn’t really appreciate country music until I went there.”
After working with musicians like Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis, Rich did some label-hopping. In 1967, he landed at Epic Records. Six years later, the title track from his 1973 album Behind Closed Doors topped the country charts, even crossing over into pop’s Top 20. His follow-up single, “The Most Beautiful Girl,” also reached No. 1.
Charlie Rich died in his sleep on July 25, 1995, at age 62, in Hammond, Louisiana.
Featured image by Rob Verhorst/Redferns
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