Charles Allan Rich (December 14, 1932July 25, 1995) was an American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
singer, songwriter, and musician.
His eclectic style of music was often difficult to classify, encompassing the
rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...
,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
,
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
,
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
,
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
, and
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
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" is a song recorded by Charlie Rich and written by Billy Sherrill, Norro Wilson, and Rory Bourke. The countrypolitan ballad reached No. 1 in the United States in 1973 on three ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' music cha ...
," which topped the U.S. country singles charts as well as the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 pop singles charts and earned him two
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
s. Rich was inducted into the
Memphis Music Hall of Fame
The Memphis Music Hall of Fame, located in Memphis, Tennessee, honors Memphis musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The induction ceremony and concert is held each year in Memphis. Since its establishment in 2012, the Hall of Fame has ...
in 2015.
Early life
Rich was born in
Colt
Colt(s) or COLT may refer to:
*Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age
People
* Colt (given name)
*Colt (surname)
Places
*Colt, Arkansas, United States
*Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...
, Arkansas, to rural cotton farmers.
He graduated from Consolidated High School in
Forrest City
Forrest City is a city in St. Francis County, Arkansas, St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States, and the county seat. It was named for General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who used the location as a campsite for a construction crew completing a rail ...
, where he played saxophone in the band. He was strongly influenced by his parents, who were members of the Landmark Missionary Baptist Church; his mother, Helen Rich, played piano in church 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
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from ...
on a football scholarship and then after an injury, transferred to the
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...
as a music major. He left after one semester to join the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
in 1953.
He married Margaret Ann Greene in 1952. While stationed in
Enid, Oklahoma, he formed "the Velvetones", playing jazz and blues and featuring his wife on vocals.
When he left the military in 1956, the couple returned to the West Memphis area to farm 500 acres. He also began performing in clubs around the
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
area, playing both jazz and
R&B, and began writing his own material.
Career
After recording some demonstration songs for
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...
at
Sun Records
Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...
that Phillips considered "too jazzy" and insufficiently commercial, Rich was given a stack of
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made ...
records and told: "Come back when you get that bad."
In a 1992 interview with ''
Fresh Air
''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 6 ...
'' host
Terry Gross
Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of ''Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NPR i ...
, Rich himself recalled
Bill Justis
William Everett Justis Jr. (October 14, 1926 – July 16, 1982) was an American pioneer rock and roll musician, composer, and musical arranger, best known for his 1957 Grammy Hall of Fame song, " Raunchy". As a songwriter, he was also often credi ...
telling Rich's wife those words.
In 1958, Rich became a regular
session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
for Sun Records, playing on a variety of records by Lewis,
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
,
Bill Justis
William Everett Justis Jr. (October 14, 1926 – July 16, 1982) was an American pioneer rock and roll musician, composer, and musical arranger, best known for his 1957 Grammy Hall of Fame song, " Raunchy". As a songwriter, he was also often credi ...
,
Warren Smith,
Billy Lee Riley
Billy Lee Riley (October 5, 1933 – August 2, 2009) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. His most memorable recordings include "Rock With Me Baby", "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll"Variously spelled as "...Rock & Roll ...
,
Carl Mann
Carl Richard Mann (August 22, 1942December 16, 2020) was an American rockabilly singer and pianist from West Tennessee. He was referred to as "The Last Son of Sun", as he was one of the final artists introduced by Sam Phillips of Sun Records.
B ...
, and
Ray Smith.
He also wrote several songs for Lewis, Cash, and others.
After he began recording for the Sun subsidiary
Phillips International Records, his third single was the 1960 Top 30 hit "Lonely Weekends",
with
Presley
Presley is a surname and given name.
Etymology
The name ''Presley'' is derived from the Old English ''preost'', meaning "priest", and ''leah'' meaning "forest clearing".
History
Most instances of the surname ''Presley'' and variants ''Pressley' ...
-like vocals. It sold more than one million copies and was awarded a
gold disc
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
.
None of his seven follow-up singles was a success, however, though several of the songs became staples in his live set, including "Who Will the Next Fool Be", "Sittin' and Thinkin'", and "No Headstone on My Grave".
These songs were often recorded by others to varying degrees of success, such as the
Bobby Bland
Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer.
Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was descr ...
version of "Who Will the Next Fool Be".
Rich's career then stalled and he left the struggling Sun label in 1963, signing with
Groove
Groove or Grooves may refer to:
Music
* Groove (music)
* Groove (drumming)
* The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s
* The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station
* Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station
* ...
, a subsidiary of
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
.
His first single for Groove, "Big Boss Man", was a minor hit, but once again, his
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music s ...
-produced follow-up records all failed. In 1965 he moved to
Smash Records
Smash Records was an American record label founded in 1961 as a subsidiary of Mercury Records by Mercury executive Shelby Singleton and run by Singleton with Charlie Fach. Fach took over after Singleton left Mercury in 1966. Its recording artist ...
, where his new producer,
Jerry Kennedy
Jerry Glenn Kennedy (born 10 August 1940)Cusic, Don. (1998) "Jerry Kennedy". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, ed. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 277–278. is an American record producer, songwriter and guitar pla ...
, encouraged him to emphasize his country and rock n' roll leanings, although Rich considered himself a jazz pianist and had not paid much attention to country music since childhood.
His first single for Smash was "Mohair Sam", an R&B-inflected
novelty
Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...
-rock number written by
Dallas Frazier
Dallas Frazier (October 27, 1939 – January 14, 2022) was an American country musician and songwriter who had success in the 1950s and 1960s.
Life and career
Frazier was born in Spiro, Oklahoma, on October 27, 1939, but was raised in Bakersfie ...
, which became a top 30 pop hit. It has been mentioned in thousands of articles as the song Elvis Presley played on his jukebox during the Beatles' visit to his home on August 26, 1965. However, once more none of his follow-up singles were successful. Rich again changed labels, moving to
Hi Records
Hi Records is an American soul music and rockabilly label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1957 by singer Ray Harris, record store owner Joe Cuoghi, Bill Cantrell and Quinton Claunch (formerly producers for Sun Records), and three silent partn ...
, where he recorded
blue-eyed soul
Blue-eyed soul (also called white soul) is rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly-black Motown and Stax ...
music and straight country, but once more, none of his singles for Hi made a dent on the country or pop charts. One Hi Records track, "Love Is After Me" (1966), belatedly became a
white soul
Blue-eyed soul (also called white soul) is rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly-black Motown and Sta ...
favorite in the early 1970s.
Career peak in the 1970s
Despite his lack of consistent commercial success,
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America
Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...
signed Rich in 1967, mainly on the recommendation of producer
Billy Sherrill
Billy Norris Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger best known for his association with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Sherrill and business partner Gle ...
.
Sherrill helped Rich refashion himself as a
Nashville Sound
The Nashville Sound originated during the mid-1950s as a subgenre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of the rough honky tonk music, which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, with "smooth strings and choruses", "sophist ...
balladeer during an era when old rock 'n' roll artists like Jerry Lee Lewis and
Conway Twitty
Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...
were finding a new musical home in the Country format. This new "
countrypolitan
The Nashville Sound originated during the mid-1950s as a subgenre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of the rough honky tonk music, which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, with "smooth strings and choruses", "sophist ...
" Rich sound paid off in the summer of 1972, when "I Take It on Home" went to number six on the country charts.
The title track from his 1973 album ''Behind Closed Doors'' became a number-one country hit early in that year, then crossed over into the top 20 on the pop charts.
This time, his follow-up single did not disappoint, as "
The Most Beautiful Girl
"The Most Beautiful Girl" is a song recorded by Charlie Rich and written by Billy Sherrill, Norro Wilson, and Rory Bourke. The countrypolitan ballad reached No. 1 in the United States in 1973 on three ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' music cha ...
" spent three weeks at the top of the country charts and two weeks at the top of the pop charts.
Now that he was established as a country music star, ''Behind Closed Doors'' won three awards from the
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...
that year: Best Male Vocalist, Album of the Year, and Single of the Year. The album was also certified
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
. Rich won a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
for Best Male Country Vocal Performance, and he took home four
Academy of Country Music
The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country music ...
awards. One of
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
's several resident songwriters, Marvin Walters, co-wrote for three years with Rich, producing four recordings including the popular "Set Me Free".
After "The Most Beautiful Girl," number-one hits came quickly, five songs topping the country charts in 1974 and crossed over to the pop charts:
"There Won't Be Anymore" (pop number 18), "
A Very Special Love Song
"A Very Special Love Song" is the title of a 1974 song by country music singer Charlie Rich. The song was written by Billy Sherrill and Norro Wilson, songwriters who had also written Rich's 1973 hit, "The Most Beautiful Girl". The song is included ...
" (pop number 11), "I Don't See Me In Your Eyes Anymore" (pop number 47), "I Love My Friend" (pop number 24), and "She Called Me Baby" (pop number 47). Both RCA Records and
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
(Smash was a subsidiary of Mercury that was absorbed into the main company in 1970) also re-released his previously recorded material from the mid-1960s. All of this success led the CMA to name him Entertainer of the Year in 1974. In the same year he performed the Academy Award-nominated theme song "I Feel Love (Benji's Theme)" from the film ''
Benji
Benji is a fictional character created by Joe Camp. He has been the focus of several movies from 1974 through the 2000s. It is also the title of the first film in the ''Benji'' franchise.
Benji is a small, lovable mixed-breed dog with an un ...
''. Rich had three more top-five hits in 1975, but though he was at the peak of his popularity, he began to drink heavily, causing considerable problems off-stage.
CMA awards 1975
Rich's problematic drinking famously culminated at the CMA awards ceremony for 1975,
when he presented the award for Entertainer of the Year while visibly intoxicated.
After stumbling through the names of the nominees, he clumsily tore open the envelope, took out a cigarette lighter, and lit fire to the paper with the winner's name.
He then announced the winner of the award as "My friend Mr.
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...
". Some considered it an act of rebellion against the
Music Row
Music Row is a historic district located southwest of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Widely considered the heart of Nashville's entertainment industry, Music Row has also become a metonymous nickname for the music industry as a w ...
-controlled Nashville Sound; others speculated that it was a protest against the award going to Denver, whose music Rich had considered too "pop" and not enough "country".
Many, including industry insiders, were outraged, and Rich's popularity took a dive.
In a 2016 interview, former CMA Executive Director
Jo Walker-Meador speculated that Rich's drunkenness may have been in part due to resentment over his being shut out of the nominations that year, after his success at the 1974 awards. His son Charlie, Jr., says on his website:
I'll tell you why I thought he did it. #1 He thought it would be funny. He set it up by talking about how the potential winners were probably nervous, as he had been the previous year. #2 Bad judgement. He had recently broken his foot in a freak accident at his home in Memphis. ... So...Due to the pain, he took pain medication the night of the show: Bad idea! Secondly, he and another country star got to drinking gin and tonics while waiting in the dressing room. The show was long, so by the time Dad was supposed to go on, the drinks on top of the medication got him buzzed. ... Primarily he thought it would be funny. I know the last thing my father would have wanted to do was set himself up as judge of another musician. He felt badly that people thought it was a statement against John Denver.
The slump in Rich's career was exacerbated by the fact that his records began to sound increasingly similar: pop-inflected country ballads with
overdub
Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...
bed
strings
String or strings may refer to:
*String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
and little jazz or blues. He did not have a top-10 hit again until "
Rollin' With the Flow
"Rollin' with the Flow" is a song first released by American country music artist T. G. Sheppard, T.G. Sheppard, in 1974 on the B-side of a single and in 1975 on his debut album ''T.G. Sheppard''. It is better known for a version released by Charl ...
" went to number one on the country charts (as well as number 32 on the easy listening charts) in 1977.
Early the following year, in 1978, he signed with
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B.
History Genres
In 1959, ...
, and throughout that year, he had hits on both Epic and UA. His hits in 1978 included the top-10 hits "Beautiful Woman", "Puttin' In Overtime At Home", and his last number one with "
On My Knees", a duet with
Janie Fricke
Jane Marie Fricke ( ; born December 19, 1947), known professionally as Janie Fricke, is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and clothing designer. She has placed seventeen singles in the top ten of the ''Billboard'' Ho ...
.
Decline in activity and semi-retirement
In 1979, Rich had moderate success with his singles, his biggest hit being a version of "
Spanish Eyes" that entered the country top 20. He appeared as himself in the 1978
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
movie ''
Every Which Way but Loose
''Every Which Way but Loose'' is a 1978 American action comedy film released by Warner Bros., produced by Robert Daley and directed by James Fargo. It stars Clint Eastwood in an uncharacteristic and offbeat comedy role as Philo Beddoe, a tr ...
'', performing "I'll Wake You Up When I Get Home".
This song hit number three on the charts in 1979 and was the last top-10 single of his career. In 1980, he switched labels again to
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...
and that fall released a number-12 single, "A Man Just Don't Know What a Woman Goes Through". One more top-40 hit followed, the
Gary Stewart song "Are We Dreamin' the Same Dream" early in 1981, but Rich decided to remove himself from the spotlight. For over a decade, he lived off his investments in semi-retirement, only playing occasional concerts. In 1981, he had a bit part in the movie ''
Take This Job and Shove It
"Take This Job and Shove It" is a 1977 country music song written by David Allan Coe and popularized by Johnny Paycheck, about the bitterness of a man who has worked long and hard with no apparent reward. The song was first recorded by Paycheck o ...
'', which yielded his last charted single, "You Made It Beautiful".
In 1992, Rich emerged from his semi-retirement to release on
Sire Records
Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records.
History Beginnings
The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer ...
''Pictures and Paintings'', a jazzy album produced by journalist
Peter Guralnick
Peter Guralnick (born December 15, 1943, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American music critic, author, and screenwriter. He specializes in the history of early rock and roll and has written on Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips, and Sam Cooke.
Caree ...
.
It received positive critical reviews and restored Rich's reputation as a musician, but it was his last album. In 2016, a tribute album entitled ''Feel Like Going Home: The Songs of Charlie Rich'' was released by Memphis International Records.
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...
, who was an opening act for Rich in the 1970s, mentions him in the song "Putnam County" from his album ''
Nighthawks at the Diner
''Nighthawks at the Diner'' is the third studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released on October 21, 1975 on Asylum Records. It was recorded over four sessions in July in the Los Angeles Record Plant studio in front of a small invit ...
'' with the lyric: "The radio's spitting out Charlie Rich... He sure can sing, that son of a bitch."
Death
Charlie Rich and his wife were driving to Florida for a vacation after seeing their son Allan perform with
Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender (born Baldemar Garza Huerta; June 4, 1937 – October 14, 2006) was an American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He was bes ...
at Lady Luck Casino in
Natchez Natchez may refer to:
Places
* Natchez, Alabama, United States
* Natchez, Indiana, United States
* Natchez, Louisiana, United States
* Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States
* Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...
, Mississippi, when he experienced a bout of severe coughing. After visiting a doctor in
St. Francisville, Louisiana, and receiving
antibiotics
An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention o ...
, he continued traveling. They stopped for the night in a motel in
Hammond, Louisiana, where Rich died in his sleep on July 25, 1995, at age 62. The cause of death was a
pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain p ...
.
He was buried in the
Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.
Margaret Rich died in
Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region
United States
* Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County
* Ge ...
, Tennessee, on July 22, 2010, and was buried alongside her husband.
Discography
Awards
Academy of Country Music
The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country music ...
*
1973 Album of the Year – ''
Behind Closed Doors''
*
1973 Single of the Year – "
Behind Closed Doors"
*
1973 Top Male Vocalist
American Music Awards
The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Produc ...
*
1974 Favorite Country Single – "Behind Closed Doors"
*
1975 Favorite Country Male Artist
*
1975 Favorite Country Single – "
The Most Beautiful Girl
"The Most Beautiful Girl" is a song recorded by Charlie Rich and written by Billy Sherrill, Norro Wilson, and Rory Bourke. The countrypolitan ballad reached No. 1 in the United States in 1973 on three ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' music cha ...
"
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...
*
1973 Album of the Year – ''Behind Closed Doors''
*
1973 Single of the Year – "Behind Closed Doors"
*
1973 Male Vocalist of the Year
*
1974 Album of the Year – "A Very Special Love Song"
*
1974 Entertainer of the Year
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
*
1974 Best Country Vocal Performance, Male – "Behind Closed Doors"
*
1998 Grammy Hall of Fame Award – "Behind Closed Doors"
References
Other sources
*
Further reading
*
Escott, Colin. (1997). "Charlie Rich". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 442–43
*Guralnick, Peter
971
Year 971 ( CMLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Battle of Dorostolon: A Byzantine expeditionary army (possibly 30–40,000 men) ...
(1994). ''Feel Like Going Home: Portraits in Blues & Rock n Roll''. New York: HarperCollins.
External links
Official websiteAllMusicBiography on Charlie Rich, Jr.'s website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rich, Charlie
1932 births
1995 deaths
Deaths from pulmonary embolism
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
American country pianists
American male pianists
Countrypolitan musicians
Singer-songwriters from Arkansas
Sun Records artists
Phillips International Records artists
Groove Records artists
RCA Victor artists
Charly Records artists
Epic Records artists
Smash Records artists
Grammy Award winners
People from Benton, Arkansas
People from St. Francis County, Arkansas
20th-century American singers
20th-century American pianists
Country musicians from Arkansas
20th-century American male singers
Burials at Memorial Park Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)