Charles Allan Rich was an American country music singer, composer, and musician who lived from December 14, 1932, until July 25, 1995.
His varied musical approach, which included elements of gospel, rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, and other genres, was frequently challenging to categorize.
When did Charlie Rich start singing?
Charlie started singing at a very young age.
Whirlwind, Rich’s debut record for Sun Records, was made available in August 1958. In 1959, he cut several songs, but few of them saw the light of day—there was still too much jazz. He released Lonely Weekends, his first single to reach the top 30, in 1960.
Rich then used the moniker “the Silver Fox” to describe himself. He is probably best known for his 1973 singles “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl,” which topped the country and pop singles charts in the United States and brought him two Grammy Awards. 2015 saw Rich’s induction into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
Rich was given a stack of Jerry Lee Lewis records and told, “Come back when you get that terrible,” after recording four demo tracks for Sam Phillips at Sun Records that Phillips deemed “too jazzy” and “insufficiently mainstream.” [1] Rich himself recalls Bill Justis saying such comments to Rich’s wife in an interview with Fresh Air presenter Terry Gross from 1992.
Rich started working regularly for Sun Records as a session musician in 1958, contributing to a wide range of recordings by Lewis, Johnny Cash, Bill Justis, Warren Smith, Billy Lee Riley, Carl Mann, and Ray Smith, among others.
