Charlie Rich

Nicknamed ‘The Silver Fox,’ country music vocalist Charlie Rich didn’t achieve significant commercial success until 13 years after he released his first record. He is best known for country music ballads including “Behind Closed Doors” (1973), “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” (1973), and “A Very Special Love Song” (1974). Born Charles Allan Rich in Colt, Arkansas on December 14, 1932, he began his music career after he left the US Army in 1956 and moved to West Memphis, Tennessee. While working on a farm, he’d perform at local clubs while also working on his own material. He unsuccessfully recorded demos for Sun Records but was hired on as a session musician and played on recordings by most of the artists on Sun’s roster including Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. Charlie Rich’s recording career began in 1960 when he signed to the Sun label offshoot Phillips International Records and released the single “Lonely Weekends,” which climbed to number 22 on the Hot 100. He released more singles and albums throughout the remainder of the 1960s, but only scored one other hit with “Mohair Sam,” which reached number 21 in 1965. By 1968, he had moved away from the rockabilly edge of his early recordings and focused on country music. Charlie Rich then began to experience some success with singles in the late 1960s including “Life’s Little Ups and Downs” (number 41 in 1969). He continued to appear on Billboard’s Country Music Singles and Albums charts, but his career didn’t really pick up steam until the 1972 single “I Take It on Home,” a number 6 hit. In 1973, he had his first massive country and pop crossover hit with “Behind Closed Doors.” The song was a number 1 country hit and even slid into the Hot 100 at number 15. His next single, “The Most Beautiful Girl,” was a smash hit in the US and Canada, hitting the Top of the country and pop charts in both countries. It even managed to reach number 3 in the Netherlands and number 2 in the UK. “There Won’t Be Anymore” (1973) was a country music number 1 and a Top 20 pop hit while “A Very Special Love Song” did similar numbers on the charts. While his time on the pop charts slipped a little, Charlie Rich still had several more country chart toppers including “I Don’t See Me in Your Eyes Anymore” (1974), “I Love My Friend” (1974), “She Called Me Baby” (1974), “Rollin’ with the Flow” (1977), and “On My Knees” with Janie Fricke (1978). Never far from the country music Top 40 chart, Charlie Rich continued to release singles into the 1980s, but his spotlight was stolen by younger country artists and changing styles. A drunken appearance on the Country Music Awards in 1975 – where he burned an envelope bearing the name of John Denver, the winner of the Entertainer of the Year Award – has been cited as a major cause of his ultimate commercial downfall. Charlie Rich stepped away from the spotlight in the early 1980s. He died of a pulmonary embolism on July 25, 1995, at the age of 62.