Charlie daniels bio biography

Charlie Daniels (born Charles Edward Daniels on October 28 1936 - July 6 2020) was an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for his contributions to Southern rock, country, and bluegrass music. He is remembered for his US number-one country hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". He was inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2002, the Grand Ole Opry in 2008, the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009, and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.

Daniels began writing and performing in the 1950s. In 1964, Daniels wrote a song called "It Hurts Me" which Elvis Presley recorded. He worked as a session musician, including playing on three Bob Dylan albums during 1969 and 1970. Daniels recorded his first solo album, Charlie Daniels, in 1970. His first hit, the novelty song "Uneasy Rider", came off his 1972 second album, Honey in the Rock, and reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1974, Daniels organized the first in a series of Volunteer Jam concerts based in or around Nashville, Tennessee. Except for a three-year gap in the late 1980s, these have continued ever since.

In 1975, he had a top 30 hit as leader of the Charlie Daniels Band (CDB) with the Southern rock self-identification anthem "The South's Gonna Do It Again". "Long Haired Country Boy" was also a minor hit in that year.

Daniels won the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance in 1979 for "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", which reached #3 on the charts.

Subsequent Daniels pop hits included "In America" (#11 in 1980), "The Legend of Wooley Swamp" (#31 in 1980), and "Still in Saigon" (#22 in 1982).

In the late 1980s and 1990s several of Daniels' albums and singles were hits on the country charts. Daniels also released several gospel and Christian records.

Charlie Daniels has never shied away from politics. "The South's Gonna Do It" had a mil

The Charlie Daniels Influence

Among Daniels’s accomplishments was the launch of his annual Volunteer Jam concerts in 1974. These multi-artist extravaganzas, sometimes stretching past ten hours in length, became must-see musical spectacles for thousands. During the jams, legends of country music such as Roy Acuff, Alabama, Bill Monroe, Ray Price, and Tammy Wynette shared bills with acts as diverse as James Brown, Don Henley, Billy Joel, B.B. King, Little Richard, Steppenwolf, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. A Volunteer Jam Tour including the Charlie Daniels Band, the Marshall Tucker Band, and the Outlaws crisscrossed the United States in 2007. Subsequently, tours kept the tradition alive.

In recognition of his “unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers,” Daniels was honored as a BMI Icon in 2005.

“When Charlie Daniels was asked how he does what he does, he answered, ‘I just try to play like me, and to sing like I talk,’” Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young said during the 2016 Medallion Ceremony welcoming Daniels to the Country Music Hall of Fame, pointing toward Daniels’s rejection of musical labels.

—Jack Bernhardt

Adapted from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Encyclopedia of Country Music, published by Oxford University Press

American musician (1936–2020)

For other people named Charlie Daniels, see Charlie Daniels (disambiguation).

Musical artist

Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock, country, blues and jazz, and was a pioneering contribution to Southern rock and progressive country. He was best known for his number-one country hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". Much of his output, including all but one of his eight BillboardHot 100 charting singles, was credited to the Charlie Daniels Band.

Daniels was active as a singer and musician from the 1950s until his death. He was inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2002, the Grand Ole Opry in 2008, the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009, and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.

Early life

Charles Edward Daniels was born October 28, 1936, in Wilmington, North Carolina, to teenage parents William and LaRue Daniel. The "s" in Daniels' name was added by mistake when his birth certificate was filled out. Two weeks after Daniels had begun to attend elementary school, his family moved to Valdosta, Georgia, commuting between Valdosta and Elizabethtown, North Carolina, before moving back to Wilmington. After enduring measles, Daniels would require glasses to see for most of his life afterward, which led to him being bullied by other children at his school. Influenced by Pentecostalgospel, local bluegrass music groups and rhythm and blues artists that he heard on the radio, as well as Western films, Daniels began writing and performing songs.

Career

Sideman career and first rock band

Daniels began his music career as a member of the bluegrass band Misty Mount

Charles Edward "Charlie" Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American country singer-songwriter and musician. He played a fiddle and countryrock music. His best known song was "The Devil Went Down to Georgia".

He was honored into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2002, the Grand Ole Opry in 2008, the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009, and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.

Daniels was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. Daniels was married to Hazel Daniels from 1963 until his death. They had a son, Charlie Daniels, Jr., and three grandchildren.

Daniels died from a stroke on July 6, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 83.

Filmography

Related pages

References

Other websites

Media related to Charlie Daniels at Wikimedia Commons