Charles Price

CHARLES EUGENE PRICE OBITUARY November 3, 1942 to May 9, 2014 Charles Eugene Price, “Chuck”, was born in Autauga County, Alabama, on November 3, 1942. Chuck sang professionally since he was 12 years old. In the mid 1970s as a recording artist for Playboy Records, Chuck racked up a string of Top 20 hits, including “Last Of The Outlaws,” “Lucy Ain’t Your Loser Looking Good,” and “Cowboy Lemonade.” Today he is recognized by his fans and peers for his vocal ability to bring out the heart in the songs he sings. One of seven children, Chuck grew up in a musical environment in a part of the country where Hank Williams was king. “I was raised up on Hank,” Chuck says. Other musical influences during his early years were Lefty Frizzell, Hank Thompson, Ray Price and Carl Smith. “My Daddy used to sing a lot of Jimmy Rogers songs, too,” Chuck adds. Chuck’s mother also played guitar while his grandfather played fiddle and his grandmother played mandolin. “I just kinda took an interest in the old guitar,” Chuck explains. “I started messin’ around with it and it just came about. My mother taught me the basics.” Chuck’s first public appearance was in a fifth grade talent contest when he sang “How Great Thou Art.” Just a few years later he was singing and playing with his first honky tonk band, Curly Williams and the Georgia Peachpickers. That experience helped Chuck to grow up fast and when he was 13 he quit school and left home. He hitchhiked to Florida where he earned his living as a sport’s fisherman. “I didn’t know a soul down there,” he says. “I guess I’ve been a gypsy all my life.” When Chuck was old enough, he joined the Navy in 1960 where he was assigned as a landing craft operator. While on duty in the Orient, Chuck sang in clubs and honky tonks, anyplace there was an audience for his brand of hard-core country. Discharged from the service on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Chuck stayed in the San Diego area for awhile singing in the infamous skull orchards of southern California. “After I got out of the Navy, I knew music was what I wanted to do,” Chuck notes. Later he returned to Montgomery where he formed his own band, soon becoming the top attraction in the area. Eventually Chuck decided to visit Nashville. “I came up here with a few songs,” he says. “Right then, that day, I decided I was gonna be right in the middle of all this.” Chuck did move to Music City in Nashville, Tennessee where he stayed for about a year. “It was just going to school,” he recalls of the dues-paying experience. But then the gypsy in his soul pointed him toward Houston, Texas. “I was in the Navy with an ol’ boy from Houston,” Chuck says. “I just decided that was where I wanted to go.” There, he took a job welding during the day and played at the Esquire Ballroom on weekends, but within a year he was back singing professionally. Ironically, it took a move to Houston to open doors in Nashville. As a recording artist for the Houston-based Teardrop Records, Chuck’s releases all became regional hits, reaching the top of the charts on Houston’s prestigious country radio stations. Chuck, along with Mickey Gilley and Gene Watson, among several others, helped to turn Houston into a country music hotbed of activity. Nashville was starting to notice the attention these artists were garnering. Chuck came back to Nashville where he played a tape of his most recent recording session for Eddie Kilroy at Playboy Records. A few days later Chuck was signed to Playboy Records label. During the years he recorded there, Chuck belted out one hit after another while touring the nation with virtually every top name in country music. He was indeed one of the top young stars helping to shape the future of country music. Years passed by and Chuck ended up in Colorado where he eventually met his wife, Rhonda. They moved to Nashville, Tennessee and lived there for five years. They eventually moved back to Colorado where they lived in Orchard City, Colorado for 12 years. Chuck continued performing a few local shows throughout those years and continued writings songs again. Chuck was also invited to Washington, D.C. for several years to perform a song off the tribute album to Vietnam Veterans that he and his friend Tom Willis co-wrote together. The song entitled “The Unsung Heroes” from that album was chosen as the official song of the “In Memory Day Ceremony”, which is held at The Wall in Washington, D.C. every year in April. Chuck always enjoyed traveling and performing there each year to sing the song for all the families and friends that were there, and to participate in that special ceremony. Chuck Price may have wandered all over the world, but his musical direction has always been on course. If country music is the music of America, then singers like Chuck Price are truly national treasures. When Chuck sings about the pleasures and pains of life, his deep, rich baritone voice wringing out every bit of emotion from the lyrics and melodies, the songs come to life. It’s then that there is no doubt that Chuck Price is a real country singer, singing real country music. Chuck is survived by his loving, caring, and devoted wife, Rhonda, of 20 years. He is also survived by his brother Bobby Price and wife, Shirley, of Wewahitchka, Florida and also Chuck’s sister Ruby Schell and husband Joe, of Port St. Joe, Florida. He is also survived by three nieces and one nephew, five great-nieces, and one great-nephew, as well as one great-great nephew. Chuck always enjoyed his life each and every day to the fullest he could live it. He was always there to lend a helping hand for those who were in need of help. He dearly loved and treasured his wife, and he loved all his family, as well as all of his friends that he leaves behind, but he will always be remembered as a wonderful, caring, and loving man, one full of energy who had the greatest love for life and those around him, who was a great tribute to mankind. He will be missed but never forgotten. He will always live in the hearts of the many loved ones and friends who dearly loved him. He now has his angel wings on and is looking down on all of us with a great big smile. He will always be our guardian angel from up above.