He was 'The Silver Fox'. Because of his long silver hair (yes, at the time in Country Music his hair was considered long), when you said 'Silver Fox', you could only be talking about one guy.

Charlie Rich.

The son of Arkansas cotton farmers, Charlie was singing Jazz and R&B long before he burst across the Country Music charts. Being a session musician with the legendary Sun Records in Memphis, he recorded alongside and with people like Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

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But 1973...that was the year of Charlie Rich. The title cut from his 'Behind Closed Doors' album spent 2 weeks at #1 on the Country charts and became a Top 20 pop hit as well. But it was the follow-up to that huge hit that sent Charlie into the music stratosphere.

'The Most Beautiful Girl' spent 3 weeks atop the Country charts and 2 weeks at #1 on the Pop charts. Charlie won multiple CMA awards, including Male Vocalist Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Single Of The Year. He added 4 ACM awards to the collection.

There were more hits of course for The Silver Fox, but nothing that could match the magical year of 1973.

So whatever happened to Charlie Rich?

Charlie passed away in July, 1995 from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 62, being survived by his wife of 43 years, Margaret, and his children.

But he left some great music, including the songs from that special Silver Fox year, 1973.

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