Charlie
Daniels was born on Oct. 28, 1936, in Wilmington, N.C.,
and raised on a musical diet that included Pentecostal
gospel, local bluegrass bands and the rhythm & blues
and country music from Nashville's 50,000-watt radio stations
WLAC and WSM.
He
graduated from high school in 1955. Already skilled on
guitar, fiddle and mandolin, Daniels formed a rock 'n'
roll band and hit the road.
While
en route to California in 1959, the group paused in Texas
to record "Jaguar," an instrumental produced
by the legendary Bob Johnston, which was picked up for
national distribution by Epic. It was also the beginning
of a long association with Johnston. The two wrote "It
Hurts Me," which became the B-side of a 1964 Presley
hit. In 1969, at the urging of Johnston, Daniels moved
to Nashville to find work as a session guitarist.
Among
his more notable sessions were the Bob Dylan albums of
1969-70 Nashville Skyline, New Morning and Self Portrait.
Daniels produced the Youngbloods' albums of 1969-70 Elephant
Mountain and Ride the Wind, toured Europe with Leonard
Cohen and performed on records with artists as diverse
as Al Kooper and Marty Robbins.
Daniels
broke through as a record maker himself with 1973's hit
hippie song "Uneasy Rider." His rebel anthems
"Long Haired Country Boy" and "The South's
Gonna Do It" propelled his 1975 collection Fire on
the Mountain to double-platinum status.
After
recording for the Capitol and Kama Sutra labels, Epic
Records signed him to its rock roster in New York in 1976.
The contract, reportedly worth $3 million, was the largest
ever given to a Nashville act up to that time. In the
summer of 1979, Daniels rewarded the company's faith by
delivering "The Devil Went Down to Georgia,"
which became a platinum single, topped both country and
pop charts, won a Grammy Award, earned three CMA trophies,
became a cornerstone of the Urban Cowboy movie soundtrack
and propelled Daniel's Million Mile Reflections album
to triple- platinum sales levels.
The
album's title was a reference to a milestone in the Charlie
Daniels Band's legendary coast-to-coast tours, which including
two drummers, twin guitars and a flamenco dancer. The
CDB often toured more than 250 days a year and by this
time had logged more than a million miles on the road.
Transported in a convoy of buses and gleaming black tractor-trailer
rigs, the band now included a full horn section, backup
singers, a troupe of clog dancers and sometimes a gospel
choir. By 1981, the Charlie Daniels Band had twice been
voted the Academy of Country Music's touring band of the
year.
Daniels'
annual Volunteer Jam concerts, world famous musical extravaganzas
that served as a prototype for many of today's annual
day-long music marathons, always featured a variety of
current stars and heritage artists and are considered
by historians as his most impressive contribution to Southern
music.
