Photo: Charlie Robison | Charles Fitzgerald Robison (September 1, 1964 – September 10, 2023) was an American country music singer-songwriter. After a knee injury at Southwest Texas State University ended a potential football career, Charlie Robison moved to Austin, Texas in the late 1980s and had stints in the bands Chaparral, Millionaire Playboys, and Two Hoots and a Holler. He went solo with his album “Bandera” in 1996. He subsequently signed with Sony and released “Life of the Party” on Sony’s subsidiary Lucky Dog Records. The album gave him three of his biggest hits including “My Hometown.” His next release was a live disc called “Unleashed Live,” which is credited to Charlie, brother Bruce, and Jack Ingram. He then signed with Columbia Records for “Step Right Up” and another live album.
In 2003, Robison was a judge on the first season of the TV singing competition Nashville Star.
Unhappy with the expectations & limitations of being a Nashville country artist, he moved to a smaller independent label, Dualtone, for “Good Times” in 2004, followed by extensive touring and newfound control over his career. Accordingly, his sound began to evolve away from mainstream/Nashville country and toward more Southern & hard rock influences.
Five years after the release of Good Times, Robison released Beautiful Day on June 23, 2009, on Dualtone. This was the first CD he self-produced. Both albums featured several songs written by Nashville singer-songwriter Keith Gattis.
His song “Good Times” was featured in the credits of HBO’s original series True Blood in the first season’s third episode.
In 2009, he embarked on an East Coast tour with stops in Little Rock, Nashville, Atlanta, Raleigh, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Iowa City, and Memphis to promote “Beautiful Day.” Since then he played primarily in Texas, with occasional shows in Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.
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On September 24, 2018, Robison announced that due to complications from surgery, he was permanently unable to sing, and that he was regretfully officially retiring from stage and studio.
Hey amigos, Charlie here. I’m sure you’ve all been wondering where I’ve been. Well, at the beginning of this year I underwent a surgical procedure that because of complications left me with the permanent inability to sing. Therefore, with a very heavy heart I am officially retiring from the stage and studio. Gonna keep it short but just wanted y’all to hear it from me. It’s been an amazing ride and I cannot tell you all what the last 25 years has meant to me. I was looking forward to another 25 but as they say “shit happens”. I thank you all for everything you’ve given me and I hope I was able to give you a fraction of the happiness you gave me. It was a hell of a ride but as they say all good things must end. Keep on supporting this thing we call Texas/Red dirt and hopefully we’ll all get to have a cocktail or two and talk about the good ol days. Until then, Buenos Noches. It’s been fun. Love each and every one of y’all.
Robison resumed his music career in 2022. He returned to Billy Bob’s as part of his first tour since 2018, playing at the same venue where he first played in 1999.
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Robison married Emily Erwin of The Chicks at the Cibolo Creek Ranch in May 1999, with whom he had three children. The couple divorced in August 2008. He and his second wife had a son in February 2020.
Robison died after suffering cardiac arrest and other complications at a San Antonio, Texas hospital on September 10, 2023, at the age of 59.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Robison
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Larry Chance (October 19, 1940 – September 6, 2023) was an American musician and the lead singer of the popular 1960s doo-wop group Larry Chance and the Earls, originally known as The Earls.
He was born Larry Figueiredo in The Bronx, New York, and raised in Philadelphia, PA. Moving back to New York, he originally formed his group as The High Hatters. The group was eventually rechristened The Earls and Figueiredo changed his last name to Chance, after the record label. In 1962, the Earls’ single “Remember Then” was a national hit. Other records entered the charts, including “Never” (top 5 on the local New York chart), “Life Is But a Dream” (top 10 on the local New York charts), and “I Believe”, considered an East Coast classic. Other recordings include “Looking For My Baby” and “Kissing”. Albums included Remember Me Baby, The Earls: Today, The Earls – LIVE, Earl Change, and Streets of the Bronx.
Chance also had a short-lived solo career in the late 1960s, but as the oldies revival scene started a strong run in the early 1970s and 1980s, the Earls became one of the most requested groups in the doo-wop genre and Chance returned to the group. They continued to perform actively and remained popular on the oldies circuit.
Chance was diagnosed with cancer in 2000, but went successfully through chemotherapy. He performed at the 2001 DOO WOP special in Pittsburgh, and told his fans about his experiences with his illness, before he sang “I Believe”.
Larry Chance died in Monticello, New York, on September 6, 2023, at the age of 82.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Chance
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
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If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at
http://www.wikipedia.com
September 2023
12: Beytocan, 67, Turkish-born Swedish Kurdish singer and musician, cancer; Brendan Croker, 70, English musician (The Notting Hillbillies), leukaemia; Kwak Soon-ok, 91, South Korean singer; MohBad, 27, Nigerian rapper, singer and songwriter.
11: Benito Castro, 77, Mexican musician, comedian (Los Hermanos Castro) and actor (Como dice el dicho), fall; Dedi Graucher, 62, Israeli singer, cancer; Yvonne Prenosilová, 76, Czech singer; Jan Tabachnyk, 78, Ukrainian variety composer, accordionist and politician, MP (2006–2014).
10: Evgeny Brazhnik, 78, Russian conductor; Charlie Robison, 59, American singer-songwriter, cardiac arrest; Matthew Stewart, 41, American trumpeter (Streetlight Manifesto).
9: Rafal Paczkowski, 61, Polish sound engineer, musician and composer.
8: Mylon LeFevre, 78, American Christian rock singer, cancer.
7: Charles Gayle, 84, American jazz saxophonist and pianist; María Jiménez, 73, Spanish singer; Akira Nishimura, 69, Japanese composer, jaw cancer; Margherita Rinaldi, 88, Italian lyric soprano.
6: Larry Chance, 82, American doo-wop singer (The Earls); Richard Davis, 93, American jazz bassist; Malini Rajurkar, 82, Indian classical singer; Steve Roden, 59, American contemporary artist and musician.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2023
Photo: Charlie Robison | From his Facebook post
Charles Robison, Country Star, and Larry Chance, Do-Wop Singer (Life Is But a Dream) Die // Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths
