Charlie Rich

His son, Charlie Rich, Jr., is also a noted musician. Recently, he has played with John Sebastian and the J-Band, a jug band including Fritz Richmond from the Even Dozen Jug Band, Yank Rachell, an original jug-band leader, and Geoff Muldaur. Charlie Rich died in Hammond, Louisiana in 1995 at the age of 62. In the '70s, Sebastian had a hit with the theme song to the Welcome Back, Kotter TV show, which found new life decades later when a sample from it became the hook for rapper Mase's 2004 hit "Welcome Back". In the latter part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname "The Silver Fox" in reference to his full head of grey hair. The Lovin' Spoonful became part of the American response to the British Invasion and was noted for such folk-flavored hits as "Jug Band Music", "Do You Believe in Magic," "Summer In the City," "Daydream," "Nashville Cats," "Did You Ever have to Make Up Your Mind," "Six O'Clock," and "Younger Girl." The chart-topping band were originally to perform on the TV show that became The Monkees and also gained an added bit of publicity when Butler replaced Jim Rado in the role of Claude for a sold-out four-month run with the Broadway production of the rock musical Hair. Other than his music, he is famous for his antics at the 1975 Country Music Association awards ceremony, when he set fire to the envelope that announced John Denver as his successor for CMA Entertainer Of The Year. The band also featured popular drummer-vocalist Joseph Campbell Butler.

Rich was born in Colt, Arkansas to rural cotton farmers. Sebastian was joined by Zal Yanovsky in the Spoonful, which was named after a Mississippi John Hurt song. Charlie Rich (December 14, 1932 - July 25, 1995) was an American country, jazz, and blues musician. He came up through the Even Dozen Jug Band and the Mugwumps, which split to form the Lovin' Spoonful and the Mamas and Papas. 1974 CMA Entertainer of the Year. He grew up surrounded by music and musicians, including Burl Ives and Woody Guthrie and hearing such players as Leadbelly and Mississippi John Hurt in his own neighborhood. 1973 Grammy Award - Best Country Vocal Performance. His father, also named John Sebastian, was a noted classical harmonica player and his mother was a radio script writer.

1973 CMA Album of the Year, Behind Closed Doors. Sebastian was born in Greenwich Village in New York City. 1973 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year. He is best known as a founder of the Lovin' Spoonful, a band named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. John Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American songwriter and harmonica player.