{"id":2997,"date":"2023-02-25T07:34:51","date_gmt":"2023-02-25T07:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/?p=2997"},"modified":"2023-02-25T07:34:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T07:34:54","slug":"abkco-records-mourns-the-loss-of-charlie-gracie-may-14-1936-december-16-2022-home-to-the-catalog-of-cameo-records-the-philadelphia-label-for-which-he-recorded-and-released-his-biggest-h","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/25\/abkco-records-mourns-the-loss-of-charlie-gracie-may-14-1936-december-16-2022-home-to-the-catalog-of-cameo-records-the-philadelphia-label-for-which-he-recorded-and-released-his-biggest-h\/","title":{"rendered":"ABKCO Records Mourns the Loss of Charlie Gracie (May 14, 1936 \u2013 December 16, 2022) home to the catalog of Cameo Records, the Philadelphia label for which he recorded and released his biggest hits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It has been revealed that rock \u2018n\u2019 roll pioneer Charlie Gracie died this past Friday, December 16. The news of his passing came from his family via ABKCO Records, home to the catalog of Cameo Records, the Philadelphia label for which he recorded and released his biggest hits.\u00a0\u00a0

Barely out of his teens, Charlie Gracie joined the fledgling Cameo label in 1956 and hit with \u201cButterfly,\u201d the single going to #1 on Billboard\u2019s pop chart the following year, despite a battle with Andy Williams\u2019 cover version of the song. He would go on to tour with\u00a0Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley and Eddie Cochran and star in the 1957 film\u00a0Jamboree.<\/em>\u00a0He found\u00a0an early market in the UK where he enjoyed a string of chart successes including \u201cFabulous,\u201d \u201cI Love You So Much It Hurts,\u201d \u201cWanderin\u2019 Eyes,\u201d \u201cCool Baby\u201d and the aforementioned \u201cButterfly.\u201d A venerated figure in the British rock community, he was showered with plaudits from the likes of George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Peter Noone, Jeff Beck, Graham Nash, Van Morrison, Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney. Both McCartney and Richard recorded versions of \u201cFabulous\u201d in tribute and Morrison chose Gracie to be his 2000 West Coast Tour opener.\u00a0\u00a0

Born Charles Anthony Graci, the Philadelphia native was encouraged early in life to pursue the guitar and singing. At the age of 15\u00bd he recorded his first single, \u201cBoogie Woogie Blues,\u201d for Cadillac Records. He continued to perform the song throughout his career including his very last performance in April of this year.\u00a0 He appeared on the Paul Whiteman TV show at the age of 16 in 1952, two years before he graduated from South Philadelphia High School. Performing at social functions while doing his best to start a recording career, his signing to Cadillac Records led to an appearance on American Bandstand, then hosted by Bob Horn, four years before Dick Clark\u2019s arrival on the show. His recordings for Cadillac, and, later, 20th<\/sup>\u00a0Century Records, though not particularly successful in a commercial sense underscored his connection to blues and country music reflecting the influence of Big Joe Turner, B.B. King and Hank Williams. His was the classic \u201cbirth of rockabilly\u201d story but with a twist as it was set in Philadelphia rather than below the Mason-Dixon line. With his Cameo affiliation, Gracie\u2019s career took off as \u201cButterfly\u201d sold two million copies and established the label as one of the industry\u2019s leading independents.\u00a0\u00a0

Within the next year, Gracie toured Great Britain twice, leaving a lasting impression.\u00a0Graham Nash commented about when Gracie played his native\u00a0Manchester, \u201cWe had been waiting for many weeks for the show. It was a great night of this ‘new music’ and was enjoyed by all who were there. It raised and strengthened my spirits to know that I was not wrong when I sought out, strived for and finally loved this feeling, this desire, to make music, to communicate through music… to get it out…\u201d\u00a0

After his tenure with Cameo concluded, Gracie continued to tour, recording for such labels as Coral, Roulette, Felsted and Diamond, with performance dates in the US, as well as the UK and throughout Europe. More recently, he affiliated with Lancaster PA-based Lanark Records, whose owner Quentin Jones produced two Charlie Gracie albums.\u00a0
In 2006, ABKCO released his entire Cameo output on\u00a0The Best of Charlie Gracie: Cameo Parkway 1956-1958.<\/em>\u00a0

In 2011, ABKCO released\u00a0For The Love of Charlie<\/em>, a new studio album produced by Al Kooper and Quentin Jones with guest appearances by Peter Noone, Graham Nash and Jimmy Vivino. Kooper, whose career goes back to his days with The Royal Teens of \u201cShort Shorts\u201d fame, had played on Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cLike A Rolling Stone\u201d and was a member of the Blues Project, founder of Blood, Sweat & Tears and discovered and produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, commented at the time, \u201cCharlie was a big part of my growing\u00a0up in terms of influence on me in my rockabilly period that came after my doo wop phase. I play in a rockabilly trio every now and then though \u2018Butterfly\u2019 and \u2018Fabulous\u2019 aren\u2019t in the repertoire because there are some things you can’t touch.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That same year, on his 75th Birthday, he recorded “Baby Doll,” his first single in over 50 years to receive UK airplay on the BBC. Issued by RED\/Sony, the record entered the US Top 100 on Mediabase’s Top 40 Chart.\u00a0\u00a0

Charlie Gracie was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame as well as the\u00a0Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame. The Philadelphia Music Alliance honored him with a plaque on the Philadelphia Walk of Fame on the Avenue of the Arts and there is a\u00a0Charlie Gracie Avenue<\/em>\u00a0in Wildwood NJ at Oak and Atlantic Avenues, the site of the Bolero Club where he often performed.\u00a0 Gracie is the subject of the documentary\u00a0Fabulous<\/em>\u00a0that aired on PBS stations; his autobiography,\u00a0Rock & Roll\u2019s Hidden Giant: The Story of Rock Pioneer Charlie Gracie,<\/em>\u00a0was published in 2015 with an endorsement from Paul McCartney. He is survived by Joan, his wife of more than 60 years, daughter Angela Gracie, son Charlie Gracie Jr., daughter-in-law Kim Gracie and brother Frank Gracie.\u00a0\u00a0

Taking stock of his \u201cFabulous\u201d career in recent times, Charlie Gracie wrote,\u00a0\u201cWhen all is said and done\u2026 I\u2019m still little Charlie Gracie from South Philly who sings and plays the guitar. If you ever came to see me perform \u2013 and you found yourself entertained \u2013 and I made you happy for a few hours, then I\u2019ve fulfilled my mission in this life. I\u2019m eternally grateful to God for that opportunity!\u201d<\/td><\/tr>
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It has been revealed that rock \u2018n\u2019 roll pioneer Charlie Gracie died this past Friday, December 16. The news of his passing came from his family via ABKCO Records, home to the catalog of Cameo… <\/p>\n

Continue Reading ABKCO Records Mourns the Loss of Charlie Gracie (May 14, 1936 \u2013 December 16, 2022) home to the catalog of Cameo Records, the Philadelphia label for which he recorded and released his biggest hits<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2997"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3003,"href":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997\/revisions\/3003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}