Charlie D was born in Virginia and raised in the Mountains of North Carolina. While a young child, his family had him take lessons in drums, tuba, and trumpet. He finally settled on the trumpet and choir throughout his Grammar and High School years. He has been around the professional music scene since his days in the U.S. Navy.
Charlie purchased his first flat-top guitar in 1972, while stationed in the Pacific Northwest, and became hooked on the instrument. He started performing light rock, pop, and folk music in the local Cafe’s on Whidbey Island and took his bluegrass & mountain music background to the pubs in Skykomish near Steven’s Pass in the Cascade Mountains.
In 1975, while stationed in Japan on the U.S.S. Midway, he formed a band and performed at the taverns and pubs in Yokosuka, Hiyama, and Tokyo. He became so popular that the Yokosuka Navy Base commander asked if his band would perform as a warm up for the Grass Roots. The concert was billed as an American-Japanese relationship venue with other ethnical shows on stage. Charlie’s band played mostly traditional American folk songs and was well received.
The very next year, the commander of the Atsugi Navy Air Base hosted the same venue and requested Charlie’s band to perform as the top billing act. The group entertained 30,000 local folks and military families at that concert and Charlie received a letter of accommodation from the base commander for his performance.
Since 1977, Charlie has lived and worked in central Texas. His real job is with the Veterans Benefits Regional Office in Waco, Texas, but his passions are sailboat racing and music. He has performed live at festivals, at local restaurants and steak houses, for the Manor Nursing Home Christmas shows in Temple, and at private parties and weddings. His music style is mostly Dan Fogelberg and the Eagles, but plays quite a variety of music to include Old Time Country (50's & 60’s), Country Pop, Bluegrass, Gospel, Easy Listening, Light Rock, Golden Oldie Crooners like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, and 60’s rock & roll.
