Charles Nelson Miller (30 August 1924 – 15 January 2000) was an American singer and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

who had a US top ten hit in 1955 with his version of " The House of Blue Lights".

Career

He was born in Wellington, Kansas, United States, and learned to play

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

as a child.

Moon Mullican Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with ...

and

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star ...

were early singer piano influences. By the mid-1940s he was working as a singer and pianist in clubs in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, before forming his own trio with bass player Robert Douglass. Miller was signed by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

in 1953, and began recording with arranger and saxophonist

Dave Cavanaugh David Cavanaugh, also known as Dave Cavanaugh or occasionally Big Dave Cavanaugh, (March 13, 1919 – December 31, 1981) was an American composer, arranger, musician and producer.

. His early recordings were middle-of-the-road pop and novelty numbers, influenced by

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...

and

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

, but his later recordings for Capitol, including "Idaho Red" and the self-penned "Hopahula Boogie", showed a more lively style. In 1955, he moved to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

, and his recording of "The House of Blue Lights", arranged by Douglass, and first recorded in 1946 by

Ella Mae Morse Ella Mae Morse (September 12, 1924 – October 16, 1999) was an American singer of popular music whose 1940s and 1950s recordings mixing jazz, blues, and country styles influenced the development of rock and roll. Her 1942 recording of " Cow-Co ...

and

Freddie Slack Frederick Charles Slack (August 7, 1910 – August 10, 1965) was an American swing and boogie-woogie pianist and bandleader. Life and career Slack was born in Westby, Wisconsin, United States. He learned to play drums as a boy. Later he took ...

, became his most successful recording, reaching No. 9 on the US pop chart. However, his immediate follow-ups, "Hawk-Eye" (written by

Boudleaux Bryant Felice Bryant (born Matilda Genevieve Scaduto; August 7, 1925 – April 22, 2003) and Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant (; February 13, 1920 – June 25, 1987) were an American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team. They were be ...

) and "Boogie Blues" were less successful. He then recorded more upbeat numbers in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with producer Hugo Peretti, including "Bright Red Convertible", "Baby Doll", and his second hit, "The Auctioneer", which reached No. 59 on the chart in late 1956. His other recordings included "Vim Vam Vamoose", "Cool It Baby!", " Down the Road A-Piece", and a version of the

Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, an ...

' " Bye Bye Love". He also recorded an album for Mercury, ''Songs After Hours'', which contained a mixture of swing era covers and more upbeat

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

numbers. After being dropped by Mercury, he recorded one unsuccessful album for

Imperial Records Imperial Records is an American record company and label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd. The label was reactivated in 2006 by EMI, which owned the label and back catalogue at the time. Imperial is owned by Universal Music Group. Early years to ...

, ''Now Hear This! Songs Of The Fighting 40s'', before gradually fading into obscurity. He and his trio had a residency in

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

for a while, before Douglass left and Miller moved to

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the List of cities in Alaska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of ...

, did a stint playing piano in The Sage Room at Harvey's Lake Tahoe, and later to

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

where he played at The Whale's Tale for many years.

Death

He died in

Lahaina Lahaina (; ) or Lāhainā is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States. On the northwest coast of the island of Maui, it encompasses Lahaina town and the Kaanapali, Hawaii, Kaanapali and Kapalua, Hawaii, Kapalua beac ...

, in 2000 at the age of 75.

References

External links

Chuck Miller story
on Mellow's Log Cabin {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Chuck 1924 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American singers 20th-century American pianists People from Wellington, Kansas American male pianists 20th-century American male singers