Charlie Robison, a Texas singer-songwriter whose folk-rock anthems topped the country charts till he was forced to quit singing due to complications after surgery, passed away on Sunday. He was 59.
According to a family member, Robison passed away in a San Antonio hospital after experiencing cardiac arrest and other issues.
Before creating his own band, Millionaire Playboys, Robison began his musical career in the late 1980s by performing with local Austin bands including Two Hoots and a Holler. His solo debut, “Bandera,” was released in 1996 and was titled after the Texas Hill Country hamlet where his family has owned a ranch for many years.
Robison joined Sony’s Lucky Dog label, which specialized in the rawer country after the company approached him in 1998. The only Top 40 country hit off of his 2001 album “Step Right Up” was “I Want You Bad.”
Following a throat operation, Robison declared in 2018 that he had completely lost the capacity to sing. He announced his official retirement from the stage and studio on Facebook, writing, “Therefore, with a very sorrowful heart, I am.
For one year, Robison presided as a judge on “Nashville Star,” a reality TV program on the USA Network where participants cohabited while vying for a recording contract for country music.
His wife Kristen Robison, four children, and stepchildren all survived him. His first spouse, Emily Strayer, a founding member of the renowned country band The Chicks, bore him three children. In 2008, they got divorced.
Songs from the 2009 album “Beautiful Day” were inspired by Robison’s breakup with Strayer. While residing in a loft apartment in San Antonio, Texas, across from the Greyhound bus terminal, he videotaped it. He described it as “the quintessential bachelor pad,” complete with mismatched furniture and beer bottles all over the floor.
“People come up to me and say they’re going through something right now, and it’s like this is completely written about them,” Robison said to The Associated Press in 2009. “I wasn’t intending to do that, but the record has left a lasting impression”
The 2013 rock-influenced “High Life” album by Robison featured a cover of Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece.”
There will be funeral services.