Charlie Louvin, 1927-2011

Roger Ryan of the Country Music Association of Ireland reports:

Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Louvin [left] passed away this morning at his home in Wartrace, Tennessee, after battling pancreatic cancer for the last several months.

Charlie and his brother Ira placed twelve songs on the country music charts as the Louvin Brothers, from 1955 to 1962, including one #1, 'I don’t believe you’ve met my baby'.

Ira was killed in a car crash in 1965 and Charlie continued as a solo act and scored thirty chart singles from 1964 to 1989, including six duets with Melba Montgomery.

Charlie was born Charlie Loudermilk in 1927 in Rainsville, Alabama.

Charlie Louvin was one of the truly good folks in the country music business and will be missed.

Thanks also to John and Terry Eberle of the IBMA's LBG circle for forwarding this link to the substantial obituary feature by Peter Cooper in the Tennesseean; and to Karen May for forwarding this news of a radio tribute:

Music has lost a Legend today with the passing of Charlie Louvin. In honor of his contribution to bluegrass music, we would like to invite you to a one hour special broadcast on World Wide Bluegrass, celebrating the career of Charlie and Ira Louvin. This special broadcast will be hosted by Ernie and Debi Evans of Evans Media Source Thursday 27 January 2011 at 2.00 p.m. EST on Facebook.

The obituary that appeared in the Daily Telegraph (UK) can be seen here. Thanks to Richard F Thompson, the tributes and reminiscences of many musicians can be found on the Bluegrass Blog.