At the time, he had been appearing with Don Messer on independent TV station CHCH-TV in Hamilton, Ontario, who picked up the show for some four years after it was cancelled by the CBC in 1969.
Chamberlain's mother became a widow early on, and to support her around the home, he began working in the lumber woods at the age of eight.
Despite his young age, he was an extroverted individual, eager to entertain in that environment.During WWI, he allegedly sang to the soldiers on passing trains.
While riding a train himself, a friend of Don Messer's heard Charlie singing, and put him in touch with the fiddler who was looking for a vocalist.
During the sixties, when Don Messer's Jubilee was one of the highest rated TV shows in Canada, Charlie also worked pumping gas at a service station in Lakeside, NS.