[5] None of his seven follow-up singles was a success, however, though several of the songs became staples in his live set, including "Who Will the Next Fool Be", "Sittin' and Thinkin'", and "No Headstone on My Grave".

"Rich's jazzy chops and heartfelt polish transform Nashville's best chicken fat into high-quality mainstream pop—Arkansas's answer to Nat Cole.

Rich's career then stalled and he left the struggling Sun label in 1963, signing with Groove, a subsidiary of RCA Victor.

[4] His first single for Groove, "Big Boss Man", was a minor hit, but once again, his Chet Atkins-produced follow-up records all failed.

[4] His first single for Smash was "Mohair Sam", an R&B-inflected novelty-rock number written by Dallas Frazier, which became a top 30 pop hit.

It has been mentioned in thousands of articles as the song Elvis Presley played on his jukebox during the Beatles' visit to his home on August 26, 1965.

[citation needed] Despite his lack of consistent commercial success, Epic Records signed Rich in 1967, mainly on the recommendation of producer Billy Sherrill.

[4] Sherrill helped Rich refashion himself as a Nashville sound balladeer during an era when old rock 'n' roll artists like Jerry Lee Lewis and Conway Twitty were finding a new musical home in the country format.

[4] The title track from his 1973 album Behind Closed Doors became a number-one country hit early in that year, then crossed over into the top 20 on the pop charts.

One of RCA Victor's several resident songwriters, Marvin Walters, co-wrote for three years with Rich, producing four recordings including the popular "Set Me Free".

Rich had three more top-five hits in 1975, but though he was at the peak of his popularity, he began to drink heavily, causing considerable problems off-stage.

In a 2016 interview, former CMA Executive Director Jo Walker-Meador speculated that Rich's drunkenness may have been in part due to resentment over his being shut out of the nominations that year, after his success at the 1974 awards.

[11]The slump in Rich's career was exacerbated by the fact that his records began to sound increasingly similar: pop-inflected country ballads with overdubbed strings and little jazz or blues.

[4] In 1979, Rich had moderate success with his singles, his biggest hit being a version of "Spanish Eyes" that entered the country top 20.

In 1992, Rich emerged from his semi-retirement to release on Sire Records Pictures and Paintings, a jazzy album produced by journalist Peter Guralnick.

In 2016, a tribute album entitled Feel Like Going Home: The Songs of Charlie Rich was released by Memphis International Records.

Charlie Rich and his wife were driving to Florida for a vacation after seeing their son Allan perform with Freddy Fender at Lady Luck Casino in Natchez, Mississippi, when he experienced a bout of severe coughing.