R.I.P.: Charlie Gracie, 86, Philly's First Rock & Roll Star

Charlie Gracie 2018

Charlie Gracie, 86, the South Philadelphia singer and guitarist whose 1950s hits made him an international star, has died. His music had a major impact on the Beatles and many other British acts of the 1960s, according to Dan DeLuca at the Philly Inquirer.

Gracie died Friday in Aldan, Delaware County, his son, Charlie Gracie Jr., said. Mr. Gracie had been ill with a series of complications since contracting COVID-19, after playing his final two shows in April.

Gracie 1958

Charlie Gracie was Philadelphia’s first native son rock and roll star. Though he was never as well-known as peers like Elvis Presley and Little Richard, he recorded as early as 1951 and scored two rockabilly hits in 1957 that ranked him as among the last surviving first-generation rock heroes.

His song “Butterfly,” written by Bernie Lowe and Kal Mann, topped the Billboard charts and became the first No. 1 hit for Cameo Records, the label that would later produce hits for Philadelphia teen idols like Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker.

Cameo’s second No. 1 hit was “Fabulous,” which found Gracie a lifelong audience in the United Kingdom, where he was among the first American rock acts to tour after the song written by Harold Land and Mann reached No. 8 on the British charts.

A 15-year-old Paul McCartney saw Gracie perform in England, and recorded “Fabulous” on his 1999 album Run Devil Run. Gracie’s 2014 memoir, Rock & Roll’s Hidden Giant, written with John A. Jackson, has a McCartney quote on the cover: “When we were starting out with the Beatles, the music coming over from America was magical to us — and one of the artists who epitomized this magic was Charlie Gracie.”

Gracie w/friend 2015

“Butterfly” and “Fabulous” led to appearances on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, $1,000-a-night concert engagements, and The Ed Sullivan Show. Gracie took to heart advice given to him by his Sicilian grandmother after the latter: “Don’t get a big head.”

Mr. Gracie’s time at the top was brief. In a move he said he came to regret, he sued Cameo in a dispute over royalties, and settled out of court, using the money to buy his parents a house in Havertown.

In the late 1970s, Gracie’s music was re-issued and his career gained momentum. George Harrison cited him as an influence. Van Morrison hired him as an opening act in 2000. His 2012 single “Baby Doll” returned him to the pop charts. He toured Europe 40 times, his son said, with a final UK run in 2019.