Charles Otis "Charlie" Waller (January 19, 1935 – August 18, 2004) was the lead singer and guitarist for the bluegrass band The Country Gentlemen. Waller was involved with The Country Gentlemen for 47 years. As a member of The Country Gentlemen, Waller was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1996.
Biography
Waller was born in Joinerville, Texas and moved to Lake Charles, Louisiana at the age of 2 with his family. He began to play guitar at the age of 10 and moved with his mother to Baltimore, Maryland. In 1952, Waller joined Earl Taylor's bluegrass band, the Stoney Mountain Boys. He returned to Louisiana in 1956 as a guitar player with Buzz Busby and the Bayou Boys, making appearances on television. In 1957 he and Busby returned to the Washington, D.C. area, where Waller met mandolinist John Duffey and banjo player Bill Emerson. When Busby was injured in an auto accident in July 1957, Emerson formed a temporary band with Waller and Duffey to fulfill Busby's bookings. The temporary band soon became permanent, and The Country Gentlemen would continue for more than fifty years.
Charlie Waller may refer to :
Charlie F. Waller (November 26, 1921 – September 5, 2009) was an American Professional Football head coach for the San Diego Chargers from 1969, the last season of the American Football League, to 1970, the first season of the merged National Football League. His total coaching record at the end of his career was 9 wins, 7 losses and 3 ties. Waller was offensive backfield coach and took over for Chargers head coach Sid Gillman on November 14, 1969 after Gillman's resignation due to poor health, Gilman remained as General Manager. After Gillman's health improved he was named Charger head coach on December 30, 1970 and Waller offensive coach. He is a 1942 graduate of Oglethorpe University and a 1980 inductee in its Athletic Hall of Fame. He was head football coach at Decatur, Georgia High School in the 1940s. In 1951 he joined Ralph Jordan's staff as offensive backfield coach at Auburn University.
Waller was later an assistant coach for George Allen and the Washington Redskins.
The Rumble Strips were an English band from Tavistock, Devon. The band took their name from rumble strips, which are a series of small, continuous lines of bumps across a road with fast-moving traffic, to remind traffic to slow down in time for a roundabout. Having known each other since childhood, a precise conception date for the band doesn't really exist. The line-up remained the same throughout until they disbanded in 2010. The band were signed to Fallout Records, a subsidiary of Universal Island Records.
History
Formation
Lead singer Charlie Waller was involved in music from an early age, initial inspirations included Lou Reed's Transformer and bands such as Adam and the Ants. He moved to London for art college and played with his band from Devon, the Action Heroes. After the Action Heroes realised they had been playing together for 9 years, they felt the need for change. With the former keyboardist – Harry Dwyer (who would later go on to direct most of the Rumble Strips' videos) spending too much time on his Morris Minor, Waller began writing and playing again with former Tavistock friend Tom Gorbutt, and also recruited Henry Clark, (coming as standard) the drummer from the Action Heroes Matthew Wheeler, The Rumble Strips were formed, the year was 2004. Also during this time, Charlie was one of two frontmen in Vincent Vincent and the Villains with flatmate and fellow singer/songwriter Vincent Vincent. The strain of playing in two bands eventually led to Waller quitting both groups before being coaxed back to the Rumble Strips. Vincent Vincent wrote the song "Johnny Two Bands" about Waller's departure. Old schoolfriend and former bandmate of all the Rumbles (from the Mother Eating Blackberries and Action Heroes) Sam Mansbridge was brought in to the line-up at the end of 2006 to beef up the live sound, playing bass and the big Rumble Drum that is such a feature of the band's live act.