“I got my nickname after the legendary jazz musician Charlie Parker, even though he played the saxophone, and I started playing the trumpet, I was so influenced by Louis Armstrong, who also performed at the Népstadion in 1965. I attended the Ballet Institute, but I was already attracted to Dixieland, then, of course, the Beatles and the Stones came along, and I started playing the guitar,” Charlie recalled at the book’s Wednesday evening press launch at the Hungarian Music House.
He said: his first serious band was Decca in the second half of the sixties, but the name had to be changed quickly because of the world-famous record label. That’s how they became Olympia, with which they accompanied Teri Harangozó, Péter Poór and other dance singers on the ORI tour across the country, and then Charlie went to work abroad, in the Middle East and Africa, for three years with his fellow musicians.
“In my career, I’ve played with different bands for over twenty years, which is huge because it’s very hard work, we usually had to do 45-minute shows four times a day. I’ve been all over the world, I’ve been to the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, Spain and other places,” Charlie said. .
He said that he still sings with the wrong technique, because when he came to a teacher after many, many years of concerts, he didn’t change, “and I breathe the other way around”.
One of the many incredible stories is that when they performed in Yugoslavia, they were thrown a beer bottle, but it was supposed to be a sign of respect, the singer said.
Charlie was a member of Generál in the seventies, and after returning home in 1989 after a long period abroad, he joined the Tátrai Band – this brought him national popularity, even though he was already over 40 years old at the time. “There were hardly any spectators at our first performances in the countryside, no one knew us. Then the cart started,” he said.
The Tátrai Band has made ten records, featuring hits such as New York, New York, Küszöbö tál, Journey to the Unknown, Dawn Wind or Secret Love. He started his solo career in 1994 and produced hit songs one after the other: Ice with double whiskey, Könyű álm zejő aj, Kónő álóm geő az éj, Miňki valaké’é, Nezz az az keð. His latest album is Mindenen túl, released in 2020. The music was written by István Lerch and the lyrics by Attila Horváth.
“I’ve been playing with guitarist Attila László and bassist Béla Lattmann for more than thirty years, with keyboardist János Halász, saxophonist Péter Csiszár and drummer András Póta for more than twenty years. I need health, love of the profession, and colleagues to keep going even today. I can also learn from them, and I’m lucky to be able to stand on stage even today,” said Charlie Horváth.
The book 77 stories was published by Troubadour Books. Charlie Horváth will perform at the Papp László Budapest Sportarena on October 26.
