Charlie Robison, the Texan singer-songwriter known for his soulful anthems that graced the country charts, had to step back from his career due to health complications stemming from a medical procedure. Sadly, he passed away on Sunday at the age of 59, succumbing to cardiac arrest and related issues at a San Antonio hospital, as confirmed by a family spokesperson.
Before creating his own band, Millionaire Playboys, Robison began his musical career in the late 1980s by performing with local Austin bands, including Two Hoots and a Holler. His solo debut, "Bandera," was released in 1996 and was titled after the Texas Hill Country hamlet where his family has owned a ranch for many years.
When he was approached by Sony in 1998, Robison signed with its Lucky Dog imprint, which was devoted to rawer country. His 2001 album “Step Right Up” produced his only Top 40 country song, “I Want You Bad.”
In 2018, Robison announced that he had permanently lost the ability to sing following a surgical procedure on his throat. “Therefore, with a very heavy heart I am officially retiring from the stage and studio,” he wrote on Facebook.
Robison served as a judge for one year on USA Network’s “Nashville Star,” a reality TV show in which contestants lived together while competing for a country music recording contract.
His wife Kristen Robison, four children, and stepchildren all survived him. His first spouse, Emily Strayer, a founding member of the renowned country band The Chicks, bore him three children. In 2008, they got divorced.
Robison’s breakup with Strayer inspired songs on the 2009 album “Beautiful Day.” He recorded it while living across from the Greyhound bus station in San Antonio, in a loft apartment with mismatched furniture and strewn beer bottles, “the quintessential bachelor pad,” he recalled.
“People come up to me and say they’re going through something right now, and it’s like this is completely written about them,” Robison told The Associated Press in 2009. “I wasn’t meaning to do that, but it’s been a residual effect of the record.”
Robison’s final album, the rock-tinged “High Life” from 2013, included a cover version of Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece.”
Details for memorial services are yet to be finalized.