Charlie Nagatani

Hometown

Kumamoto, Japan

Artist Information

In 1985, Charlie celebrated his 30th Anniversary of singing country music with his first performance on theGrand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1989, Charlie organized the first and only country music festival in Japan. The event was titledCountry Gold and was a tremendous success, drawing approximately 8,000 fans. This year, Charlie will celebrate the 27thCountry Gold Festival. Charlie also organized the firstCountry Sunshine concert in Kumamoto in 1994. The event was an annual event held each spring at the Kumamoto Civic Hall until 2008.

In 1991 he appeared onNashville Now, a nationally televised program on The Nashville Network. In 1992, Charlie traveled to Nashville to record his first album. Friends joining Charlie on this project included Emmylou Harris, Bill Monroe, Porter Wagoner and the Osborne Brothers. The album also features a song “My Name is Good Time Charlie”, which tells the story of Charlie's life. While in Nashville, Charlie appeared onEntertainment Tonight,Crook & Chase, CBS'Talk of the Town,Nashville Now, theErnest Tubb Midnite Jamboree and theGrand Ole Opry (his fourth appearance).

TheAnnual Country Gold Concert is held in the fall of each year at Aspecta in Kumamoto. Since the first event in 1989, over 100 of America's top country music artists, their bands, television crews and journalists have traveled to Kumamoto for this one-day event, which now draws 30,000 fans.

In 1998, Charlie was honored with the CMA International Promoter / Buyer of the Year Award, and the prestigious Mansfield Award. In May 1999, Charlie and his wife Toshiko were invited to attend a State Dinner at the White House with President Clinton and wife, Hillary Rodham-Clinton. In March 2000, Charlie was presented with the Cultural Award from the Kumamoto Prefectural Government. In 2005, Charlie received the Prefectural Award of Distinction from the Governement of Kumamoto and the Jim Reeves Award from the Academy of Country Music. He was also featured in CMT’sForty Greatest Firsts. RKK-TV in Kumamoto honored Charlie in 1995 by filming a documentary of his life and 40 years singing country music.

Charlie has never disbanded his band. The Western Cannon Balls have performed with Charlie for more than 50 years and over 80 musicians have changed in the configuration of the group. Charlie's band has the longest history of any band in existence in Japan.