Charlie Huhn Biography

* Back to Charlie's Page *

He can’t remember, but they say he used to play records all day long at three years old. So maybe that is why piano lessons began at 4. His mom wanted a concert pianist virtuoso, but after eight years of piano and singing in school, his perfect pitch developed along with a hungry urge to play guitar like the rock and roll bands burning up the Top 40. With the onset of bands such as Cream, Jimi Hendrix and the heavy British Blues filtering through, it was time to get it on. By the age of eighteen, Charlie was fronting his own project covering the heavy stuff like Zeppelin, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher and Savoy Brown, and around this time, as fate would have it, members of Savoy Brown were splintering off and forming what would become one of the most successful and iconic rock bands of the seventies,...Foghat.

After becoming draft exempt with a high lottery number courtesy of Uncle Sam, Charlie took a year off from college to play in a pro bar band on a regular basis. Although he made some money and had a great time, he went back and finished school at Michigan State and after graduation played in a bar band for two years until the BIG BREAK came. He signed with Ted Nugent and Epic Records in 1978 and the rest is history. He toured with Nugent for four years and played on five of his best albums, one of which was the incredibly successful "Weekend Warriors".

The 'stars' were now aligned and after fronting & playing with not only Ted Nugent, but also with Deadringer (with Alice Cooper band mates Neal Smith and Dennis Dunaway), Humble Pie, Victory and Gary Moore, Charlie, almost by cosmic pre-design joined Foghat in August of 2001 Roger Earl and the late Lonesome Dave Peverett had seen Charlie singing a number of years before as lead vocalist for Humble Pie. (He had joined with Jerry Shirley of Humble Pie and toured with the band om 1988 to 1999). They wanted to see who was trying to sing their mate Stevie Marriott's stuff...and they were very impressed with Charlie's powerful vocals.

When Dave passed away in 2000, it was a very difficult time for Foghat and Roger was getting quite a bit of pressure to continue on with the band. Roger remembers, "Dave wasn't replaceable. He was such an integral part of this band. But for the band to continue playing, we had to have a great singer/guitarist, and someone that we could carry on making music with. Although many people were suggested, my only consideration was Charlie Huhn. When I finally spoke to Charlie, he in fact informed me that he was a big Lonesome Dave fan and would be very interested in joining the band. We all got together two months later, after he learned a couple of dozen Foghat songs, rehearsed acoustically in our living room....went into SIR studios in NYC to rehearse for a couple of weeks and hit the road. The rest is history in the making."

A new history indeed. Since joining Foghat, Charlie has traveled across the USA, Canada and Sweden thrilling fans and touring with such comtemporaries as Tom Petty, Joe Cocker, Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, Joan Jett, The Outlaws, The Doobie Brothers, Creedence Clearwater, Steppenwolf, Blue Oyster Cult, Foreigner, Styx and Lou Gramm to name some.

"I'm lucky" says Charlie. "I knock on wood every day and say just give me one more year. It's actually so great to keep rocking and rolling in a former super group that sounds and plays as good as it does today. At this stage, there are no egos anymore. Everyone knows what the score is." And he added, "It's just so great to be involved with people who have been around the block and really know what the purpose is."

Sounds a lot like the Dave Peverett mantra that inspired Roger and kept the band alive in the first place. "It's all about the music."