Charlie Phillips (born July 2, 1937) is an American country music singer and songwriter. With his 4-octave range, he is one of the most soulful and accomplished singers to emerge from West Texas.
A longtime figure on the Texas country music scene, Charlie Phillips hailed from the West Texas community of Farwell, not far from the Texas/New Mexico border. Phillips grew up in a farm family, but developed a keen interest in music as a boy, and was known to sing songs he'd written while plowing the fields. As a teenager, he developed enough confidence in his work to travel to Clovis, NM and play some of his tunes for producer Norman Petty, who had recorded hits for Buddy Holly and Buddy Knox.
Petty was impressed with Phillips, and arranged for him to record some of his material; Buddy Holly played guitar and sang backup on some of Phillips' first sessions in Clovis, including a tune called "Sugartime." Petty brokered a record deal for Phillips with Coral Records, and "Sugartime" was the B-side of his debut single, "One Faded Rose," released in 1957. The record fared well on the country charts, and Coral placed the song "Sugartime" with another one of their acts, the McGuire Sisters, whose cover became a major pop hit and helped turn "Sugartime" into an oft-recorded standard.
