Chuck Woolery
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:
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Chuck Woolery
Biography
Although best known for his lengthy career as a television game show host, Chuck Woolery also enjoyed a run as a recording artist, even cracking the Billboard Top 40 as one-half of the psychedelic pop duo the Avant-Garde. Born March 16, 1941 in Ashland, Kentucky, the young Woolery aspired to a career in music but instead joined the U.S. Navy and later studied economics and sociology at Morehead State University. After graduation, he worked for Pillsbury before relocating to Nashville to resume his musical pursuits where he joined fellow singer/guitarist Elkin "Bubba" Fowler in the Avant-Garde. After they signed to Columbia, the duo recorded their debut single, "Yellow Beads," in late 1967 that captured a sweeping acoustic sound. This sound crested with the follow-up, "Naturally Stoned," a minor classic of orchestral pop that reached number 40 on the Billboard pop charts in mid-1968. The more overtly psychedelic touches that distinguished the Avant-Garde's first two efforts were nevertheless scrapped for their third and final single, "Fly With Me". When the disc barely dented the charts, the group dissolved and Woolery continued as a solo artist with the release of "I've Been Wrong" in 1969. In all, he released five solo discs on Columbia. None of them generated much attention, and after 1970's "Hey, Baby," the label terminated Woolery's contract. He then signed to RCA, moved to Los Angeles, and released "Forgive My Heart."Following the commercial failure of 1971's "Love Me, Love Me," Woolery launched an acting career. He starred as Mr. Dingle in the children's program New Zoo Revue and appeared as a featured vocalist on the musical game show Name That Tune. Following a spot on The Merv Griffin Show, Griffin tapped Woolery to host his production company's fledgling daytime game show, Wheel of Fortune. Woolery and co-star Susan Stafford headlined the NBC series from 1975 to 1982 and Woolery won a Daytime Emmy in 1978. At the peak of the show's popularity, he resumed his singing career and released the 1977 singles "Painted Lady" and "Take ‘er Down, Boys" on Warner Bros. After exiting Wheel of Fortune in the wake of a contract dispute, he signed on to host the long-running dating program Love Connection and concurrently helmed NBC's Scrabble from 1984 to 1990. In 1991, Woolery hosted his own short-lived talk show and in 1996 served as co-host of the Family Channel's Home and Family. Following the mammoth success of ABC's primetime quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Woolery hosted the Fox Network's copycat show Greed. He also founded MotoLures, a company that manufactured his signature line of fishing lures. In 2003, Woolery was hosting the Game Show Network program Lingo and was also the subject of the channel's first-ever reality series; dubbed Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned, the show also featured the Avant-Garde's biggest hit as its title theme. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
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| Chuck Woolery | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Charles Herbert Woolery March 16, 1941 Ashland, Kentucky, US |
| Occupation | Game show host |
| Years active | 1969– |
| Spouse | Margaret Hayes (1961–71) Jo Ann Pflug (1972–80) Teri Nelson (1985–2004) Kim Barnes (2006– ) |
| Children | 6 (5 living) |
| Website | |
| http://www.chuckwoolery.com/ | |
Charles Herbert "Chuck" Woolery (born March 16, 1941) is an American game show host. He has had long-running tenures hosting several different game shows. He was the original host of Wheel of Fortune from 1975–81, the original incarnation of Love Connection from 1983–94, and Scrabble from 1984–90 (and during a brief revival in 1993). He also hosted Lingo on Game Show Network (GSN) from 2002–07, and most recently hosted Think Like a Cat, which premiered on GSN on November 15, 2008.[1] Woolery's performing career began in singing,[2] and he has occasionally dabbled in other entertainment roles including acting[2] and talk show hosting.[2]
Woolery is politically conservative, and has spoken publicly in favor of conservative political positions.[3][4]
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Personal life
Woolery was born in Ashland, Kentucky.[2] He is a devout born again Christian and spends a great deal of time volunteering in ministry.[5] He is a political conservative.[6]
Woolery is one of the founders of the political action committee Restart Congress, along with, among others, Michigan's 41st Secretary of State, Terri Lynn Land. The organization is dedicated to passing an amendment to the United States Constitution establishing term limits for members of the United States Congress.
He and his first wife Margaret had three children: Cary, Katherine, and Chad, who died at age 19 in a motorcycle accident in Brentwood, California in January 1986.[7] With second wife Jo Ann Pflug, he had a daughter, Melissa. With Teri he had sons Michael and Sean.[8] He married fourth wife Kim Barnes in 2006.[9][10]
Career
Woolery served two years in the U.S. Navy[11] after graduating from high school. In 1963, Woolery worked as a wine consultant for Wasserstrom Wine & Import Company in Columbus, Ohio. He was also a sales representative for Pillsbury. In the 1960s, Woolery and Elkin "Bubba" Fowler recorded as the musical duo The Avant-Garde which had one-hit wonder success in 1968 with the top 40 pop hit "Naturally Stoned".[12] Also during this time, he sidelined as a truck driver to supplement his income. Between 1977 and 1980, Woolery recorded for Warner Bros. Records and Epic Records as a solo artist, with two low-charting singles on Hot Country Songs.[13]
While co-starring as Mr. Dingle on the hit children's series New Zoo Revue, Woolery's first game show appearance was on a 1974 episode of Tattletales alongside then-wife Jo Ann Pflug. Starting as an enterprising folk/pop singer, Woolery was also seen on a 1974 episode of Your Hit Parade. On January 6, 1975, Woolery began hosting the game show Wheel of Fortune at the suggestion of creator Merv Griffin, who had seen Woolery sing on The Tonight Show, and Woolery hosted for six years. In 1981, Woolery was involved in a salary dispute with the program's producers. Woolery stated in a 2007 interview that he demanded a raise from $65,000 a year to about $500,000 a year because the program was drawing a 44 share at the time, and other hosts were making that much. Griffin offered Woolery $400,000 a year, and NBC offered to pay the additional $100,000, but after Griffin threatened to move the program to CBS, NBC withdrew the offer. Griffin dismissed Woolery from Wheel of Fortune; his final episode aired on December 25, 1981. Weatherman Pat Sajak replaced him.[14] Since then, Woolery has made references to his termination from Wheel on some of his later programs, most notably in the 1990 finale of Scrabble and two episodes of Greed. Nearly all of Woolery's Wheel episodes are believed to have been permanently lost, due to NBC's common practice of wiping to save money.
Woolery has also hosted Love Connection (1983–94), The Big Spin (1985), Scrabble (1984–90, 1993), The Home and Family Show (1996–98, co-host), The Dating Game (1997–99), Greed (1999–2000) (which was originally supposed to be hosted by Phil Donahue), and Lingo (2002–07). In addition, he was the subject of a short-lived reality show, Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned in 2003,[15] and has been seen on television infomercials as a national spokesman for National Recreational Properties, promoting developing real-estate developments such as Holiday Island in Arkansas. He also hosted his own talk show, The Chuck Woolery Show, which lasted for only a few months in 1991. He has also hosted The Price Is Right Live! at Harrah's casinos, and appeared in the live stage show "$250,000 Game Show Spectacular" at the Las Vegas Hilton until the show ended in April 2008.[16]
Woolery was also the co-host, along with Cristina Ferrare, of the unique talk and information show The Home and Family Show in the late 1990s. Michael Burger replaced Woolery in the final year of the show.
Woolery, who has often spoken enthusiastically about bass fishing, sells his own line of fishing products, including the "MotoLure," a motorized lure that simulates the motions of a small fish. Woolery's passion for the outdoors has also enabled him to become the official outdoor spokesman on QVC, where he promotes many other signature products. Woolery has also played on the World Poker Tour Hollywood Home Game for the charity Safe Passage.
Discography
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [13] |
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| 1977 | "Painted Lady" | 78 | |||||||
| "Take 'Er Down, Boys" | — | ||||||||
| 1980 | "The Greatest Love Affair" | 94 | |||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
See also
Notes
- ^ Think Like a Cat at about.com
- ^ a b c d http://bestgameshowstoday.com/GameShows/Wheel-of-Fortune/Chuck-Woolery-Bio.htm
- ^ Chuck Woolery on Occupy Wall Street, youtube.com (Chuck Woolery statement against Occupy Wall Street), Retrieved February 13, 2012
- ^ Christopher, Tommy (February 9, 2012). Mediaite Interviews The Great Chuck Woolery At CPAC, He Is No Fan Of President Obama, Mediaite
- ^ "Chuck Woolery ... still making love connections". AskMen.com. http://www.askmen.com/toys/interview_100/131_chuck_woolery_interview.html. Retrieved 2007-10-20.
- ^ Seidl, Jonathan (November 4, 2011). Chuck Woolery Sits Down With Beck and Explains ‘Coming Out’ as a Conservative. The Blaze. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ Castro, Peter. The Mourning After. March 31, 1997. Vol. 47 No. 12.
- ^ (June 15, 2003). Marriage Woes for Woolery, Fox News
- ^ (July 20, 2006). A Love Connection for Chuck Woolery, People (magazine)
- ^ Corcoran, Michael (September 25, 2010). Fishing brings game show host Chuck Woolery to Texas, Austin American-Statesman
- ^ http://tv.gsn.com/shows/lingo/
- ^ Ankeny, Jason. "The Avant-Garde biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p183845. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
- ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc.. pp. 474. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.
- ^ "Woolery Reveals 25-Year Rift With Merv Griffin on "The Strip"". eMediaWire. 2007-11-25. http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/11/emw571557.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-28.
- ^ Petrozzello, Donna (June 9, 2003). Woolery chucked into the reality mix, Daily News (New York)
- ^ "R.I.P. $250,000 Game Show Spectacular". http://thestrippodcast.blogspot.com/2008/04/rip-250000-game-show-spectacular.html. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
External links
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Edd Byrnes (1974 pilot) |
Host of Wheel of Fortune (daytime) January 6, 1975 – December 25, 1981 |
Succeeded by Pat Sajak |
| Preceded by none |
Host of Love Connection September 19, 1983 – June 30, 1995 |
Succeeded by Pat Bullard |
| Preceded by Ralph Andrews |
Host of Lingo August 5, 2002 – June 6, 2007 |
Succeeded by Bill Engvall |
| Preceded by none |
Host of The Big Spin October 28, 1985 – November 18, 1985 |
Succeeded by Geoff Edwards |
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AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists
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Mentioned in
The Treasure of Jamaica Reef
(1974 Adventure Film)
Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned
(2003 TV Series)
Why Don't We Go Somewhere and Love
(1972 Album by Sandy Posey)
Bass Fishing: The Basics With Chuck Woolery
(2004 Sports & Recreation Film)
The Avant-Garde
(Rock Band, '60s)
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