Charles "Chuck" Negron is an American singer-songwriter, best known as one of the three lead vocalists in the band Three Dog Night, which he helped to form in 1968.
Background
Negron was born in Manhattan, New York to a Puerto Rican father and a British mother. He grew up in The Bronx, where he sang in local doo-wop groups and played basketball both in schoolyard pick-up games and at Taft High School. The latter talent led to his being recruited to play college basketball at Allan Hancock College, a small community college in Santa Maria, California.
Later he played at California State University, Los Los Angeles
Career
Music In 1967, Negron"s pal, singer Danny Hutton, invited Negron to join him and Cory Wells. They founded the band Three Dog Night. The group became one of the most successful bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s, having sold approximately 60 million records and earned gold records for such songs as "One", "Easy to be Hard", and "Joy to the World".
The rock and roll lifestyle took its toll on Negron, and by the time Three Dog Night disbanded in 1976, Negron had a serious heroin addiction which began in the early 1970s.
In July 1975, the British music magazine, NME, reported that Negron had been arrested for cocaine possession in Kentucky. He overcame his addiction in September 1991 and embarked on a solo career, recording the albums:
Am I Still In Your Heart? (1995)
Joy to the World (1996), a Christmas Civil Defense
Long Road Back (1999)
Chuck Negron – Live In Concert (2001), a double Civil Defense set, recorded at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and released on Sindrome Records, with sidemen Richard Campbell on bass guitar, Danny Mishkit on guitar, keyboards and saxophone, Frank Reina on drums and Terence Elliott on lead guitar
Live and In Concert (2005)
The Chuck Negron Story (2005)
= Book He also wrote his autobiography, Three Dog Nightmare (1999).
In the book, Negron attributes his recovery from heroin addiction to his turning to God in desperation, after dropping out from more than 30 drug treatment facilities. Personal life
Chuckie was later arrested and sent to state prison after being thrown out of rehabilitation and at the Hollywood Bowl.
Negron"s cousin was the late actor, comedian, painter, and playwright Taylor Negron.