In 1975, at the height of his fame, Johnny Rich was at the Country Music Awards Night in Nashville and was presenting the award for Best Male Country singer. He was all tanked up when he went on. When he opened the envelope, he stared at the slip of paper briefly, then pulled a Zippo lighter out of his pocket, set the paper alight , dropped it and walked off stage without a word. The winner that year was John Denver. That was it for Charlie's career.