Chuck Negron(1942-2026)

Singer Chuck Negron was born on June 8, 1942 in New York City. He grew up in the Bronx. His parents were Charles and Elizabeth Negron. At age fifteen, Negron had already recorded his first single and performed at the legendary Apollo Theater with his doo-wop group The Rondells. Moreover, Chuck played basketball in both schoolyard pick-up games and at Taft High School. He attended Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California on an athletic scholarship and was subsequently recruited by coach Bill Sharman to play basketball for California State University in Los Angeles. Negron decided to leave his promising sports career behind in order to pursue music instead. He recorded the singles "Sharon Lee" for Marlinda Records and "I Dream of An Angel" for the Heart Van label. After a brief and helpful tenure with Columbia Records in the mid-1960s, Chuck became one of the original founding members of the rock group Three Dog Night in 1967. Three Dog Night went on to become one of the most popular and successful rock bands of the 1970s; they not only scored numerous hit songs on the Top 10, Top 20, and Top 40 Billboard pop charts, but also sold millions of records and played to huge audiences at sold-out concerts all over the world. Alas, by the time Three Dog Night split up in 1976, the rock'n'roll lifestyle had taken a massive toll on Negron. Suffering from a serious and life-threatening addiction to heroin, Chuck did stints in over thirty drug rehabilitation centers before finally kicking his habit in September, 1991. Negron opened for Howie Mandel's Atlantic City show in 1994 and released the solo album "Am I Still In Your Heart" in 1995. In 1999, he wrote his autobiography "Three Dog Nightmare: The Chuck Negron Story." Chuck released the album "The Long Road Back" that same year. Negron now divides his time between raising his family, performing, lecturing, and working with such anti-drug organizations as Cri-Help, MusiCares, and Musicians Assistance Program.