Jazz guitarist, generally considered to have popularized the use of the electric guitar in jazz music.
Came from an impoverished background. His blind father was an itinerant guitarist and singer. Unable to afford his own instrument, Charlie forged his first guitar from old cigar boxes.
Loved to dress in brightly coloured, flamboyant clothes.
His untimely demise from tuberculosis was hastened by alcoholism, a dissolute life style and persistent lack of sleep.