Charles Edward Fach Jr., former Mercury Records Executive VP of A&R died on Monday, April 25 at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage , TN at the age of 82. A memorial service will be held Saturday, May 7, 2PM at the Hermitage Funeral Home , Nashville, TN.
Charles Fach  was born on September 10, 1928 to Charles E. Fach and Anna (nee Stark) Fach in Camden, NJ. He was raised in Pennsauken, NJ and attended Amon Heights Elementary and Merchantville High School. He served in the U.S. Navy as a radioman during WWII from 1946-1948 and attended Ursinus College where he graduated with a BA in Business in 1952.
Fach began his career in the music business in 1952 at RCA in Camden designing business forms. He was quickly promoted to regional sales manager and served as marketing director for several years. In the late 1950’s, Fach joined Mercury records and in 1961 he became President of their subsidiary label Smash. As the head of Smash, he worked closely with artists like Roger Miller, Bruce Channel, the Angels, and the Left Bank. Fach went on to become Executive VP of A&R at Polygram records where he successfully developed the careers of Bachman-Turner-Overdrive, Kool and the Gang, the Bar-kays, and the Ohio Players. In 1979, Fach moved to Nashville to head Musiverse, a production subsidiary of Polygram, where he was executive producer of several country albums with George Burns, including the single “I Wish I Was 18 Again”, written by Sonny Throckmorton. He also had two top ten hits with the Kendalls on Mercury Records (via MusiVerse) with  “Before I Cheat” and “If You’re Waiting On Me, You’re Backing Up.” In the early 1980s, Fach started his own label, Compleat Records, which produced several top ten singles with Vern Gosdin including the #1 hit “I Can Tell By the Way You Dance (You’re Gonna Love Me Tonight)” and “If You’re Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It Right)” .
Fach is survived by his ex-wife Marcia of Hermitage, his son Charles of Hermitage, his daughter Kimberly Lawson of Gig Harbor, WA., three grandchildren, Nick Mareno, Mariah O’Brien, and Sophia Lawson, one sister, Joan (Edward) Praplaski of Wayne, PA, and several cousins. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the ASPCA or the Grammy Foundation.

Charlie Fach (R) with (L-R) Buddy Killen, Burt Reynolds and Bobby Goldsboro.

(L-R) Robert Metzgar, Charlie Fach and Sonny Throckmorton celebrating last year after Fach’s second hip replacement surgery.

Texas native Kristen Kelly has signed with RCA Records Nashville. She recently inked her record deal at the Sony Music Nashville offices. Kelly will soon be going into the studio with famed singer-songwriter Paul Overstreet and Grammy award-winning producer Tony Brown.

(L-R) Front row: Paul Overstreet, Gary Overton (Chairman & CEO, Sony Music Nashville), Kristen Kelly, John Grady (artist manager). Back row: Skip Bishop (Sr. VP, Promotion), Jordan S. Keller (Lassiter, Tidwell, Davis, Keller & Hogan, PLLC), Paul Barnabee (Sr. VP, Marketing), Kerri Fox-Metoyer (VP, Sales)

The Country Music Marathon and Half Marathon presented by Nissan runs through Nashville the morning of Saturday, April 30 and the music industry is pitching in to make it even more memorable.
RCA’s Danny Gokey has signed on to sing the national anthem before the start gun at 7 am. He will also be helping raise awareness for Sophia’s Heart, a non-profit organization started in honor of his late wife. While Gokey was on American Idol viewers learned the tragic story of his wife Sophia, who had passed away only four weeks before he appeared on the show.
Numerous celebrities and industry people will participate, including the members of Diamond Rio (running for their Team Rio charity), TobyMac, and GAC’s Suzanne Alexander. Sanctuary Management’s Zac Koffler is running the race to benefit ABLE Youth, a Nashville-based wheelchair sports and independence group. His race will include pushing three children in three shifts through the entire marathon.
Once all the participants have napped and recovered, Montgomery Gentry will provide the post-race concert later Saturday evening at Bridgestone Arena. See information about the race, including road closures, at nashville.competitor.com.

Sanctuary Management's Zac Koffler poses with friends from ABLE Youth after a recent training run. (L-R): Braden Teague, Fiona Murphey, J-rod Denning, and Koffler