Charlie Sara

Sara in 1970.

### Genres

Psychedelic rock • country rock • rock • punk • garage rock • avant-garde • folk rock • art rock • experimental rock • soundtrack

### Associated acts

Flyford Favell

**Charles Rafael Sara** (born 28 November 1941) is an American musician, multi-instrumentalist and composer. Sara was keyboardist, rhythm guitarist and vocalist for rock band Flyford Favell. Over a six decade career, Sara has worked in various styles include rock, classical, avant-garde and electronic music.

He studied at the Juilliard School in New York City, moving to the city in 1960, where he became involved in the downtown music scene. He was involved in a number of groups, including The Perennial Circus and The Nadirs, before finally joining rock band Flyford Favell in 1967. Since the breakup of the band, Sara has released a number of solo albums in a wide range of genres and composed music for films.

## Early life

Sara was born on 28 November 1941 in Dallas, Texas. He was the only child of engineer James Sara and piano teacher Melissa Rodriguez. As a child, Sara was taught to play piano by his mother, showing a natural propensity and quickly gained ability. Before his teen years, Sara had already branched out to other instruments. His family were middle-class, and could afford to send Sara to lessons for guitar, violin and flute. He continued this through high school. Speaking on his musical upbringing, in 1980, Sara stated:

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> "I took it very seriously back then. Certainly more than I do now. My parents didn't take it as seriously as I did, even after my mom recognised it as my ticket to further education. I didn't care about that. I was obsessed with being the best - you know, how kids are. I know a lot of kids still like that. Some more than kids."
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>

In the 1950s, Sara gained a great interest in rock and roll. He expressed a great deal of appreciation for artists such as Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Chuck Berry. With intent to leave Dallas, Sara applied to The Juilliard School for piano and was awarded a scholarship. He relocated to New York City in 1960.

## Career

### Early career

Upon arrival in New York City, Sara quickly immersed himself in the downtown music scene. He would spend most of his evenings at some open mic, rarely performing, of many genres included jazz, rock and roll, folk and avant-garde. Through his education, he met a number of influential composers and has since cited these experiences as greatly influential upon his own music. Over the next few years, Sara would co-found a number of bands, including The Perennial Circus and The Nadirs. With skill in a wide range of instruments, he also played in a number of live bands as a stand in, including The Optics, where he would meet Cleo Wallis. He also worked as a session musician between 1964 and 1966. His busy social and work life led to struggles in his studies, and although he eventually did graduate, Sara later suggested that "[he] thought [he] could have done better".

### Flyford Favell

*Main article: Flyford Favell*

In 1967, Sara was approached by Wallis to meet two of her friends - Lawrence Flynn and Al Hickey - she had recently began playing with. She had expressed apprehension given a mismatch of genres, and had hoped that his presence would even things out between them. The meeting went well and soon after the quartet formed Flyford Favell.

In Flyford Favell, Sara chiefly played keyboards and rhythm guitar, although he also contributed vocals, viola, violin, double bass, organ, flute, recorder, celesta and percussion to various tracks. He would generally only play rhythm guitar live, with much of the guitar in the studio played by Flynn. Sara often worked alongside Wallis to feature percussion heavily in the tracks. According to Sara, "What Flyford [had] that sets it apart is Cleo. There's no one like her". His creative relationship with Flynn was similarly integral to the sound of Flyford Favell's second two albums, *The Black Bull of Norroway* and *Sordid Realities*. Arguably, artistic frictions between Flynn and Sara shaped much of the direction of the band, with Sara pushing for more avant-garde and proto-noise rock influences against Flynn's more conventional - and more commercial - folk rock. While disagreements between the pair were notorious, Sara always spoke of Flynn favourably. In a 1992 interview, following the release of *Zetlandicus,* Flynn's debut solo album and first work for twenty years, he said:

>
> "Our studio tussles were never personal, never serious, not like certain other battles. We respected each other a great deal, the two of us. Still do. I mean, have you heard [*Zetlandicus*]? There's no denying it - Lawrence commands a great deal of respect, and you've got to give it to him. Even if he won't ask for it. Too humble for that. The bastard."
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According to Wallis, in 1971, Sara nearly left the band following his divorce from his wife, Martha Reed. Tensions flared between Sara and Hickey in the surrounding months, culminating in a fist-fight in the week the papers were signed. Wallis would express her disappointment in the situation in an interview the following week, "I don't know what happened. It's a drag, really. The two of them were thick as thieves until a few months ago, then...Well, you know the rest." In his autobiography, Sara suggested that even if the band had not broken up in June 1972 following Flynn's overdose in the March of that year, his time in the band would have been short-lived from that point.

Though Sara wrote a number of songs across his time in the band - making his debut on their first album with "Abyssinia", and penning one of their most popular songs, "Setting Sun", with bandmate Hickey - his chief role in the band was often that of an arranger. This would set the scene for his subsequent solo career.

### Solo Career

Following Flynn's disappearance into seclusion and the subsequent breakup of the band, Sara returned to Texas until 1976. During this time, he was in a relationship and lived with photographer Kris Köhler. He did not work during this time, and although little is known about these years, Sara has stated that around a third of his songs were written during this time period. Sara returned to Los Angeles following the Köhler's death.

In 1976, Sara released his first solo work, a collection of orchestral arrangements, published as a double album, *Jonah Historically Regarded*. The album did not chart, nor did Sara intend for it to do so, but it was critically well-received and eventually led to his soundtrack work for a number of films. Over the next forty years, Sara would release twenty-three commercial albums outside of his soundtrack work, his latest released in 2016. He would also work as an arranger and producer for a number of bands, including Wallis' band, The Mansa Musas. His last album, *Idiotstorm,* was released in 2016.

## Personal life

Sara married translator Martha Reed in 1963. Their son, Neal Sara, was born four months later in May 1963. The couple divorced in 1971. In 1973, Sara reconnected with photographer Kris Köhler, and they lived together until her death in 1977. On 14 May 1980, Sara married his third wife, Carla Greenwood. They had one daughter together, Joanna Sara, born October 1982. They divorced in 1994.

Sara lives in Los Angeles. He became addicted to cocaine in the mid-1970s, but he has been sober since 1995. He has confessed that he currently has no plans to release further music due to his declining hearing.

Although Sara and Hickey's feud is legendary in the history of SK Records - and, according to Sara in 2019, is ongoing - Hickey relocated to Los Angeles from New York in 2012, and has been photographed around Sara's house consistently for the past decade. When questioned outside Sara's residence by TMZ in 2018, Hickey stated that he "hates his guts", before re-entering Sara's home.

### Sexuality

In 1989, Sara appeared to acknowledge his bisexuality in an interview with music journalist Nina McNamara, referencing his song "Dock Worker" on his 1982 album, *Soil*. He called the song, which refers to a short-lived sexual relationship with a male dock worker, "semi-autobiographical, an acknowledgement of [his] own life and that [he] had experiences with men as well as women". Five years later, in 1994, he apparently retracted the statement. "I never said that," he said.

## Discography

**Studio albums**

* *Jonah Historically Regarded* (1976)
* *First Fruit* (1978)
* *Brescia Metro* (1979)
* *Le Cochon* (1980)
* *Does The Whale's Magnitude Diminish?* (1980)
* *Soil* (1982)
* *King of Meath* (1983)
* *Conception* (1985)
* *The Thrill Killers* (1986)
* *Don Sheppard's Beautiful Daughter* (1989)
* *Ring of Iron* (1990)
* *The Carpenter* (1992)
* *Railroad* (1993)
* *Rhinoceros 6* (1995)
* *Padra, Gujarat* (1996)
* *Painted Faces and Long Hair* (1999)
* *A Gift for the Darkness* (1999)
* *Castle Rock* (1999)
* *Mold State* (2003)
* *Bandersnatch* (2007)
* *Calf* (2010)
* *Sockburn Worm* (2013)
* *Idiotstorm* (2016)

**Soundtracks**

* *Five Women (1978)*
* *Something Different* (1983)
* *Absence* (1990)
* *Seasons of Song* (1995)
* *Marta* (2004)