Growing Up
Charlotte Harden was delivered at St. Bernard's Hospital in Jonesboro, Arkansas on January 24, 1944. Charlotte's father,
James Gordon (J.G.) Harden, ran a family owned grocery store in Portia, Arkansas. Charlotte's mother, Nadine, was a
hairdresser. Charlotte had one sibling, a sister named Jo Ann. Charlotte would spend the first eight years of her life
growing up in Grubbs, a very small Arkansas town. It was at this point in Charlotte's life, that her family moved to Flint,
Michigan - which would became her hometown until graduating from high school.
From an early age, Charlotte's parents molded her for performing. After the family had moved to Michigan, J.G. became a
booking agent for local country music bands. This new job gave him many connections to help Charlotte on her way to stardom.
He soon had her singing and performing at local events and talent shows. Nadine also had some musical talent and it has
been said that she played a mean "honky tonk" piano. She encouraged her daughters' talent and had her enrolled in jazz,
tap and ballet classes to aid Charlotte with performing.
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Charlotte's first appearance over the air waves was at the age of nine, on the 'Stars of Tomorrow' which was heard over WTAC
in Flint. 'Stars of Tomorrow' was a weekly radio show that allowed young, new, unsigned talent to be broadcast over the air
and at the end of each program a winner was selected. Charlotte's performance was well received and this lead to consecutive
appearances on the show for the next year. The following year, Charlotte made her debut over T.V. on WXYZ out of Detroit.
For the next few years, she was a regular guest on many television stations throughout the area. Before she had reached her
teenage years, she was already working her way into the hearts of the public.
