Charlie Daniels Has Been Married To Wife Hazel For More Than Half A Decade
Daniels married Hazel Juanita Alexander on September 20, 1964. During their 50th anniversary celebration in 2014, Daniels shared the story of how he first met Hazel.
It happened while he was playing at the Fondalite Club in Tulsa with his band called the Jaguars, Daniels said a pretty girl walked into the club, and she instantly caught his eye. “She came with a girlfriend of hers one night. And I said, ‘Hey I like that curvy little blonde over there. Hey how are you doin’?”
The two of them ended up falling in love, and decided to get married. But since Daniels was so busy with his performing schedule, they had to fit their wedding in when he didn’t have a show. “I had one night off. I had Sunday off, so we got married on a Sunday morning. I had to go back to work Monday night, so we didn’t have a honeymoon,” Daniels said.
The Couple Has One Son, Charlie Jr.
Charlie Daniels and Hazel welcomed their only son Charlie Daniels Jr. in 1965, about a year after they got hitched.
The country star admitted that he spent much of Charlie Jr.’s early life on the road. Daniels revealed that he went sixteen weeks without seeing his son when Charlie Jr. was still an infant. “I came home so anxious to see my family and hold my baby son, and when I picked him up, he started crying. He didn’t know who I was,” Daniels recalled. “Even after we moved to Nashville in 1967, the periods of separation would continue as I pursued my dreams, logging millions of miles and untold weeks away from my family in the process.”
When the family moved to Nashville, Daniels only had $20 on him, but he was determined to make sure Charlie Jr. would “never do without anything he needed.” Even after he finally scored his first record contract, he was still spending too much time away from his family. So whenever he was not touring, Daniels made sure to spend time with his son.
“I missed so much of my son growing up, so many birthdays, anniversaries, and even my days at home for Christmas and other holidays were limited,” Daniels said. “But all through the difficult years of my being gone most of the time, and the days of skimpy budgetary, rattletrap cars and secondhand appliances, my wife never lost sight of what I was trying to accomplish and giving me whatever latitudes and parameters it took for me to get there.”