Rich was at the height of his career when he walked onto the CMA stage to present Entertainer of the Year. He had won the award himself the previous year, and his career was filled with hits that had made him one of Nashville’s most recognizable stars.
He pulled out a cigarette lighter and set the card bearing Denver’s name on fire before announcing the winner.
Denver, who was appearing by satellite, accepted the award without publicly responding to the incident. But Rich’s actions were widely interpreted as a rejection of Denver’s crossover success and the changing sound of country music. Rich was subsequently blacklisted from future CMA Awards ceremonies.
The singer later suggested that the incident helped push him toward a different musical direction.
But he also offered a revealing possibility: Maybe, on some level, he had been ready to move on.
"Maybe I was rebelling," he said, "but not against John Denver and not against country music."
Rich wasn't simply a country star who imploded at an awards ceremony. He was an eclectic musician who had never fit neatly into one box.
By the early 1970s, he had found enormous commercial success.
Rich was named CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1974, putting him at the absolute center of Nashville's establishment just one year before the infamous incident.
Rich continued recording after the controversy, but his relationship with the country establishment had clearly changed.
Rich died in July 1995 at age 62.
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