Charlie Polk was born in Greenville and moved frequently throughout the state as the son of a Methodist minister. He attended public schools in Columbia and Union before moving to Walterboro, where he started beginning band in the 5th grade under the direction of Gerald Polk. Charlie also played in bands directed by Richard Johns, Jack Perkins, and A.B. King before graduating from Marion High School in 1974.
Mr. Polk attended Wofford College in 1974 and began taking music classes in an exchange program at Converse College his sophomore year before transferring to the University Of South Carolina in 1976. While at USC, he studied trumpet with Dr. A. Keith Amstutz and was a first-place winner in the 1977 Music Department’s annual Concerto Aria competition. He earned the Bachelor and Master of Music Education degrees with Performance Certificates.
Mr. Polk has served as Director of Bands at Lexington Middle School in Lexington, S.C., since 1979, where his bands have consistently earned Superior Ratings at festivals and contests throughout the Southeast. The Lexington Middle School Band received the S.C. Band Director’s Outstanding Performance Award for twenty-nine consecutive years. In the 1992-93 school year, Charlie was named Teacher of the Year. Before coming to LMS, he was Director of Bands at Battery Creek High School in Beaufort, S.C. Mr. Polk is a member of SCBDA, ASBDA, Phi Beta Mu, and MENC.
Charlie is an active clinician as well as a seasoned performer on trumpet. He has performed at the Spoleto Festival in both the legit and jazz areas. He is a member of the Dick Goodwin Big Band, South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra, and Darius Rucker Big Band. He has played lead trumpet with a host of renowned artists, including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Olivia Newton-John, Natalie Cole, and The Temptations, in addition to traveling shows such as Disney on Ice, the Ringling Brothers, and the Broadway in Columbia series. Locally, he maintains an active schedule of trumpet engagements for weddings, church services, as well as community theatre productions. Charlie and his wife Lessie are the proud parents of Hannah Polk, also a USC music graduate, who is Director of Bands at Pleasant Hill Middle School.