Charlie Parker was born August 29, 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas. He developed his own style during his jam sessions. Parker played piano and saxophone. People said his fingers would "fly over the keys of the piano." His main mentor was alto saxophonist Henry "Buster" Smith. Parker’s nicknames were "Yardbird" or "Bird" because he loved eating chicken. He changed the way to play music forever.

Parker struggled with drug addiction for most of his life, and this led to his death in 1955. He was one of the most original performers of jazz. He was also one of the greatest musicians of all time.

When Parker was young, his mother bought him an alto saxophone. He quit school and became drug addicted when he was 15. Parker married a girl named Rebecca Ruffing and played with George Lee’s Combo when he was only 16. Two years later Rebecca and Charlie got a divorce. He got the divorce because he said Rebecca treated him more like he was her son than her husband. Charlie did not like this so he started beating her up. This was not the only episode of violence in Charlie’s life. When Charlie was 17, his father was stabbed to death by a lady that was drunk (in a quarrel).

For the first few years of Parker’s career no one wanted to play music with him because he played offbeat. In 1938, Parker hoboed his way to New York and joined the Jay McShann Band and was kicked out the same year. (Later he rejoined the band, but in 1942 left the band for good because of a drug overdose.) In 1939, Charlie met trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in Kansas City. Most of the time people say Parker played better than Gillespie. Even with this opinion going around, Parker was still jealous of Gillespie’s fame and fortune. Gillespie, of course, was very jealous of Parker. Gillespie wrote some of Parker’s songs for him because Parker didn’t always like that part of his job. Gillespie liked to challenge Parker to chess matches. Most often Gillespie won against him.

In 1943, Charlie married his second wife, Geraldine. In 1944 Parker worked with the Billy Eckstine Band. Once, Charlie Parker dropped a cigarette on the floor during his sleep. The house caught on fire because of that cigarette. During that time, his second marriage failed. In 1948, he married a woman named Doris Parker, (his third wife), in Mexico.

Charlie Parker was a master in blues. There are 175 known recordings by Parker. Once he recorded forty titles in one year! Parker played a lot of bee-bop. Some of Parker’s well known recordings include "Swingmatism", "Hootie Tootie", "Dexter Blues", "Confessin’ the Blues", "One Woman’s Man", "New Confessin’ the Blues", "Red River Blues", "Baby Heart Blues", "Cryin’ Won’t Make Me Stay", "Lonely Boy Blues", "Sepian Bounce", "Tiny’s Tempo", "I’ll Always Love Just the Same", "Get Me On Your Mind", " The Jumpin’ Blues", "Romance Without Finance", "Red Cross", "Groovin’ High", "Dizzy Atmosphere", "All the Things Are", "What’s the Matter Now?", "I Want Every Bit of It", "That’s the Blues", "4-F Blues", "Dream of You", "Seventh Avenue", "Sorta Kinda", "Ooh! Ooh! My! My! Oh! Oh!", "Salt Peanuts", "Shaw ‘Nuff", "Lover Man", "Hot House", "What More Can a Woman Do?", "I’d Rather Have a Memory Than Dream", "Mean to Me", "Dizzy Boogie", "Flat Foot Floogie", "Popity Pop", "Slim’s Jam", "Takin’ Off", "If I Had You", "20th Century Blues", "The Street Beat", "Warming Up a Riff", "Billie’s Bounce", "Now’s the Time", "Thriving From a Riff", and "Scrapple From the Apple".

Parker had many faults. He was often late for performances. Parker loved whiskey, and copied and imitated a lot. Parker borrowed a lot too, like when he borrowed Gigi Grice’s saxophone. (He would always pay Grice back, though). Parker had his own way of thinking. He would take the shortest way out instead of the usual way. He always wanted lots of attention. He called his mother long distance very often. Parker fell asleep way too much at the stand. He was a very moody and forgetful kind of guy. He also used to loan and borrow a ton of money. Some people thought Parker was hard to talk to, but other people insisted that he was the easiest person in the world to talk to. Everyone who loved Parker coddled him. For his good points, Parker never refused a challenge. He had a mind that could see things and keep them there; he could take one look at a piece of music and memorize it. Parker loved to listen to old music. He had a romantic image. Lots of people looked up to him.

Parker was the fastest man on the horn. He was active and never stopped writing tunes. Sadly, Parker suffered a lot of tragedy in his life. After returning from a trip to Europe, Parker suffered a peptic ulcer attack. In 1950, Doris Parker and Charlie Parker separated, but they were never officially divorced. In 1952 Parker was fired from his job at the "Say When Club" for insubordination. In 1953, his daughter Pree died of pneumonia. During 1954 Parker attempted suicide twice. The second time he was fired from his own club, named "Birdland".

Charlie Parker died on a Saturday, March 12, 1955 at 8:45, probably from complications arising from his drug addiction, which began when he was only 15 years old. Other factors contributing to his death were a disease called lobar pneumonia, and heart failure. He died just before Easter. Many people were shocked and still can’t really believe that Charlie Parker is really gone.