Charles Bradley is an American funk/soul/R&B singer, signed to the Daptone Records label under their Dunham Records division. His performances and recording style are consistent with Daptone's revivalist approach, celebrating the feel of funk and soul music from the 1960s and 1970s. One review stated that Bradley "echoes the evocative delivery of Otis Redding". I'll second that and throw in an extra compliment; Bradley's sound is Retcon Soul at it's very best. He was also the subject of a documentary, Soul of America, that was on BBC Four recently; what a voice, what a hard life.
Bradley was raised by his maternal grandmother in Gainesville, Florida until the age of 8 when his mother, who had abandoned him at 8 months of age, took him to live with her in Brooklyn, New York. In 1962, his sister took him to the Apollo Theatre to see James Brown perform. Bradley was so inspired by the performance that he began to practice mimicking Brown's style of singing and stage mannerisms at home. When he was 14, Bradley ran away from home due to his poor living conditions - his bedroom was in a basement with a sand floor - and lived on the streets during the day and slept nights in subway cars for two years. Later, he enlisted in the Job Corps which eventually led him to Bar Harbor, Maine to train as a chef. One time while working, a co-worker told him he looked like James Brown. When asked if he could sing, he was at first shy but eventually admitted that he could. He overcame his stage fright when a crew member pushed him through the curtains onto the stage, and performed five or six times with a band. After his band mates were drafted into the Vietnam War, the act never re-formed.
Bradley worked in Maine as a cook for 10 years until deciding to head west, hitchhiking across the country. He lived in upstate New York, Seattle, Canada and Alaska before settling in California in 1977. There, Bradley worked odd jobs and played small shows for 20 years. In 1996, Bradley's mother called him and asked him to move back in with her in Brooklyn so she could get to know him. It was there he began making a living moonlighting as a James Brown impersonator in local clubs under the name 'Black Velvet'. During this time, Bradley experienced more hard times, including almost dying in a hospital after being given penicillin (to which he has an allergy) and waking to the police arriving to the scene of his brother's murder just down the road from his mother's house.
While performing as Black Velvet, he was eventually discovered by Gabriel Roth, co-founder of Daptone Records. Roth introduced Bradley to Daptone artist and his future producer Tom Brenneck, (then the songwriter and guitarist for The Bullets and later for Menahan Street Band), who invited Bradley to his band's rehearsal. Bradley asked that the band simply perform while he made up lyrics on the spot. After writing several songs, Daptone released some on vinyl starting in 2002; ten were chosen and released as Bradley's debut album No Time For Dreaming in 2011, at age 62. The album caused a stir almost immediately; for example Mojo magazine placed the album at number 40 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011."
In the spring of 2012, Soul of America, a documentary directed by Poull Brien debuted at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas; Brien had first met Bradley when he directed the music video for the track featured her, The World (Is Going Up In Flames). The documentary tells Bradley's life story and met with favourable reviews and the film went on to play prominent festivals around the world.
Bradley's second album, Victim of Love was released in April 2013; as further endorsement of his soul credentials some of his songs have frequently been sampled by hip hop artists, such as Jay-Z and Asher Roth.
After years of struggle merely to survive, it looks like the success Charles Bradley has long been overdue are finally coming to him; his legacy have already been established.
- FVS
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