- Born
- Died
- Birth nameCharles Edward Bradley
- Charles Bradley was born on November 5, 1948 in Gainesville, Florida, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), Stand Up Guys (2012) and Creed II (2018). He died on September 23, 2017 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.
- He was discovered while working as a James Brown impersonator, and released his debut album in 2011 when he was 62.
- Born in Gainesville, Florida, soul singer Charles Bradley moved to Brooklyn as a child, and lived all over the U.S. before returning to New York for the last 20 years of his life. He closely collaborated with a number of acts and backing bands in his career, including His Extraordinaires, Menahan Street Band, the Budos Band and the Jimmy Hill Allstarz band. Bradley, one of the most joyful and powerful contemporary vocalists in his genre, died Saturday, September 23, 2917 at age 68 of complications from stomach cancer, which had been in remission. Bradley toured up through the last year of his life.
- Charles Bradley, like his Daptone label mate, the late Sharon Jones, was a later-in-life soul music success story. He was discovered while working as a James Brown impersonator, and he released his debut album, "No Time For Dreaming," in 2011. "The Screaming Eagle of Soul" quickly turned ears among vintage R&B enthusiasts and younger audiences at festivals such as L.A.'s FYF Fest, where Bradley played in 2016 to raucous crowds. His 2016 album "Changes" was widely praised and led to numerous mainstream television appearances, including a performance on "CBS This Morning Saturday" that earned an EMMY nomination for outstanding on-camera musical performance in a daytime program. Musicians around the music world lamented his passing. The Daptone band Antibalas tweeted: 'RIP to our dear brother Charles Bradley. Your heart was too big for this planet. See you on the other side. We love you." Singer-songwriter Neko Case wrote, over a picture of Bradley and Jones, that "I've had the honor of being completely and utterly blown off stage by both of these sweet-hearts".
- He worked with a number of acts and backup bands, including His Extraordinaires, Menahan Street Band, Budos Band, and the Jimmy Hill Allstarz.
- [on the release of 'No Time for Dreaming' his debut soul album] When I heard it, you can ask anybody, I broke down crying. I broke down. I walked out of the room and I left. I let my mom hear it, and then I saw my mother cry. My brother, my sister, they all can't believe I did it.
- [on reacting to unprovoked violence he has endured] I wanted to get a gun, go out on the streets like a mad person. But when I came home I started praying. When I was on my knees, I actually heard a spirit in myself say, 'Who are you not to suffer? Pick up your cross and follow me. Forgive them.' That was the biggest experience of my life.
- I was on the edge. I was truly on the edge. I thought nothing was going to happen, so I said 'God, what's left for me to do?' At that point I was 61, and I had been honest and humble and giving all my life. But I thought the world wasn't going to give me a chance.
- I'm just trying to give you guys the best of my soul. That's all I'm about. Maybe that's the mission God gave me. If I can't help you, I ain't gonna hurt you.
- Love. You can't touch it, you see it, you wanna grab it, you wanna hold it, but you have to share it with the rest of the world.
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