5.07.2013

CHARLES BRADLEY: THE SCREAMING EAGLE OF SOUL WORLD TOUR DATES



CHARLES BRADLEY AND HIS EXTRAORDINAIRES WORLD TOUR DATES

Here is another encouraging story about music success found later in life....Charles Bradley is the real deal and like Rodriguez, has finally found his spotlight....RK

Charles Bradley (born 1948, Gainesville, Florida, United States) is an American funk/soul/R&B singer, signed to the Daptone Records label under the Dunham Records division. His performances and recording style are consistent with Daptone's RETRO approach, celebrating the feel of funk and soul music from the 1960s and 1970s.

Bradley was raised by his grandmother in Florida until the age of eight when, while meeting his mother for the first time, she told him that she wanted him to come live with her in Brooklyn, New York.


In 1962, his sister took him to the Apollo Theater 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.


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 Tom Brennek, 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, with Daptone releasing some of them on vinyl starting in 2002, ten were chosen and released as Bradley's debut album No Time For Dreaming in 2011.

In the spring of 2012, Soul of America, a documentary directed by Poull Brien, debuted at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Poull Brien first met Bradley when he directed the music video for "The World (Is Going Up In Flames)." 



This feature film told Bradley's story from his childhood in Florida, to the humble days of homelessness and heartache, then later his gigs as Black Velvet, and finally ended with him touring and recording at Daptone Records. The film went on to play prominent festivals around the world, and the story and legacy of Bradley continued.


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