Charlie Wilson

It was in the early 1990s that Charlie Wilson went deep into drug addiction. He had hit the lowest point of his life; homeless, sleeping on the streets of Hollywood Boulevard. In order to get over his addictions, he enrolled in a Los Angeles drug rehabilitation centre. There he first met Mahin Tat, the centre’s director. The two married in 1995.

Since 1995, Wilson has stayed away from cocaine and alcohol abuse. In 2008, Wilson was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He subsequently underwent successful treatment.

Wilson has actively supported Prostate Cancer Foundation, encouraging black men to get tested for the disease. He is also the national spokesperson of the foundation. He has also spread awareness by providing vocals for Lupe Fiasco’s single, titled ‘Mission’, which focuses on cancer survivors.

Charles Kent "Charlie" Wilson was born on January 29, 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Rev. Oscar Wilson, a minister in the Church of God. He has two siblings, Ronnie and Robert.

At the tender age of three, little Charlie started taking singing lessons. He often accompanied his brothers who sang in the church before their father’s sermons. It was his experience of singing in church that led him to join his junior high school choir team.

Following his elementary studies, Wilson attended Booker T. Washington High School. He later enrolled at Langston University where he went on to become a drum major in the Langston University Marching Pride.

Forbidden to listen to secular music at home, the Wilson brothers often smuggled music by the likes of Stevie Wonder and James brown and secretly practiced it.

Charlie Wilson’s career started on an offbeat mode. What actually started as jam sessions held in neighbourhood garages resulted in the forming of a band, the Greenwood Archer and Pine Street Band in 1970 that had the Wilson brothers as its members. The band was eventually known by its acronym GAP (later Gap) Band.

Right from the beginning, along with his brothers, Charlie Wilson defined and popularized a different type of funk music that was infectious. It was when Wilson took over the role of the lead vocalist for the band in 1973 that its fortunes turned. It was spotted by the revolutionary country rock singer Leon Russell who roped in Gap as his backup ensemble.

In 1974, the Gap band released their little-known debut album ‘Magician’s Holiday’ under Russell’s Shelter label. Kicked out soon by Russell for their lacklustre performance, the band left for Los Angeles where they signed a record deal with Mercury Label.

Under Mercury, Gap reached great heights of success with Wilson’s vocals taking the centre stage. He was praised by the critics who often cited him as a younger version of Stevie Wonder and Wilson Pickett. The decade of 1980s was phenomenal for Gap as it notched several platinum albums and a couple of Number 1 R&B singles.

The band’s singles such as ‘Outstanding’, ‘Party Train’, ‘Yearning for Your Love’, ‘Burn Rubber on Me’, ‘You Dropped a Bomb on Me’, and ‘Oops Upside Your Head’ became some of the most sampled songs in music history. The Gap Band announced their retirement in 2010, after releasing 15 albums.

Though Charlie Wilson is known for his string of successful albums and singles, each of which has broken several records, and have gained an iconic status in the music industry, it all actually started with the album ‘Bridging the Gap’ and its single ‘Without You’ which scored him his first No. 1 Billboard Urban Adult Contemporary hit.

Wilson’s 2010 album ‘Just Charlie’s super hit single ‘You Are’ stands as Wilson’s biggest hit till date. It spent 13 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Urban Adult Contemporary chart and 15 weeks on Mediabase chart. Furthermore, the song scored two Grammy nominations.