Charles Bradley (singer)

Charles Bradley
Charles Bradley & Menahan Street Band (Jazz Fest Wien 2011)
Background information
Born	(1948-11-05) November 5, 1948 (age 68) Gainesville, Florida, United States
Genres	Funk, soul
Years active	1965–present
Labels	Dunham Records
Associated acts	The Budos Band, Menahan Street Band
Website	http://thecharlesbradley.com

Charles Bradley (born November 5, 1948) 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 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".

He is the subject of a documentary, Soul of America, that premiered at South by Southwest in 2012. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer in October 2016.

Bradley was raised by his maternal grandmother in Gainesville, Florida until the age of eight when his mother, who had abandoned him at eight months of age, took him to 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.

When he was fourteen, Bradley ran away from home to escape 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 Job Corps which eventually led him to Bar Harbor, Maine to train as a chef. A co-worker told him he looked like James Brown and asked if he could sing; he was at first shy but then 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. His band mates were later drafted into the Vietnam War, and the act never re-formed.

Bradley worked in Maine as a cook for ten years, and then decided 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.