charlie wilson new album 2017 layla hathaway live

Wilson’s familiar gospel-influenced vocals were now sought after, and with the Gap Band (and all R&B bands and groups) a thing of the past, Wilson began to focus more on his solo career. Pretty soon, an artist of soul and funk music’s past who could have easily been relegated to a novelty nostalgic act started to become – once again – a legitimate force in R&B. He also contributed to popular tunes by Kanye West (“All of the Lights”), Pharrell Williams (“Beautiful”), Common, Kid Cudi and Big Sean.

He began lending his still-soaring and church-honed vocal chops to numerous projects by contemporary hip-hop acts – most notably Snoop Dogg, who rebranded him “Uncle Charlie” and with whom Wilson has forged a close friendship. Wilson began to slowly emerge from the immense shadows of not only his former band, but the drastically changed music landscape with which he was striving to reconnect. By taking a page right out of the Ronald Isley playbook, he chose not to fight the rising tide that brought in the music industry’s youth that was all around him, but to swim with it. Not bad for a man in his mid-60s… a man who two decades ago was down on his luck and was in between careers and battling demons that included alcohol and drug addiction and homelessness.Īnother thing happened during the 1990s that would normally doom many artists in the youth-oriented music industry of which Elton John spoke: Wilson turned 40…right around the time that the Gap Band’s success was reduced to a fraction of what it had been a decade earlier and Wilson’s well-documented personal struggles began.īut the strangest thing happened to Uncle Charlie on his way to 50.

That includes his latest album, In It To Win It, which debuted last week in the top tens of both charts at No. 1 Adult R&B singles (all of which have also reached the top 40 of the main R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart) and eight albums – the last six of which have reached the top ten on either the Billboard 200 or the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop albums list, or both. Charlie Wilson’s latest single is climbing the top ten on Billboard’s Adult R&B chart.Īnd that song, “I’m Blessed,” featuring rapper T.I., is just the latest in a consistent string of hits the 45-year veteran has put together since the turn of the millennium. On that 30-position list, Wilson is the oldest artist represented and the only one in his sixties. Wilson, who turned 64 earlier this year, now has a single climbing the top ten on the airplay-based Billboard Adult R&B list.

The soul music crooner who fronted the family funk trio the Gap Band for three decades beginning in the 1970s has had no such problem – particularly on adult R&B radio – during a solo career the success of which nearly rivals that of even his former band a couple of generations ago. John, who turns 70 on March 25, was quoted as saying that “there comes a point where you have to admit that you’re not going to get played on the radio in America because its ageist.”Ĭlearly, that time hasn’t yet come for R&B legend Charlie Wilson. pop charts during the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s and releasing his most critically acclaimed album in years with 2016’s Wonderful Crazy Night. More specifically, he bemoaned American pop radio for not playing his music anymore – this despite having racked up nine No. Recently, pop music legend Sir Elton John, 69, went on record to say that American radio is suffering from ageism. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart with 48K units sold in its first week. Charlie Wilson’s latest album debuted at No.

This is a story of how R&B legend Charlie Wilson is defying the odds with yet another stellar album release, In It To Win It, and a lead single that’s gaining popularity on Adult R&B radio in America.

Charlie wilson new album 2017 layla hathaway live