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Charles Kent "Charlie" Wilson (born January 29, 1953) is an American R&B singer-songwriter-producer and the former lead vocalist for the Gap Band. As a solo artist he has been nominated for six Grammy awards, received a 2009 Soul Train Icon Award, the BET lifetime achievement award in 2013, and was a recipient of a BMI Icon Award in 2005. In 2009, he was named Billboard magazine's #1 Adult R&B Artist, and his song "There Goes My Baby" was named the #1 Urban Adult Song for 2009 in Billboard Magazine.
Wilson is the national spokesperson for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. As of July 2009, the PCF has raised over $380 million for research and funded more than 1,500 research projects at nearly 200 institutions worldwide. The PCF has set up a Creativity Award in Charlie's name which donates hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to researchers across the country. The Creativity Award allows for the development of creative science that conforms to PCF funding principles but is short-term and designed to allow development of otherwise unfunded ideas.
He was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At age 3, he was taught to sing in church which led the way for him to sing in his junior high school's choir, which was a precursor to his musical career with The Gap Band and later his solo career. He attended high school at Booker T. Washington.
From the start of his career, Charlie and his brothers, Robert and Ronnie, helped define and popularize an upbeat form of funk music that was infectious and lasting with their group The Gap Band. The group's songs like “Outstanding”, "Party Train", "Yearning For Your Love", "Burn Rubber on Me", “You Dropped A Bomb on Me”, and “Oops Upside Your Head” are among their immense catalog and some of the most sampled songs in music history. After 15 albums The Gap Band announced their retirement in 2010.
Charlie Wilson’s distinctive voice is evocative of both past and present. He is one of the few artists whose vocal style and performance continue to influence some of today’s most popular artists including R. Kelly, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg, and Kanye West.
According to Wilson's website, www.unclecharliewilson.com, he is also known as "Uncle Charlie". This name was given to him by rapper Snoop Dogg, with whom he is good friends. Snoop and his wife, Shante, renewed their vows in April 2008 at Wilson's 20 acre ranch outside of Los Angeles, CA. The event inspired the music video to Wilson's hit "There Goes My Baby" which featured Snoop and his wife and was given to them as a gift symbolizing their relationship.
Wilson has been managed by Michael Paran, CEO of P Music Group for the past 14 years. After years of mismanagement, Paran was responsible for rebranding the GAP Band in 1997 and repositioned them as one of the top R&B touring groups.
A few years later, Paran persuaded Wilson to embark on a solo career even though the odds were against them at the time. They independently released Wilson’s first solo album Bridging The Gap, which scored them Wilson’s first #1 Billboard Urban Adult Contemporary single, “Without You.”. In 2004, Paran successfully negotiated a multi-album deal for Wilson with Jive Records. The first album from that deal, Charlie Last Name Wilson, debuted in the fall of 2005 featuring production from various hit-making producers including R. Kelly, Justin Timberlake, will.i.am, the Underdogs, Kay Gee and The Platinum Brothers. The album, which was certified Gold by the R.I.A.A., produced the ubiquitous hit single, “Charlie Last Name Wilson.”
Since then Charlie has consistently topped the Billboard Urban Adult Contemporary chart with singles from his follow up albums through P Music/Jive Records. His 2009 CD, Uncle Charlie, debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 200 and #1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart and received two 2010 Grammy nominations, Best R&B Album and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male for "There Goes My Baby.”
In December 2010, Just Charlie, was released and spawned the hit single “You Are" which held the #1 spot on the Billboard Urban Adult Contemporary chart for 13 weeks as well as 15 weeks consecutively on the Mediabase chart. The song earned two 2012 Grammy nominations, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song giving Wilson, his wife Mahin, and their fellow songwriters Dennis Bettis, Carl M. Days Jr. and Wirlie Morris (who co-produced the track with Wilson) their first nomination as songwriters together. Wilson's delivery of this beautiful song and its performance at radio have confirmed that it is a wedding classic for years to come.
Wilson has been a sought after vocalist and contributor/collaborator to dozens of songs in the Hip-Hop, Rap, and R&B communities. Wilson appeared on The Biggie Duets together with R. Kelly on the song "Mi Casa". He has worked with Snoop Dogg on numerous projects. Their first collaboration was Snoop's 1996 album Tha Doggfather, on which Wilson appeared on four songs: "Doggfather", "Snoop Bounce", "Groupie" (also featuring 213 and Tha Dogg Pound), and "Snoop's Upside Ya Head". He was also featured on the Grammy-nominated single "Beautiful" (together with Pharrell) from Snoop's 2002 album Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss. Wilson appeared on "Signs" (with Justin Timberlake) and "Perfect", both songs from Snoop's 2004 album R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta) The Masterpiece. He was also featured on Ego Trippin', the 2008 album by Snoop Dogg, on the songs "SD is Out" and "Can't Say Goodbye", the latter was also performed live with Snoop and Wilson at 2008's American Idol Gives Back charity concert.
Wilson also appeared on Mystikal's Ghetto Fabulous album in 1998 and in 2 songs on UGK's 2007 Underground Kingz album: "Quit Hatin' the South" and "How Long Can It Last".
In 2011, chart-topping producer/artist, Kanye West, reached out to include Wilson on his highly anticipated CD, My Dark Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Wilson recorded over a dozen songs with Kanye and appeared on the following songs: "See Me Now," with Kanye West featuring Beyoncé; "All of the Lights," with Kanye West featuring Rihanna; "Lost in the World," "Runaway," and "Monster" with Kanye West featuring Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and Rick Ross. In addition to these songs, Wilson also appeared on five of the G.O.O.D. Friday Releases to promote the new CD including, "Lord, Lord, Lord" with Kanye West featuring Mos Def, Swizz Beatz, Raekwon and "Good Friday" with Common, Pusha T, Kid Cudi and Big Sean. He also appears on Bound 2, the closer of Yeezus, West's 2013 album. All together Charlie Wilson's albums have sold over one million copies.
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