GIANT DIES
‘Screaming Eagle of Soul’ Charles Bradley was 68
THE SCREAMING Soul has gone silent.
R&B singer Charles Bradley died Saturday. He was 68.
The Brooklyn native who rose to fame late in his life was forced to cancel two tours after being diagnosed with cancer last year.
Bradley’s stirring live performances, heartfelt lyrics and underdog story earned him a place among the R&B greats whom he grew up idolizing.
“Charles was truly grateful for all the love he’s received from his fans and we hope his message of love is remembered and carried on,” Bradley’s label Daptone Records said. “Thank you for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”
Bradley played a handful of shows recently in support of his third album, “Changes,” after canceling a 2016 tour.
The buttery-voiced vocalist grew up poor, raised by his mother in Brooklyn. He spent decades working odd jobs as he moved Eagle of around the country. Throughout his life, he would always return to his true passion, singing whenever and wherever he could to make extra cash.
He often told the story of going to see his idol James Brown at the Apollo Theater in Harlem when he was 14. In the early 2000s, Bradley was back in New York, playing small clubs as a James Brown impersonator and taking jobs as a handyman.
Fate led him to the door of Gabriel Roth, the head of Daptone, a Bushwick-based label known for its brass-laden funk and soul releases.
“I couldn’t figure out how he knew me or how he got ahold of me. It wasn’t like I had the word out on the street I was looking for him or anything, or singers,” Roth told the blog Wax Poetic in 2014. “He just showed up at my door! And that was that, man. He sounds amazing.”
The documentary “Charles Bradley: Soul of America,” directed by Poull Brien, followed Bradley’s journey during the transformative months before the 2011 release of his debut album, “No Time for Dreaming.”
Bradley, whose soaring vocals earned him the moniker “The Screaming Eagle of Soul,” put his heart into his live shows, winning over audiences around the world. He soon found himself playing international festivals, including Coachella, Glastonbury and Primavera Sound, as well as drawing growing crowds to his solo shows.
Bradley went on to record three albums under the Daptone label, backed by a rotating cadre of soul and funk players who complemented his old school sensibilities.
“RIP to our dear brother Charles Bradley. Your heart was too big for this planet. See you on the other side. We love you,” labelmates Antibalas said in a statement Saturday.
During his time on Daptone, Bradley worked alongside Sharon Jones, another singer whose stunning voice earned her recognition later in life.
Jones died of pancreatic cancer in November. She was 60.