‘In It to Win It’
Oklahoma native Charlie Wilson keeps making music, plans home-state shows
Oklahoma native Charlie Wilson keeps making music, plans home-state shows.
It’s remarkable this feeling that I have right now, this homecoming. I know all the artists in this business would love to go home and play for the hometown people.”
— Charlie Wilson
Charlie Wilson still gets a thrill when he hears one of his new songs on the radio.
“Trust me, it’s exciting to me, because it’s so hard to get radio still. I’ve never taken what I’m doing for granted because I’ve seen stars from yesteryear try and put records out and nothing happens for them. … I’m just like a little kid in a candy store. I’m singing all of the song and rolling down windows and seeing if people are listening to the radio station. I’m still doing the same thing that I did when I was in my early 20s,” he said with a laugh.
The former Gap Band frontman, who turns 64 on Jan. 29, will release his seventh solo studio album, aptly titled “In It to Win It,” Feb. 17 via RCA Records. Before he embarks next month on his nationwide “In It to Win It Tour,” which includes a March 17 return engagement at Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena, the 11-time Grammy nominee will play a hometown show Saturday at Tulsa’s River Spirit Casino.
“It’s remarkable this feeling that I have right now, this homecoming. I know all the artists in this business would love to go home and play for the hometown people. I mean, everybody wants to do that, and I just hadn’t got a chance. And now I’ve got a chance. And this is gonna be an awesome feeling,” he said in a recent phone interview.
UNCLE TO UNCLE
Although he was born in Oklahoma City, Wilson came of age in Tulsa, where he and his brothers, Ronnie and Robert, famously started one of the most popular funk groups of the 1970s and ‘80s. Formed in 1967 as the Greenwood, Archer & Pine Street Band, the Gap Band became renowned for its ferociously funky anthems — “Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me),” “You Dropped the Bomb on Me” — and sweet R&B slow jams — “Yearning for Your Love,” “Outstanding.”
Tulsa music icon Leon Russell introduced the world to the Gap Band, who backed him on his 1974 album “Stop All That Jazz.” The Wilson brothers released their band’s debut album, 1974’s “Magician’s Holiday,” on Russell’s Shelter Records, and the future Rock and Roll Hall of Famer affectionately known as “Uncle Leon” played piano on the Gap Band’s eponymous 1977 release.
Russell died in his sleep Nov. 13 at his suburban Nashville, Tennessee, home. He was 74.
“I remember all of those late nights, laughing and pulling on his beard,” Wilson recalled. “Just being there (at Russell’s Church Studio), seeing Ringo (Starr), George Harrison, man, (Bob) Dylan. Everybody come through there. Bob Marley. So many people I used to see come through those doors. I was just a happy camper. He gave me my start, he gave me some tips on what it is to do music and shows and things that you have to do if you want to be successful . ... And I apply all of those things to my life and music. I will never forget him.”
Just as Uncle Leon offered him advice and inspiration as an upand-coming performer, Wilson, now known as “Uncle Charlie,” said he tries to be a positive influence on younger musicians. He has contributed to dozens of songs, worked with Snoop Dogg on several projects and shared Grammy nominations with Kanye West.
Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, Stevie Wonder and more honored Wilson when he was awarded the BET Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. “I’m so happy that I got a chance to rub elbows with him (Russell), and some of that uncle rubbed off on me at a very young age. Little did I know I was gonna end up being uncle to so many, so many, so many superstars,” Wilson said. “I learned a lot from him, and there’s a lot of parallels. He taught me so much. He was good to me.”
POPULAR FEATURES
“In It to Win It” features several high-profile musical guests, including Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Robin Thicke and Lalah Hathaway.
“It’s a beautiful thing. Some of these artists are, like, so big in the music world right now, it’s just huge. … They respect me, and they know who Uncle Charlie is. Uncle Charlie’s their uncle of this music business. I gotta be; look where I’m at. It’s like I’m the uncle — and the cool uncle. I’m at the top of my game and as big as I’ve ever been at this stage in my life,” he said. “I’m having such a good time. It’s so good to have the features that I do have, and all those records feel so good. They’re not forced music. They just feel good.”
Rapper T.I. collaborated with Wilson on the leadoff track, “I’m Blessed,” which the Oklahoma native said is an appropriate starting point for the album.
“I am blessed. Man, that’s such a feel-good record. … People probably they say, ‘Charlie Wilson and T.I. What? What is he doing?’ But when you hear the record … the marriage of the music was just beautiful. He came in with some things he did that were just good,” Wilson said. “I set the tone, and the tone was set just to have feel-good records, meaning that you could clean up to it, you could dance to it, you can get up in the morning and listen to it, you can go to bed and listen to some of it. I wanted to make sure I have an album that fitted all those criteria.”
SEASONED SHOWMAN
At this stage in his career, Wilson said he is grateful for the chance to record new music and play arenas. His sold-out and critically acclaimed “Forever Charlie” trek, which also included a Chesapeake Arena stop, was one of the top winter tours of 2015.
“If you’ve never seen a Charlie Wilson show, you missing out. And don’t say you’ve seen me 10 years ago. That is not the show I’m putting on. You have to come see me now because I changed the game of R&B performing. Trust me, it’s different. You can look up and see some of them big, big superstars, and they stealing for me. And that’s what you’re gonna get,” he said. “I’m ‘In It to Win It.’ “