Charlie Wilson Makes Comeback From Homelessness, Cancer
Over the years, the Grammys have served as a backdrop for heart-tugging comeback stories. If Charlie Wilson should win either one of the awards he’s up for on Sunday, it may mark one of the more unusual – a successful resurgence after a series of setbacks, including spending two years homeless.
“People really don’t know how I laid in the streets,” Wilson said. “From that to this, I cried when they told me I had a Grammy nomination. It still doesn’t seem real to me, because so many doors have been shut on me so many times. … Everything was derailed.”
Wilson, nominated for best R&B album for “Uncle Charlie” and best male R&B vocal performance for “There Goes My Baby,” has one of the most recognizable voices in R&B. His crisp tenor anchored hits like “Outstanding” and “You Dropped the Bomb on Me” as lead singer of the Gap Band in the early 1980s. The group, which included brothers Ronnie and Robert, were among the top R&B acts in the nation.
But Wilson says the Gap Band hit a roadblock in 1986 when they asked to split their publishing deal with their manager; Wilson claims the manager dropped them and then had them blackballed in the industry, threatening anyone who tried to sign them since the group was still under contract with him.
“I couldn’t bounce back from that,” he said. “Everywhere we went, he ran interference. He threatened people. It was a sad situation. Drugs came a lot more. My brothers and I weren’t getting along that well.”
Slow cash flow and a cocaine and alcohol addiction drove Wilson to become homeless, as he slept in the alleys of Los Angeles’ famed Hollywood Boulevard between 1993 and 1995.
Some of the homeless who knew of the singer took care and protected him, finding him food and building a place for him sleep. He used a brick for his pillow, a cardboard for a bed and shopping carts to surround him.
Outside of his homeless friends, Wilson didn’t want to be seen by anyone else. During the daytime, he would hide away from the public until dark.
Source: Huffington Post
