You could describe 62-year-old singer Charles Bradley as a soul survivor. His hard-knock back story of poverty, homelessness, racism, violence and abandonment hasn't stopped him in his goal to become a successful musician. He was working as a James Brown impersonator when he was discovered and signed by Dunham Records. Soon after he released his debut No Time For Dreaming, which was adored by both critics and fans. The feature documentary Charles Bradley: Soul of America, and its director Poull Brien, take us on Bradley’s journey from obscurity to worldwide success. The film recently premiered at the SXSW film festival, and will play at Toronto’s Hot Docs festival.
Q: Can you describe the experience of hearing Bradley’s music for the first time?
A: Before I was a filmmaker I was obsessed with music. I used to DJ for a living and during that time I loved searching out the original soul, funk, jazz and rare groove samples contained in my favourite hip-hop records. Back then it wasn’t possible to look up samples on the internet and a lot of the early records didn’t even list where these great musical moments came from. The only way to find a lot of this music was to go to a used LP store and dig through the crates. It was a real hunt so whenever I’d find one of those original samples it always felt like a real discovery.
The first time I heard “The World” by Charles Bradley, it took me back to that feeling. I was amazed by the authenticity in Charles’s voice and the vintage music behind him and couldn’t wait to get home to look him up online. That one song led me to Charles, who then led me to my first feature doc. It’s incredible to me to look back at that moment and how much it changed my life.
Q: What was the experience like filming the video for “The World”? What was the concept for the video?
A: The video was basically organized chaos. The shot list was wildly ambitious and our budget was basically nothing. In addition, with the exception of the roof shots and studio shots which we filmed at Dunham Records, our locations consisted of the most dangerous sections of Brooklyn – these were the areas where Charles grew up in and currently lives in and we wanted to capture him walking through his world in the video. A couple of the residents weren’t too keen on our presence: one gentleman offered to cut us for pointing a camera in his direction and another made some not-so-friendly references to his gun. In addition, while we were taping there was a homicide and a car explosion a few blocks away (you can see the police officers and firemen from both of those events in the video). Luckily, we made it out of there without any real issues and came away with the authenticity we were looking for in the video.
Q: For those who are not familiar, could you give a sense of Bradley’s back story?
A: Charles was dealt an incredibly rough hand in life. His mother left him as a baby and when she returned and took him back to New York their relationship was such that Charles preferred being homeless. The only real positive influence in his life, his older brother Joseph, was murdered and some of his siblings turned against him. He’s faced many horrible acts of violence, racism, theft and had to find his way through life with only a first grade education. Yet somehow, Charles managed to make it through all that with a heart full of love and a saint-like forgiveness for the people who did him wrong.
Q: Do you think you can hear his life in his music? How so?
A: You can absolutely hear Charles’s life in his music. From “Heartaches and Pain,” where he sings about his older brother Joseph who was murdered, to “Why’s It So Hard?” which charts his attempts to escape the incredibly hard times that followed him across the country to the messages of love in “Golden Rule,” Charles is singing about his reality, his history and his heart in his songs. The fact that Charles and Tom Brenneck (of Dunham records) almost always start their songwriting process with one of Charles’s stories just furthers that point.
Q: How did he re-emerge into the music world?
A: Charles has been performing as Black Velvet, a James Brown imitator, since he was a teenager in small bars and clubs across the country. Although he performed on the Late Show with David Letterman and achieved some notoriety with that act, it wasn’t until he tracked down Gabriel Roth at his home in Brooklyn and knocked on his door that things really began to take a turn for him as an artist in his own right. Gabe recognized the talent in Charles and hooked him up with Tom, and after a couple false starts recording with the Bullets and the Sugarman Three, Tom and Charles dove into the powerful personal material that would become No Time For Dreaming. From there, it was just a matter of fans of good music finding the record and that didn’t take long.
Q: What part of his career does the film pick up on?
A: The film begins on Charles’s 62nd birthday, as he performs a James Brown set at a tiny bar in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and follows him through the two-and-a-half transformative months leading up to the release of No Time For Dreaming and the international success that followed.
Q: What aspects of Bradley’s life reflect the “soul of America”? Are his struggles also America’s struggles?
A: Charles’s journey is the classic American story. It’s a man’s struggle to achieve something greater than what he’s been dealt in life, to overcome a broken family, poverty and racism and find success, love and his own identity. These themes are a part of the art and history of this country.
Q: What kind of reactions did you see from fans?
A: The reactions at a Charles Bradley show are intense. There’s always an unbelievable excitement in the air when he plays and it’s clear by the looks on the faces of his fans that they are witnessing something real, something different, something inspiring. There are lots of tears and hugs and impassioned, enraptured people of all ages and walks of life relating their life stories to him after he finishes.
Q: What are some of your favourite moments from working with Bradley?
A: Every moment with Bradley is memorable. He’s open and expressive and full of love and positivity. Like almost anyone who spends time with him, I feel blessed just being in his presence, whether we’re working or sitting on a park bench. In terms of making this film, my favourite part by far is the pleasure of sharing it with new audiences. Seeing the emotion on people’s faces during and after the screenings is a gift I’ll have for the rest of my life.
Charles Bradley: Soul of America will be screening April 30th, May 1st and May 5th at Hot Docs.
Related links:
Charles Bradley: Soul of America
Charles Bradley
Still Black, Still Proud, a musical tribute to James Brown