Anais Gutierrez
Singer Charles Bradley died at 68 in New York. The late soul singer who found fame late in life was surrounded by family and friends after losing the battle against cancer.
While Bradley was recently on tour after winning the battle against cancer in 2016. However, he had to cancel it since cancer came back.
Charles Bradley died at 68
Charles Bradley, the soul singer whose robust voice and defiantly upbeat outlook won him stardom in his final years after a life of poverty, died Saturday from cancer. He was 68.
Bradley, who for years had scraped by as a James Brown impersonator, had pulled off another battle against the odds earlier this year. When he triumphantly returned from cancer treatment.
But the disease had spread to his liver and he recently canceled months of shows. He died at his Brooklyn home surrounded by family, friends, and bandmates, his publicist said.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Charles Bradley. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” it said.
The soul singer was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2016. He started performing on the road this year after receiving a clean bill of health.
“Mr. Bradley was truly grateful for all the love he’s received from his fans. We hope his message of love is remembered and carried on,” his Facebook page said. They asked for donations to art charities that support young people in lieu of flowers.
Earlier this month, he canceled tour dates in the US, South America, and Europe. Since his cancer has returned and spread to his liver, and he needed to focus on his treatment.
“I love all of you out there that made my dreams come true. When I come back, I’ll come back strong, with God’s love. With God’s will, I’ll be back soon,” he said.
Late fame for Bradley
Bradley found fame in his later years, releasing his debut album ‘No Time For Dreaming’ at age 62. The album was named Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 50 albums of 2011. His next album, ‘Victim of Love,’ was released two years later. Followed earlier this year by his third and last album, ‘Changes.’
He expressed his love for legendary singer James Brown. He has said he was inspired to start singing at a later age after watching him perform. Before his rise to fame, he took gigs as a Brown impersonator in small clubs.
The Florida native has called New York home for the last two decades.
A documentary on his life, ‘Charles Bradley: Soul of America,’ followed his journey and rise to fame.
Reflecting on life and work
With a rich, brassy voice that evoked Otis Redding coupled with the body-shaking screams of Brown and a relentless positivity. Bradley at last found commercial success.
“I always wanted this in my 30s and 40s, but I got it at the age of 62. It’s bittersweet,” he told Esquire magazine.
Bradley found an enthusiastic and much younger audience as he was booked for leading festivals such as Coachella and Glastonbury.
A devout Christian who frequently invoked God, Bradley would descend from stage to hug fans and toss out roses from heaping bouquets. He urged listeners to devote their lives to love and racial tolerance.
“Changes” opens with Bradley’s take on the patriotic hymn “God Bless America.” In a spoken intro, Bradley acknowledged he has endured “hard licks of life” but voiced conviction that “America represents love for all humanity and the world.”
He struggled a lot during his life
Abandoned at birth by his New York-based mother, Bradley spent his early years in Gainesville, Florida with his grandmother. An itinerant life that took him to Alaska, California, Maine and upstate New York, where he was a cook at a mental hospital and recalled harassment by police.
Facing homelessness, Bradley returned in the mid-1990s to New York to reconcile and care for his aging mother. He lived with his brother Joseph, a tax broker.
But the stability was short-lived when Joseph was shot and killed by their nephew — a trauma Bradley turned into the song ‘Heartache and Pain.’
“I went crazy; Just couldn’t take it. I tried to run in front of cars — I ran in front of everything that was moving, but nothing would hit me,” Bradley later told National Public Radio.
Bradley was 14 when he witnessed Brown’s swaggering energy at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater.
“I saw him and was like, ‘whoa,’” he later said, explaining that he learned to throw all of his energy into shows.
Playing Brown under the stage name “Black Velvet,” Bradley had his break when he was spotted by Daptone co-founder Gabriel Roth whose label specializes in reviving retro soul and funk.
Returning to Gainesville to perform last year, Bradley said in a local interview that he saw in his music a way to “help humanity.”
“I want to leave a legacy of myself that the world can say: ‘Charles Bradley was a real person. He loved what he did, and he loved to entertain people, and he liked to give the best.’“
Source: STV
