Charles Bradley (1948–2017) was an American soul singer who spent decades performing as a James Brown impersonator before Daptone gave him his shot — his debut No Time for Dreaming arrived in 2011, when he was 62. The Screaming Eagle of Soul cut raw, aching deep soul right up to the end, with Black Velvet issued posthumously. Find Charles Bradley vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Charles Edward Bradley was born in Gainesville, Florida on November 5, 1948 and lived an itinerant working life including extensive time in Brooklyn. He spent decades performing as a James Brown impersonator under the name Black Velvet before being discovered by Daptone Records co-founder Gabriel Roth (Bosco Mann). His debut studio album No Time for Dreaming was released by Daptone subsidiary Dunham Records in 2011, when he was 62. Two further studio albums followed before his death from stomach cancer on September 23, 2017 in Brooklyn at age 68. He was widely known as the Screaming Eagle of Soul.
Charles Bradley's sound is rooted in classic 1960s and 1970s deep soul, with the Daptone in-house band the Menahan Street Band (and at times the Dap-Kings) providing vintage soul instrumentation and analog recording. His vocal delivery - visibly drawing on James Brown's tradition while still distinctively his own - defined his late-career performances.
Daptone/Dunham pressings of the Charles Bradley catalog are widely collected. The original LP pressings have appeared in standard and color variant editions, with the Black Velvet posthumous release issued in deluxe formats.
Listeners new to Charles Bradley typically start with No Time for Dreaming (2011) or Victim of Love (2013).
