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How did you spend your summer?
Charlie Wilson-My summer
was spent on the road with The Gap Band mostly.
How was that?
Charlie Wilson-Well it's
good you know. It's always been a blast with The Gap Band.
We play the old stuff and all the hits. People like hearing
the old stuff because it brings back memories. I was adding
the "Charlie..Last Name Wilson" record in there. Everybody
was enjoying that part of it. That's how I spent my summer.
Oh okay that's cool. You and The Gap Band were recently
honored as BMI Icons. What did that mean to you?
Charlie Wilson-That word
is a big word "icon." I don't know how to take that.
Although Hurricane Katrina got in the way of a lot of entertainers
who were supposed to come and speak a lot of people missed out
because they couldn't get their flight in. It was great we had
a good time. We made it in there the night the hurricane passed
through Miami. We had some strong winds and rain but a lot of
people were in the building. Fat Joe, Lil Jon, R. Kelly, Pharrell,
a lot of people were in the building.
Has it been five years since the last album or three years?
Charlie Wilson-For me? It's
been since 2001.
Four years. So what led you to now release another album?
Charlie Wilson-I think it
was just time. Time to do another record. Time to do a real
record with a real label. That last record I did was independent
and basically they didn't have a clue about how to get it done.
I had a number one single on adult contemporary strong enough
to do anything. This is a real record label. A real shot I stepped
the game up a little bit.
You know us music fans only see one side of an artist. So
I wanted to ask you what is it like working with R. Kelly in
the studio?
Charlie Wilson-That's crazy
right there because we both think alike. The things he was coming
up with for me..it was real good. I enjoyed it because he was
thinking like I was thinking. He has a passion for music like
I do. He is very soft spoken about it. He puts down the vocals
like he wants me to do it. Then he comes out and says, "Ok,
now sing it like Charlie Wilson." Sometimes I'd say, "Tell
him that part is too high." And he'll say, "No
it's not because your Charlie Wilson."
I had a great time with R. Kelly I had a lot of fun.
How much time did you spend in Chicago working on the record?
Charlie Wilson-Well
it took me about a year and half to do this record. First of
all R. Kelly's schedule was crazy. He had so many people in
line that he was producing. However, whenever he'd see me he
stopped what he was doing and he would write me another one
right there on the spot. When I went there he did about 6 songs
but we ended up with 3 and he executive produced the album and
everything.
Snoop's wife Shante had a lot of good things to say about
you in a recent Sister 2 Sister magazine. Can you explain your
relationship with Snoop?
Charlie Wilson-Snoop is
a nephew of mine. We started blazing together in 1995 and I've
been singing on every Snoop Dogg album since 1995. Sometimes
I use my name and sometimes I didn't. I was there for him. Along
the way there somewhere we sort of we got a lot closer which
allowed me and my wife to be involved in his personal life.
He didn't have any kind of problems or whatever and the phone
would ring and it would be him or his wife. It allowed us to
be in their private lives and I'm the first one they call when
something is going on. It's cool with me I'm down with that.
I understand what he's going through and what she's going through.
I understand the part he's going through. He was trying to be
Snoop Dogg and married at the same time. I was trying to show
him how to separate the two. You gotta be Snoop Dogg when you
gotta be Snoop Dogg and at home you have got to be the man your
wife married. Keep it simple. It's kind of hard because sometimes
we take our emotions and our struggles to the house. We take
those things that we are dealing with at the work place and
when we are irritable and all that we take it home with the
wife and kids and they have no idea of the struggle of what
you have just been through. So I was just showing him how to
separate the two, that's all.
Now you have such a long extensive career. Was there ever
a time when you didn't want to pursue music as a career anymore?
Charlie Wilson-Drugs and
alcohol will make you say a lot of things. I was doing a lot
of that back in the day. I used to say a lot of that, "I'm threw
with that," because I was sitting up there smoking cocaine or
drinking alcohol all day and all night. A lot of things I said
I didn't mean any of it. I was sinking in a darker hole every
day I got high. Every time I would look up I couldn't see any
light. I never looked up let's say it like that I was looking
the wrong way. I said and did a lot of things I didn't mean
and shouldn't have done. After I figured out and looked one
way which was up, when I looked up and saw the light, I figured
I could get out of the hole.
One of the songs on the new album is Magic
and it kinda sounds like a stepping song.
Charlie Wilson-Stepping
joint. It's a stepping joint. It's another R. Kelly joint written
and produced by R. Kelly. It's that steppers cut. It's got that
thing to it. However, everyone who had the sampler who hadn't
heard the rest of my album when they hear the album they are
like, "Oh, I'm confused."
Because its different?
Charlie Wilson-More cuts
and you are like "Whoa!" Magic is one of those cuts
you learn to love for sure.
I know you toured with The Gap Band this summer. What is
the status of The Gap Band? Will you be recording again soon?
Charlie Wilson-I don't know
what that is going to be. I know right now I'm focusing on Charlie.
 Interview
copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2005
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be
My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned
Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She is the
founder of Thabiz.com and
Imissthe80s.com and
writes for the Rap,
Teen, and 1980s
section at Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer
and a publisher. Please contact Dorrie for advertising
inquiries, lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights, paying
entertainment jobs, or general comments.
Visit Dorrie on the web at www.sparkledoll.com
or e-mail her at webmaster@thabiz.com.
May not be reprinted, copied or distributed.
Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com Sept.
2005
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