As lead singer of the Grammy-Award winning 80’s sensation, The GAP Band, Charlie Wilson appeared to have it all: immense talent, critical acclaim, fame and fortune. But all that glitters is not gold. A bad contractual agreement with an unscrupulous manager, tensions and ego clashes amongst the band members (his brothers), and Wilson’s low self-esteem and unresolved issues from childhood created a toxic environment that led him to drugs and alcohol to mask his pain. After years of homelessness on the streets of Los Angeles, a chance encounter led to a drug rehabilitation program that would prove to be a pivotal turning point in Wilson’s life. Through the guidance of a dedicated drug counselor, Wilson got sober and began to put his life back on track. The personal transformation would lead Charlie to experience even greater success in his career, including Grammy nominations and collaborations with the most sought after artists today, Pharrell Williams, Snoop Dog, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake and beyond. In his highly anticipated memoir, I AM CHARLIE WILSON (37 INK/Atria Books; On-sale date June 30, 2015; ISBN: 978-1-4767-9007-7; $25.99; 304 pages), the songwriter, producer and celebrated music icon reveals in candid detail the highs and lows in his extraordinary life. From a devastating addiction to crack cocaine and alcohol to meeting the love of his life while in recovery to his collaborations with music royalty to a challenging battle with prostate cancer, Wilson delivers a no-holds barred account of the forces that sent him into a downward spiral as well as the positive influences that brought him back from the brink of despair, reignited his career and have kept him stay clean for over twenty years.
Charlie Wilson has one of the most recognizable and beloved voices in R&B and his hit singles and multiple Grammy nominations have put his name in the books and at the top of the charts. Despite these successes, Wilson experienced a series of setbacks including a manager who deliberately sabotaged opportunities to work with Kenneth “Baby Face” Edmonds, LA Reid, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and managerial fiscal malfeasance so notable, his money literally ran out, which led him to live on the streets, sometimes sleeping under U-haul trucks, with just the clothes on his back. “I had cardboard for a bed and a brick under my head for a pillow,” Wilson recalls. “A couple who camped out in the area often shared their shelter of shopping carts and plastic tarps with me. If they had a sandwich, they shared it.”
Wilson also notes that during these years on the street, no one who knew him realized he was down and out. Avoiding soup kitchens and shelters and cutting off all ties with family, he used work as an excuse for the lapses in contact. “I was embarrassed,” Wilson admits. “You could still hear my records on the radio. People gave me drugs because they thought I was still on top. Nobody knew I had sunk so far.”
It was on the streets that, in 1995, Wilson ran into his cousin, Shirley, with whom he used to get high. “I was happy to see her and she was happy to see me, too, but she was not crying tears of joy for seeing her cousin after three long years,” Wilson recounts. “Her tears were laced with fear. Panic. She knew I wouldn’t have long on this earth if I didn’t get help—fast.” When Wilson asked Shirley for a crack hit, she went on to explain that she had been clean for three years. “The thought of three years having gone by since she and I had gotten high together blew my mind.” he says. “For addicts, time doesn’t exist.”
Through Shirley’s intervention, Wilson was admitted into a 28-day program. Though He’d tried rehabilitation before, this time, with the help of the program director with whom he fell madly in love and ultimately married - he committed. Once again clean, Wilson reclaimed his rightful place as an R&B elder statesman and even earned the nickname, “Uncle Charlie,”from admirer Snoop Dogg whom Wilson regards as a nephew by love‟ and whom he credits as the artist who got him back in the music industry. Once he returned to the business, Wilson worked with Master P, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, Stevie Wonder and many other superstars. But even with his sobriety intact and impressive collaborations, every day was an uphill battle in terms of proving himself to the naysayers who thought he was washed up, dated and too old to make a comeback. Wilson, however, remained true to himself and his inimitable style and with the releases of the albums Charlie, Last Name Wilson and Uncle Charlie, he earned two Grammy nominations--sweet revenge against those who had counted him out.
Having overcome addiction and homelessness may have also uniquely prepared Wilson for waging war against another serious enemy: prostate cancer. Diagnosed in 2008, Wilson is now healthy and uses his celebrity platform as a vehicle for urging men to get tested.
And despite all of the trials and tribulations he has faced, Wilson says he’s far from a man who is putting himself out to pasture. “With six decades under my belt, some of it full of hard living and difficult lessons, I’ve been working every single day to appreciate my second chance,” he says. “My life is a miracle. And this is just the beginning. My story continues.”