Written by: Geoff Tischman

Charles Bradley was a true titan of soul.

The 68-year-old musician died last night (Sept 22) after a year-long battle with cancer and I just wanted to say a few words about him.

The Florida-born-New York-raised soul singer was diagnosed with stomach cancer in October of 2016, which caused him to cancel a string of live dates. When he came back, I saw him at the Brooklyn Bowl and he never looked or sounded better.

A swirling tornado of pure groove, power and heart, Bradley was one of those guys you couldn’t take your eyes from. He was charismatic, generous and committed to a life of soul and truth.

And he’s a reminder that we should never give up on what we believe in to be our true calling.

Bradley toiled in cover band/James Brown impression obscurity until he was signed to Daptone in 2002 at the age of 53. After a string of singles, he put out his first record nine years later.  He released two more albums before he died.

Although that’s a paucity of recorded output for such an immense talent, thank god we have those three recorded testaments.

Those of us who saw him live, will forever have the agile, joyful, and unreasonably gifted soul singer forever etched in our memories.

I last saw Bradley touring behind his latest album Changes–which includes a cover of the Black Sabbath song of the same name. Bradley and his band The Extraordinaires were soulful and tight and at the end of the show Bradley sang a song which he dedicated to his mother.

Then he jumped offstage with a handful of roses and walked into the crowd, handing them out and hugging everyone.

I can think of no better image of Bradley and I can think of no metaphor as fitting as that to remember him by.

Bradley’s publicist issued a statement saying in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to:

– All-Stars Project: https://allstars.org 
– Music Unites: http://www.musicunites.org