January 29: Get on the Party Train and wish Uncle Charlie Wilson a Happy Birthday

Charles Kent “Charlie” Wilson was born January 29, 1953 in Tulsa Oklahoma, also known Uncle Charlie.  Wilson is a singer-songwriter-producer and the lead singer for The Gap Band. At age 3, he was taught to sing in church which led the way for him to sing in his junior high school’s choir, which was a precursor to his musical career with The Gap Band and later his solo career.

Wilson was signed as one of the first artists to Doggystyle Records, a record label founded by Snoop Dogg in 1996. Wilson has released multiple solo albums. 2000’s “Bridging the Gap” produced the Top 40 R&B hit “Without You”, and “Charlie, Last Name Wilson” in fall 2005, with production from such hit makers as R. Kelly, Kaygee and Tramp and The Platinum Brothers. As a solo artist he has been nominated for nine Grammy awards and three NAACP Image Awards, received a 2009 Soul Train Icon Award, and was a recipient of a BMI Icon Award in 2005. In 2009, he was named Billboard magazine’s No. 1 Adult R&B Artist, and his song “There Goes My Baby“^[1] was named the No. 1 Urban Adult Song for 2009 in Billboard Magazine.

On June 30, 2013, BET honored Wilson with a Lifetime Achievement Award that was presented to him by Justin Timberlake. The BET tribute performances included renditions of Wilson’s songs performed by India Arie (“There Goes My Baby”), Jamie Foxx (“Yearning for Your Love“), and Stevie Wonder (“Burn Rubber”) but it was not until Wilson himself took to the stage at the request of Timberlake to perform his Grammy-nominated song “You Are” and then transition into a medley of hit songs performing alongside Timberlake and surprise guests Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams that Wilson stole the show. That night, the Charlie Wilson tribute helped BET achieve the highest ratings in years for the program and also earned the network the #1 primetime spot in the 18–49 demographic topping all its broadcast and cable competition for the night in both demographics and total viewers.

Wilson is the national spokesman for the Prostate Cancer Foundation where there is a Creativity Award in his name which donates hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to researchers across the country for the development of creative science that conforms to PCF funding principles but is short-term and designed to allow development of otherwise unfunded ideas.

Check out Uncle Charlie new album ‘Forever Charlie’ now and available on for purchase on iTunes, Amazon Music and Google Play