Final album due by late blooming soul voice Charles Bradley
over 7 years in ENCA
Final album due by late-blooming soul voice Charles Bradley
Estelle
Fri, 09/07/2018 - 19:30
Teaser Media
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NEW YORK - A final album is set for release by Charles Bradley, the defiantly upbeat soul singer who died last year, his label announced on Thursday.
Daptone Records imprint Dunham said that Black Velvet, featuring 10 previously unheard studio recordings selected by friends and family, would come out on November 9, four days after what would have been his 70th birthday.
The label put out a first song, I Feel a Change, Bradley's robust voice taking on his frequent theme of life transitions over a mid-tempo soul beat and dominant horns.
The Brooklyn-based singer for most of his life barely scraped by and drifted into homelessness, earning money taking odd jobs and entertaining crowds as an impersonator of James Brown, whose empowered voice and ready on-stage charisma he shared.
He finally achieved recognition at age 62 when Daptone Records, struck by his voice's richness, put out his debut album.
He found an unexpected young fan base on the music festival circuit with crowds drawn to his relentlessly positive performances in which he would thank God for his late-life success and urge fans to love one another.
Bradley -- seen in the video to I Feel a Change on tour and in prayer -- died at his Brooklyn home in September last year from a relapse of cancer.
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