Sober Charlie Wilson: New show anything but

From his early days of backing up Leon Russell in the '70s, and chart-topping superstardom in the '80s with The Gap Band to recording with current hip-hop luminaries like Snoop Dogg and Kanye West, Charlie Wilson has been around for a minute or two, and he's still going strong.

Wilson, with special guests Fantasia and Johnny Gill, brings his "In It to Win It" tour to Verizon Arena in North Little Rock on Monday. The tour is named for Wilson's latest album -- his eighth solo effort -- which was released Friday and features the R&B legend and 11-time Grammy nominee accompanied by Pitbull, Wiz Khalifa, T.I., Snoop Dogg, Lalah Hathaway and Robin Thicke.

"I cut about 35-40 [tracks]," for the new album, Wilson said from his Los Angeles home last month. "I finally got down to 13. I'm so happy about this record."

The first track, "I'm Blessed," featuring Atlanta hip-hop star T.I., sets the tone for the album's R&B and gospel-tinged jams.

"I wake up every morning thanking God," says Wilson, sounding a youthful, energetic 64. "I am blessed. Just seeing the ride that I'm on and the marathon that I'm running, it's a testament. I get a chance to testify that God has given me one more chance at life."

Indeed, Wilson's is a proverbial Behind the Music cautionary tale of crazy highs and crushing lows. He has had No. 1 hits, influenced a generation of New Jack R&B singers, has had his music sampled on numerous hip-hop tracks and also lived on the streets of Los Angeles, addicted to drugs and homeless.

Born in Tulsa in 1953, Wilson sang at church with his brothers Ronnie and Robert. They formed the Gap Band, backing up fellow Oklahoman Leon Russell on his 1974 Stop All That Jazz album and touring with the singer and pianist.

"He taught me a lot," Wilson says of Russell, who died Nov. 13. "Incredible piano player." The Wilson brothers would open for Russell with three of their songs, but that soon came to an end.

"I used to go buck wild," Wilson says. "By the time we got to the second song, I'd be up on his piano, dancing, doing the splits. I was reckless out there, like it was my show."

Russell eventually dropped all three Gap Band songs out of the act and simply came onstage before Wilson could cut loose.

"I didn't know I was stealing his show," Wilson says with a laugh. "I had so much fun with Leon Russell. I'll miss that guy."

The Gap Band released its first album, Magician's Holiday, in 1974. On 1979's Gap Band II, the band scored with the playful, P-Funk-inspired dance track "I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops!)." Gap Band III followed with the massive "Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)," while Gap Band IV yielded "You Dropped a Bomb on Me."

The group would go on to release 15 albums. In 1992, Wilson, the middle brother, went solo with You Turn My Life Around. A drug habit, though, almost got the best of him.

"I was sleeping up under parked trucks and cars and stuff," he says. "I was the worst crackhead, but God pulled me up out of that. I said, 'Lord, please, if you're the same God my father used to preach for ... if you're that same God, can you take this drug away from me?'"

After a final trip to rehab in 1995, Wilson sobered up and has been clean ever since. His straight and narrow ways make his longstanding friendship and recording history with the openly weed-loving Snoop Dogg even more unlikely, though somehow appropriate, considering Wilson's musical legacy and influence.

"I met him the first year after I got sober," he says of Snoop, who dubbed him Uncle Charlie and who doesn't fire up when Wilson is around. "He's a beautiful person and a beautiful friend."

Monday's North Little Rock stop will include American Idol winner Fantasia along with former New Editor member and solo artist Johnny Gill.

"Everybody knows what I do," Wilson says of his soulful, high-energy shows. "Bringing Fantasia and Johnny with me, man, we gonna sweat and have some fun up in there from top to bottom. I can't wait. This ain't no back in the day show. If you've never seen a Charlie Wilson show, you got to come see this."

Style on 02/19/2017