Charles Bradley

Charles Bradley was an American soul singer whose gritty, impassioned voice and rags-to-riches story made him one of the most affecting figures in the revivalist soul movement of the 2010s. Before his breakthrough, he spent decades working odd jobs and performing as a James Brown impersonator under the name Black Velvet, not releasing his debut album, No Time for Dreaming, until 2011, on Daptone Records' Dunham imprint, when he was already in his sixties.

His music drew directly from classic Southern soul and funk, backed by the raw, analog production style associated with Daptone and its house band, the Menahan Street Band and Extraordinaires. Songs like «Why Is It So Hard» and later «Changes» — a stripped-down cover of the Black Sabbath song reimagined as a soul lament — showcased the emotional rawness that became his trademark, rooted in a life marked by hardship, homelessness, and loss.

Bradley released three studio albums — No Time for Dreaming, Victim of Love, and Changes — earning him the nickname «The Screaming Eagle of Soul» for his powerful, cathartic live performances. He died of stomach cancer in 2017, leaving behind a body of work celebrated for its authenticity and emotional depth.