Since his days as the front man of the legendary Gap Band, Mr. “First name Charlie, last name Wilson” has been blessed with an almost nonstop career of music hits, thanks in part to artists like Pharrell, Snoop, Justin Timberlake and Kanye West who’ve helped keep his voice and legacy fresh with a new generation of listeners.
The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and BET Lifetime Achievement Award winner recently appeared on “The Steve Harvey Show” and opened up to his “long-time friend” about two of his biggest bumps along the road to success: homelessness and drug abuse.
“Whew, you finna make me cry now,” Wilson begins. “…sleeping in trucks, cars, parking lots, and I’d have a shopping cart with some plastic around it; a brick for my pillow and a piece of carpet. That’s what I laid on.”
Looking cooler than Freddie Jackson sippin’ a milkshake in a snowstorm, Wilson, 62 and a proud prostate cancer survivor, remembers the two years he was out on the streets of Hollywood in the early 90s, long after he’d already had fame. It was a cousin that he used to get high with who tracked him down and started him on the path to recovery.
