Sky Hero Productions™ - Chicago/ Sacramento

In the latest edition of NSoul Winter 05, I continue my travelogue of a trip in the Southern States which I completed last Spring. This article is the third in the series and details my visit to Greenville and in particular a meeting with Charles Wilson.

One of the most enterprising and creative people I met on my journey was Charles Wilson, singer, label owner, writer and producer who lives in Greenville, Mississippi. He is a very warm and friendly guy who invited my wife Barbara and me over to dinner at his house with his partner Loretta. Charles moved down to Greenville from Chicago several years ago to be closer to the clubs and audiences which support the 21st Century version of the old Southern Chitlin’’ circuit.

He picked us from our hotel and drove several miles to his home on the outskirts of Greenville, which he also uses as his office for Wilson Records. As we drove back to his home, Charles told us about the gig he had performed the night before at Morgan Freeman’’s Ground Zero Club in Clarksdale, which we had just visited that afternoon for a drink and to soak up the atmosphere of the club. We spent a wonderful evening with Charles and Loretta who treated us the a fine spread followed by a long chat about the music business and stories of Charles’’s heroes such as Tyrone Davis and his uncle Little Milton. Charles was born on January 27th 1957 in Chicago into a family of 10 and was raised in the projects of the Westside by his mother Ida and his father James, the elder brother of Little Milton. Charles’’s entire family was musical and his brothers played guitar and his sister sang gospel. Charles began his singing career at around 7 at his mother’’s church as well as performing in talent shows around the Westside.

His older brothers turned him onto Sam Cooke and the blues but Michael Jackson, who was breaking big at the time Charles was singing in the talent shows, also influenced him. Charles’’s fondest memories are of being taken to the Regal Theatre in Chicago by his father. His father would take him backstage to watch his uncle Little Milton perform. From backstage, he recalls seeing Stevie Wonder, who was one of his big favourites, play a 15 minute drum solo and he always dreamt of meeting him and telling him he had watched an entire performance looking at the back of his head!

On these trips, he also saw other big stars such as Sam Cooke, Bobby Bland and Jackie Wilson as well as Chicago based stars such as The Dells, The Chi-lites and Ruby Andrews. His father also took him to hotels such as the Alcazar where the stars stayed and the Chess studios to see his uncle Milton record. All this exposure to music and stars made the young Charles determined to become a professional singer. Charles was first exposed to professional music at the age of 14, when his high school maths teacher put him in touch with the producer Andre Williams. Andre Williams called Bobby Rush, who was then playing at his barbecue house, and introduced Charles to Bobby. Bobby never recorded Charles but Charles went out on the road with Bobby opening his shows. Charles also acted as roadie and valet while learning about the touring business on tours of the Mid-West.

He recalls meeting many people on the tours but especially remembers meeting Luther Allison who was the first performer he had met who had his own limo. Charles has always wanted to learn more about music and the business and he decided after leaving high school to contact James ""Maestro Mack"" who he knew of from his productions for his uncle Little Milton. James Mack was impressed by Charles persistence to learn and invited him over to sit in on his music classes at Harold Washington College. James became a mentor for Charles and he looks back to his time in college with affection for what he learnt from James Mack. After several years of touring with Bobby Rush, Charles decided to put his own band together and got some friends from the projects to form the band. The band performed all over the West and South Sides of Chicago performing in clubs such the Peppermint Lounge and the Talking Drums. They played mainly soul blues influenced by Tyrone Davis and Little Milton.

The band would also open up for many Chicago acts such as Syl Johnson and Lee Shot Williams who Charles had known since he was young. They played 4 or 5 nights a week picking about $250 a gig, which had to be split 6 ways and meant Charles had to supplement these gigs with a variety of day jobs. Charles got his first chance to record after meeting Mac Simmons who by the late 70’’s was a mythical figure on the Southside of Chicago. Mac Simmons had set up his PM label and Simmons Recording Studio and later he was involved with Sky Hero Records with Sam Gallo where Charles started recording his album "Blues In The Key Of C"  which was picked up by Ichiban Records in 1991).

Charles told me that Mac was a major player around the Southside and that he helped many artists such as Lee Shot, Willie Clayton, Freddie Robinson, Arlean Brown etc. He went into the studios with Mac’’s son Danny on bass and Willie ""Dead-Eye"" Norris on guitar and laid down a few tracks including ""Need a Love I Can See in The Daylight"". Another Chicago veteran, Simtec Simmons, produced the PM tracks but they remain in the can. Charles spent the next couple of years working in the Chicago areas club scene and opening for an impressive list of headliners like Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, and the late great ZZ Hill.

In the mid-80s, one of Charles’’s closest friends was L.V. Johnson who helped him get a break with Tom Lewis’’s Alley Cat records. Charles recorded 2 45’’s for Alley Cat; one in 1984 ""Trying To Make A Wrong Thing Right"" and another released in 1986 ""I Don’’t Want To Lose Your Love"". The tracks were recorded at Key West studios in Rosemont, Illinois and featured L.V.Johnson on guitar and other friends such as Hank Ford who was on horns. During this time, Charles hung around Paul Serrano’’s PS studio ""breakfast, lunch and dinner"" with L.V. Johnson who had just released his ""We Belong Together"" album recorded at the PS Studios. When you talk to Charles he has worked with or knew most of the artists on the Chicago soul and blues scenes in the 70’’s and 80’’s and was good friends with the likes of Sonny Sanders, Willie Henderson, The Steelers, Wales Wallace and countless others, many of whom would meet up at the PS studios.

Unfortunately, though he had a few opportunities to record after Alley Cat, he had to wait for a call from John Abbey in 1991 before he had another release. Abbey was then building up his stable of artists and the young Charles fitted the bill. Charles’’s only release for Ichiban was the 8 track ""Singing In The Key Of C"". The album featured several songs written by Charles who had listened to Mac Simmons’’s advice; ""that when nobody knows you then you have to learn to write your own songs!"" The album’’s only draw back was the programmed backings, which detract from the good songs and singing. Charles is at his best on "Selfish Lover," "Is It Over" and "Who's It Going to Me," all of which recall the soul music of the 1970s and show us how convincing a singer he can be.

The album built up Charles’’s reputation on the Southern Chitlin’’ circuit and he also got the opportunity to tour in Europe. During the early 90’’s he had relocated from Chicago to Greenville to be closer to the action in the Southern States where he could make more money performing. In 1994, he hooked up with John Ward’’s Memphis based Ecko label having been put in touch with Ward by his aunt Pat Campbell. He recorded a fine album ""It’’s Sweet On The Backstreet"" for Ecko using real instruments and featuring some good songs from the then house writers Earl Randle and Sidney Bailey.

His next album was for James Bennett’’s Traction label called ""Why"". Charles had known James Bennett for years and James bought the Chicago recorded album from Charles which featured several original songs from Charles such as ""Why"", ""Ain’’t Nothin’’ Wrong With Cheating"" and ""Is It Him Or Is It Me"". Though it is another programmed album it once again demonstrates Charles great voice. Charles returned to Ecko for a 3 album deal recording ""Love Seat"" (1998), ""It Ain’’t The Size"" (1999) and ""Mr Freak"" (2000).

Charles was very frank when I spoke to him about the poor reception the albums had received in Europe. He told me that they were recorded for the Southern Chitlin’’ market which appreciates a good story and strong singing rather than real instrument backings. He concluded that he was dissatisfied with his time at Ecko as an artist though he had fun doing the sessions and got on with writers such as Raymond Moore and Larry Chambers.

However, by 2000, Charles wanted to set up his own company Delta Entertainments and with his label Wilson Records. Charles readily admits that he wanted to tap into the Southern market and all of his own releases have been programmed such as ""You’’ve Got To Play To Pay"" and ""If It Ain’’t Broke Then Don’’t Fix It"". He also put together 3 CD compilations of other artists popular on the Southern circuit who he had worked with such Lee Morris, Frank Johnson etc plus he distributed albums by Lee Morris, Bobby Jonz, Maurice Davis and The Mystery Man aka Jimmy Warren.

Charles told me that by 2003, he had become frustrated with recording programmed music and wanted to record an album with real instruments. He voiced his frustration to his uncle Milton who put him in touch with the Chicago based Delmark label. This resulted in Charles being given the opportunity to record "" ""If Heartaches Were Nickels"" his most artistically satisfying album to date. The album features mainly covers but there are some class covers in there including a rousing version’’s of Lee Shot’’s Shama cut ""I Like Your Style"", Rickey Allen’’s ""Cut Me Loose"", Robert Ward’’s ""Your Love Is Real"" and Eddie Giles’’s ""Losing Boy"".

The album was recorded in 2004 at the Riverside studios in Chicago and features Little Milton and Carl Weathersby on guitar and some of Charles’’s former Chicago buddies such as Bill McFarland and Hank Ford on horns. ""If Heartaches Were Nickels"" certainly demonstrates Charles’’s potential and we can only hope that he will soon follow up the Delmark album with another ""live"" album. When I spoke to him in Greenville, he was certainly looking for the opportunity again as well as touring once more in Europe.