One thing I learned about that I always knew about myself - that I always been afraid of myself.
— Charles Bradley
When I went to Gabriel Roth's studio, I showed him I was good with my hands and started working as a handyman in his studio. I asked him for a chance, and he gave me a song to sing with Sharon Jones.
I was 14, and I left on my own. Living in a subway train, and police used to come in with a nightstick and say, 'You can't sleep here.' I'd get up and go across the street, get on another train, and go back the other way.
With all the hurts they've been through, they find a loving way and a way to put their mind on something greater. That's what makes a good artist, a good singer: because you can hear the hurt in their voice, and you can hear the love in their voice.
I'm trying to find a home that I can come home to, and there's no stress or pressure to be scared to be in your own house.
I just have to open up when I'm on stage because that's what I did in my life. I want people to know what I've been through, and the love and the honesty that I have kept inside me. I just open my heart and let my heart go free.
I was born in America. I was raised in America. And America truly has done me a lot of dirt, a lot of horrible things that I never will forget, but I know this is where I was born at.
A real good artist learns to be a better person through all the changes they've been through. They keep their loving and honesty growing and learn to look at the world and not be full of hatred.
My grandmother always told me that regardless of what the world gives you, stay humble. Stay strong in your beliefs, and be honest. And when you're wrong, be a man and say you're wrong. And be strong when you're right.
I always try to get in the back of the audience because people really want to get close to me, and I want to get close to them.
With James Brown, I just learn the lyrics and then get out there and get funky with it and let my spirit free. But doing Charles Bradley, it's a lot of true, intimate words coming out of me that show me the picture inside myself.
