The Gap Band Charlie and his brothers, Robert and Ronnie, helped define and popularize an upbeat form of funk music with their group
the Gap Band. Magicians Holiday was the debut album by the Gap Band in 1974 on Shelter Records founded by
Leon Russell and Denny Cordell. The band recorded at
The Church Studio, a historic recording studio in
Tulsa,
Oklahoma. The group's songs such as "Outstanding", "Party Train", "Yearning for Your Love", "Burn Rubber on Me", "You Dropped a Bomb on Me", and "Oops Upside Your Head" are among some of the most sampled songs in music history. After 15 albums the Gap Band announced their retirement in 2010.
Solo In 1986, Wilson contributed vocals to
Roger & Zapp's hit "
Computer Love", a song that become a hit despite initial opposition from Wilson's label. There was a discussion between
Roger Troutman and Wilson to create a music video for the song. Unfortunately, this did not come to fruition, due to opposition from the label that Wilson was signed to at the time. However, the two maintained their close friendship, and would perform the song often together on stage. In 1989, Wilson worked with
Eurythmics on their album
We Too Are One, providing backing vocals on several tracks and co-writing the hit song "
Revival". Wilson performed the song with the band on the British television chat show
Wogan in August 1989. In 1998, Wilson performed on
Mystikal's
Ghetto Fabulous album. Michael Paran, CEO of Mango Music Group, was responsible for rebranding the Gap Band in 1997. He has since managed Wilson as a solo artist. Paran and Wilson independently released Wilson's first solo album
Bridging the Gap (2000), which scored them Wilson's first No. 1 Billboard Urban Adult Contemporary single, "
Without You". In 2004 Wilson signed a multi-album deal with
Jive Records. The first album from that deal,
Charlie, Last Name Wilson, debuted in the fall of 2005 featuring production from various hit-making producers including
R. Kelly,
Justin Timberlake,
will.i.am, the Underdogs, Kay Gee, and
the Platinum Brothers. The album, which was certified gold by the R.I.A.A., produced the hit single, "Charlie, Last Name Wilson". Since then, Wilson has consistently topped the Billboard Urban Adult Contemporary chart with singles from his follow up albums through P Music/Jive Records. Altogether Charlie Wilson's albums have sold over one million copies. In 2007, Wilson performed in two songs on
UGK's
Underground Kingz album: "Quit Hatin' the South" and "How Long Can It Last". His 2009 LP,
Uncle Charlie, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 and No. 1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and received two 2010 Grammy nominations: Best R&B Album and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male for "There Goes My Baby". In December 2010,
Just Charlie was released and spawned the hit single "You Are" which held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Urban Adult Contemporary chart for 13 weeks as well as 15 weeks consecutively on the Mediabase chart. The song earned two 2012 Grammy nominations, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song, giving Wilson, his wife Mahin, and their fellow songwriters Dennis Bettis, Carl M. Days, Jr., and Wirlie Morris (who co-produced the track with Wilson) their first nomination as songwriters together. In 2010, chart-topping producer/artist
Kanye West included Wilson on his album,
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Wilson recorded over a dozen songs with Kanye and appeared on the following songs: "See Me Now", with Kanye West featuring
Beyoncé; "
All of the Lights", with Kanye West featuring
Rihanna; "Lost in the World", "Runaway", and "Monster", with Kanye West featuring
Jay-Z,
Nicki Minaj, and
Rick Ross. In addition to these songs, Wilson appeared on five of the G.O.O.D. Friday Releases to promote the new CD including, "Lord, Lord, Lord" with Kanye West, featuring
Mos Def,
Swizz Beatz,
Raekwon; and "Good Friday" with
Common,
Pusha T,
Kid Cudi, and
Big Sean. He also appears on "
Bound 2", the closer of
Yeezus, West's 2013 album. On June 30, 2013, BET honored Wilson with a Lifetime Achievement Award that was presented to him by
Justin Timberlake. The BET tribute performances included renditions of Wilson's songs performed by
India Arie ("There Goes My Baby"),
Jamie Foxx ("
Yearning for Your Love"), and
Stevie Wonder ("Burn Rubber") with Wilson himself taking to the stage at the request of Timberlake to perform his Grammy-nominated song "You Are" and then transition into a medley of hit songs performing alongside Timberlake and surprise guests
Snoop Dogg and
Pharrell Williams. In 2018,
Bruno Mars asked Wilson to join him on the final leg of his 24K Magic Tour. Mars also produced, co-wrote, and sang background vocals on Wilson's 2020 single release, "Forever Valentine". The song peaked to #1 on Billboard's Adult R&B Chart. In 2019, Wilson gave backing vocals on
Tyler, the Creator's 2019 album
Igor. He gave vocals for
Earfquake, Boyfriend & I Don't Love You Anymore. Wilson also performed at the
62nd Annual Grammy Awards with Tyler, the Creator and
Boyz II Men, performing the songs Earfquake and
New Magic Wand by Tyler, the Creator. In 2020, Wilson featured on the song "Roots" with Amine and JID, and Nas' "Car #85", from his Grammy-winning album, ''
King's Disease''. In 2021, he featured on the song "I'll Take You On," with Brockhampton. Wilson has also been a vocalist and contributor/collaborator to dozens of songs in the hip hop, rap, and R&B communities. Wilson appeared on
The Biggie Duets together with
R. Kelly on the song "Mi Casa". He has worked with
Snoop Dogg on numerous projects. Their first collaboration was Snoop's 1996 album
Tha Doggfather, on which Wilson appeared on four songs: "Doggfather", "Snoop Bounce", "Groupie" (also featuring
213, and "
Tha Dogg Pound"), and "
Snoop's Upside Ya Head". Wilson also worked with
2Pac and
the Dogg Pound on an unreleased song "Just Watching" (1996), as well as "Wanted Dead Or Alive", which featured him on the hook and 2Pac & Snoop rapping. He was also featured on the Grammy-nominated single "
Beautiful" (together with
Pharrell) from Snoop's 2002 album
Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss. Additionally, Wilson appeared on "
Signs" (with
Justin Timberlake) and "Perfect", both songs from Snoop's 2004 album
R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta) The Masterpiece. He was also featured on Snoop's 2008 album ''
Ego Trippin''', on the songs "SD is Out" and "Can't Say Goodbye"; the latter was also performed live with Snoop and Wilson at 2008's American Idol Gives Back charity concert. According to Wilson's website, Snoop Dogg (with whom he is good friends) nicknamed him "Uncle Charlie". Snoop and his wife, Shante, renewed their vows in April 2008 at Wilson's 20 acre ranch outside of Los Angeles, CA. The event inspired the music video to Wilson's hit "There Goes My Baby", In June 2025, country music singer
Scotty McCreery and Wilson released their duet "Once Upon a Bottle of Wine" from McCreery's digital EP, Scooter & Friends (released July 18, 2025).
Support for American Servicemen and Women In 2008, Wilson participated and performed on the ABC Television Special,
America United: Supporting Our Troops, which was taped at Camp Pendleton, in California. Wilson has spent time entertaining American troops in the Middle East. He and his band have traveled to Kuwait and Iraq four times (2009, 2010, and twice in 2011), visiting bases throughout both countries. Wilson's November 2011 trip was in response to a special request by the U.S. Armed Forces for Wilson to return to the Middle East and perform at five bases in Kuwait for the thousands of troops stationed there. ==Personal life==