Charles Bradley has got one of the greatest soul voices I have heard. It took him 54 years to debut as a recoding artist. Lucky for us he is still touring and putting out records ten years after his first one. This weekend he played the Oya festival in Oslo. Here are some pictures from the concert.

Five years ago I heard Amy Winehouse live at the SXSW for the first and only time with The Dap Kings. Three years after I saw Sharon Jones wth the same band, and I loved the sound of her and her band. When I heard Charles Bradley with The Menahan Street Band, they had the same dynamic and energetic sound, that really suits Bradley’s style in a perfect way.

Charles Bradley waited many years before he dared tell people that he could sing. He performed for years as a James Brown impersonator, and it wasn’t until he was discovered by Daptone Records Gabriel Roth that he found his own style and started writing his own songs.

His monicker when he did his James Brown routine, was the Black Velvet. His present style reminds a bity about James Brown, but luckily it is mainly Charles Bradley, and to me he follows the tradition from Brown, Otis Redding and the other big artists of the 60’s and also the 70’s. The band’s sound is also reminiscent of the Stax sound from those days.

His concert at the Oya festival was great, and the audience loved it. Hopefully he will come back to Oslo again. I will certainly go see him. again.

All the pictures are © Per Ole Hagen, and must not be used in any way without written permission.