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My brothers and I wrote all of the songs, we didn’t receive any of the writers’ money…any of the publishing money. One year I remember doing 99 shows back to back, making probably more than $100K per night, but when we would get home we’d have to stand in line for $150.

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Here are the emotional video clips of Charlie explaining how this happened to him and how he eventually survived it all…

[pull_quote_center]I had a brick for my pillow, a piece of cardboard for my bed, and 3 carts wrapped in cellophane. Time stood still for me, couldn’t go no farther from that point on, drugs played a huge part…from that day on for two years just nothing but drugs every single day.[/pull_quote_center]

We already had much respect for our man, Uncle Charlie, but after watching him tell his story, we gained a WHOLE new respect for this brotha- not only as an artist, but as a human being. He is an excellent example of what it looks like when you never give up on your dream. You can be down, your spirit may even be broken at times, but when you don’t allow your dream to die, you can fight through ANY battle.

The lesson we can take from this is that when we completely hit rock bottom, we need to pause and simply ask ourselves one basic question: ‘What is it that I have?’ Then once we’ve recognized what gift we have, we need to do everything in our power to properly build off of our gift – no matter how small it is. That gift that we all have, represents possibility- the possibility to be greater than what we were yesterday. Charlie Wilson did that and there’s no denying that he’s a walking, talking testimony of what being triumphant mentally and psychologically truly means. All he had was his voice, which was his gift, and it is his voice and his perseverance that has allowed him to fight his way back to the top.

We’re glad to see this brotha’s in a good space again. Click the next page to take a trip back down memory lane with us with this old school Gap Band video.