Biography
Charles Perry, the versatile singer and songwriter whose work spans numerous styles, built his foundations on gospel, classic rock, and soul. Rather than a single congregation, the Brooklyn native spent his childhood moving between several churches. He started singing at age five, and by his teenage years could point to a featured appearance on Montel Thomas’ Sealed by the Holy Ghost, an album that reached number 10 on Billboard’s gospel chart. While still young he performed in the stage production Mama I Want to Sing and supplied background vocals for an array of leading gospel and R&B figures that included Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, and Whitney Houston. In 2010 Perry issued his first solo project, the independently released The Genesis of Soul, which merged throwback soul, synth funk, and contemporary ballads. He later signed to the Universal-distributed Verve label, where he wrote with Jason Evigan, Nate Fox, and Verve chairman David Foster. February 2015 brought the single “Stranger to Love,” a thumping folk-dance hybrid that Tiesto and RAC each remixed ahead of an album.