Biography
Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sonny Charles built his reputation as a soul vocalist and composer by fronting Checkmates, LTD. throughout the 1960s, a run that produced the group’s 1969 Top Ten R&B success “Black Pearl.” Thirteen years afterward he resurfaced with an unexpected deep-soul hit, “Put It In A Magazine,” issued on the independent Highrise label; the single climbed to number two on the R&B charts precisely when most observers had declared vintage soul commercially extinct. Its follow-up, “Always on My Mind,” stalled at #53, after which both the label and the singer quickly slipped from memory.
Albums