Over the course of your 40-year career, you have seen the musical landscape evolve over time. What do you think has allowed you to have such longevity in the music business?
First of all, you got to have the stamina and you have to work hard. A lot of people don't like to work hard. That's the reason they don't have hit records. I have hit records because I work hard at it. There are some things that go along with it, which are diet and exercise and every morning getting up and hitting that treadmill. I have my wife, who is my partner and my friend. She's with me in the morning and we hit it together. We work out, lift weights in the gym. A lot of people don't want to do that. When everybody's got their GRAMMY and they're sitting back and thinking of yesterday's GRAMMYs, that don't get them today's number one hit record. That ain't working. They gave them a shot, they gave them all of that but in the end, who's still standing?
Charlie! [laughing]
Right! [laughing] Charlie Wilson works hard at what he does. But I have a hell of a team around me, too. I got a wonderful friend in my wife, my manager Michael Paran, my assistant Jenna Lankford and from the west Karen Lee, from the east, Juanita Stephens. We have these five people who have surrounded me and taken care of my needs every single day. There's always somebody there taking care of business just like I am when I'm doing my music. When my part is over, this organization that I have, this group of men and women continue to work round-the-clock to make sure we're going where we need to go. A lot of people don't have that. A lot of people just want to use their GRAMMYs that they had in 1988. "I won 3 GRAMMYs and I should be able to…" Then they run out here, half-cocked and they get to about number 0 on the charts and fall off.
What do you think is the best piece of advice that somebody ever gave you?
When I was in the darkest part of my life, in the corner of the hell part of Hollywood, a guy walked up to me and said, "Charlie, don't wait too long to come back because you're going to end up like me, just trying when it's way too late, trying to figure out how to get back in this game. Don't wait until you get to my age to try and figure out how to get back in this game because I'm struggling right now." He's dead now. But I was in the darkest part of my life at that time – drugs and alcohol. He was like, "Man, you need to stop now and try to come on in, man. It ain't too late for you." That was one of the things that stuck with me. I was like, "Wow." I had to get myself together.
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