Wie dacht dat Steve Miller (1943) zelf al redelijk op leeftijd is, wat te denken van mede-zanger en bandlid Sonny Charles (1940)??
Ik had hem echt geen 70 gegeven bij het recente Nederlandse optreden, integendeel, maar als lid van de Checkmates heeft hij er al een carriére van 55 jaar opzitten!
Uiteindelijk komt zijn 'oude Checmates maatje' Sweet Louie tijdens een cruise, waar Sonny Charles met hem zou optreden, te overlijden. En dan:
"We had a level of fame, oh yeah," says Charles, who counted 78 network appearances by the duo. "We were big on the supper-club circuit, traveling around and doing that stuff."
But just as the band was ready to break into the major leagues, it unraveled. As Charles remembers, everyone wanted to be the star.
Left behind was its core of The Checkmates, including Charles and Sweet Louie. They continued to play small clubs and lounges for many, many years. "But there are no stars in the lounge," as Charles says, and the final decade was "really unsatisfying. There was no prominence for lounge acts."
Then Sweet Louie died. Charles was devastated. But he knew he wasn't finished making music. His legs still were lively and his voice as strong as ever. Charles felt he could still perform; his body said so.
In the days after Smith's death, as Charles considered his options, he received a call from an old friend. It was Steve Miller, the famed guitarist. Steve Miller of the Steve Miller Band — that Steve Miller. The same Steve Miller kicking off a national tour Friday night at M Resort's Villaggio del Sole. The tour is in support of Miller's first studio release in 17 years, titled, "Bingo."
"We've known each other for a long time. We did a club thing and got to know each other. This was in 2001," Charles says. "When he first heard me sing, he said he wanted to do a blues album with me. We were talking, but not really doing anything. It was always, 'Yeah, we'll put something together. We'll do an album.' A week after Louie died, he called to see how I was doing."
In February 2008, Miller called again. This time he wanted to do business.
"He asked me if I wanted to do some recording with him, and I spent three nights with him at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and afterward he said, 'Why don't we do this? Let's go meet the guys.'"
Charles met the guys, yes, and also recorded about 50 songs in 13 days at a studio in George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. "Steve's passion is blues. We recorded 50 blues songs, and I sang on all of 'em," Charles says. "It was all with a live band. I stayed there, we had rooms. It was like an inn — I had the Clark Gable Room."
Miller asked about the upcoming summer tour — would Charles be interested? Sure! And he could join the band, too.
"Sounded all right to me," Charles says, laughing. "I feel like I'm back in show business again."
The song list of the forthcoming "Bingo," set for release in June, has been juggled quite a lot by Miller, but Charles sings lead on three or four songs. He remains the same joyful singer and dancer who graced the lounges in Vegas over the decades.
"I'm gonna grow old, but I don't want to stop performing," he says. "I don't want to be old. I have some control over that. I'm very healthy. I have no prescriptions. I go to the gym, and when the music happens, I bounce around."
Geweldig! De Engelse tekst hierboven komt overigens uit de Las Vegas sun.