Stories of artistic struggle rarely pack more potency than those of Charles Bradley. Witnessing James Brown in concert at the age of 14 may have inspired Bradley to become a soul singer himself, but it was a dream that wouldn’t be fulfilled for another five decades.

In a sense, it’s hard to believe. Watch a Bradley music video or live performance and he’s absolutely magnetic, his charisma and conviction never in question. And as it happens he’s the same on the phone, the Brooklyn-based Bradley speaking about his hardships with the air of one who is finally content with life.

“I’ve been looking for this opportunity for a long time,” he says. “Searching for my dreams. I’ve been on my own since I was about 14. And God knows, man, that it’s been a long, long fight trying to find some people who really believed in me. But I thank God and I thank the ones who have found me and opened the doors for me so I can show the world what I really know and what kind of person I really am.”

A critically acclaimed soul musician is what Bradley is these days. His album ‘No Time For Dreaming’ has made itself comfortable at the top of many a 2011 best-of list – no mean feat given it was released at the very start of the year. Bradley is clear in what he believes has driven the album’s success.

“Nowadays, I really feel that people out there are looking for something that’s real, something that’s concrete, someone that’s going to speak out and say what’s in their heart. It’s easy to get up onstage and look nice and sing a great song, but when you’re singing it from your heart people really connect to it … and they see that you’re strong in your love and respect for music, they’re going to want to hear more of you. That’s what I’ve found anyway.”

Bradley’s fans have wanted to hear more of him, and over the last year a hectic touring schedule has ensued. But unlike a lot of other artists his age, who would have to balance touring with maintaining a family life, Bradley is unmarried and without children, meaning he can dedicate himself almost completely to his music. “I never had a good childhood myself,” he says, “so I didn’t want to bring another into this world to suffer in the same way. I don’t think I’d have kids now, but I just keep tryin’ for my dreams.”

Maybe music helps Bradley, then, to leave a legacy in another way. “That’s what I’m going to do! If I can help you and show you the love to help you grow greater within yourself, and give direction to your soul, I’m gonna do that. If I can give somebody something that’s going to help them go forward, they’re going to say one thing: ‘Charles Bradley shows you his heart’. Everything has always come from the heart, and now I’m at the age I am, I ain’t gonna change.”

One thing that has changed, however, is the musicians he’s travelling the globe with. Having made his break with Tom Brenneck’s Menahan Street Band, Bradley is currently touring with the Extraordinaires. They’re younger, but what they lack in terms of the Menahans’ experience, they make up for with the fire of youth.

“They are nice, warm young men that really want to play with me and they show me that they’ve got love,” Bradley explains. “And make no mistake: they are very, very good. I think the more I’m around them, the more they start to grow into what they already know. And they have to try and stay up behind me and give me that dynamic that I need. Because once I’ve got my spirit open, I’m expecting the band to be 110 percent behind me. My spiritual moments, my joy moments, my hurt moments: I put everything out on the table, and I want the band to be able to say, ‘Wow! Charles is in his moment. We’ve gotta be there with him.’”

And a few of them will be getting their first taste of Australia when Bradley lands on local shores early next month for a string of dates around the country. Bradley last visited over two years ago, when he was a little known artist. He’s looking forward to getting back and once again blowing audiences away.
“Oh, yeah! Every time I get up on any stage I always get a little tickle in the heart – something that, when the band starts playing, I know it’s time to go out there and open my heart and let it go. You’ve got to let the love in you flow out, and that’s what I do.”

CHARLES BRADLEY PLAYS THE BRISBANE POWERHOUSE MONDAY MARCH 12.