While still in high school, Charlie began his professional career in the band The Tropics (also known as The Fabulous Tropics), a band that was heavily influenced by the Beatles. They were very popular at teen clubs and concerts all around the southeast U.S., and then in 1966 they won first place over more than 1,000 bands in the International Battle of the Bands held at McCormick Place in Chicago. Out of that came a recording contract with Columbia Records and the single “Time” which made it to the top of the charts and got a “92” on American Bandstand!
After The Tropics disbanded in 1969, Charlie and another Tropics band mate, Eric Turner, formed power rock group with drummer Bill Peterson.
In 1973 while playing in Bacchus, Charlie was asked by Gregg Allman to come to Macon, and then to New York City to play in Gregg’s new band on his debut solo album "Laid Back." So Charlie left Bacchus to join up with Gregg. During that time, he was also fortunate enough to collaborate with Gregg in the studio.
Meanwhile, not far away in Long Island, Bobby Caldwell, the former Johnny Winter And drummer, and leader of Capricorn recording artist Captain Beyond, tapped Charlie to play bass and sing in the Atco Records group Cactus, formerly Vanilla Fudge, as The New Cactus Band with members Duane Hitchings and Mike Pinera of Blues Image fame. While Cactus was on tour with Bob Seger, Charlie was approached by the Silver Bullet Band, but continued to tour with Cactus until he again was reunited with another old Tropics band mate, Buddy Pendergrass, who then headed up a group on Capricorn Records, . Charlie then went to Miami to work with Eric Clapton's "Layla" producers Ron and Howie Albert on the project "White Witch: A Spiritual Greeting."
In 1975, after Danny Roberts left Tom Petty’s band Mudcrutch, Tom’s manager suggested he hire a bass player. (Tom and Danny, both primarily guitar players, had been sharing the bass parts.) So Tom, who used to come watch The Tropics play whenever they were in Gainesville, asked Charlie to join his band. Charlie was, once again, on the move. He put all of his belongings in the back of Mudcrutch’s equipment truck and left his home in Tampa bound for L.A. along with his wife Rachel and their cat. There were stops along the way. They played in Gainesville then traveled through New Orleans, across Texas and on into Tulsa to record some tracks at Leon Russell’s home for Tom’s new album. Once in California, they went to Shelter Records headquarters (a converted house on Sunset Boulevard) in Hollywood and then on to Leon’s Encino home studio where they worked with Joe Cocker’s producer Denny Cordell. During those sessions, Charlie collaborated with Tom on a few songs. Charlie also played alto sax on "Hometown Blues," a song on the first Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers record album.
Once in California, Charlie has said “the waiting was the hardest part” for their big break so he left Tom Petty and moved on to record other projects. First, there was a rock album in Berkley on Fantasy Records for the Jazz Crusaders producer Wayne Henderson. The band was Gale Force, a group featuring brothers Lennie and Ken Gale. These recording sessions for two albums included work with Bill Champlin of Chicago, Rocke Grace, pianist for the Joe Walsh Band, and Jim Horn. After that, Charlie and Lennie Gale also teamed up with guitarist Mickey Rooney, Jr. and the artist Torill for an album on A.V.I. Records and again with artist Chi Coltrane on the same A.V.I. label.
Charlie then recorded with the famous Native American actor and songwriter who originally recorded an album of protest songs in 1970 and finally completed his work in 1978 with Charlie on bass. (Floyd Westerman played Jim Morrison’s spiritual guide in the movie "The Doors" and also appeaed in "Dances with Wolves") While he was working on those sessions with Westerman, Charlie was in "The James Quill Smith Band" with the former John Mayall gutarist and Christiaan Mostert on keys, sax and flutes. The James Quill Smith Band also toured as a backup band for actor and comedian Fred Willard who appeared with his band on the television show "The Midnight Special" on ABC.
Sometime around the late ‘70s, Charlie wrote to his old friend and band mate from both The Tropics and Bacchus back in Florida, Eric Turner, telling him: “Get your ass out to California; I've got a great recording project for you." At the time Charlie was recording with Denny Correll (who at one time had been in Blues Image, replacing Mike Pinera). Denny was working on a new album as a solo artist and Charlie thought Eric would provide a great contribution to the project. After Eric moved out there, they spent a lot of time in MaMa Joes Recording Studio with Denny. Freddie Piro, who owned the studio, allowed Charlie and Eric to use down time to develop songs and introduced them to the singer Jim West who had done session work with Ambrosia. Then Donnie Vosburgh, an amazing double bass drummer, also moved out to California from Florida to play drums and Charlie’s new band Fortress was born.
Freddie would set up showcases with major label companies. One such showcase was for Bob Greenberg who was head of the artist and recording department for Atlantic Records. From that, they were signed to a record deal without a demo tape, just simply from their live performance. Charlie wrote some of the music on that album, including “Comin’ After You With My Love,” a tune picked and played in L.A. on KMET.
Soon after that, Charlie was asked to play bass on a gospel album for Myrrh Records by Leon Patillo, formerly of Santana. Add another rock ‘n’ roll gospel album on Polydor with the Darrell Mansfield Christian Band, and Charlie became even more thankful for his God-given talent!
His next project was teaming up with drummer Bill Lordan, one of the world’s finest, who had done several Robin Trower albums and spent some funky time with Sly & The Family Stone. Charlie and Bill then had the opportunity to become a viable rhythm section, recording together in Phoenix on a record produced by French producer Michele Columbier for the vocalist Wendy Evans. You can now hear the team of Charlie and Bill as a first class rhythm section, joined by guitar virtuoso Eric Turner on the 2000 CD release "Live Your Dream" and 2001’s release "9 Ball in the Corner Pocket" as the Charlie Souza Band.
In 1999, Charlie spearheaded the of his first band The Tropics, which became a homecoming for Charlie and Eric with the other original members Buddy Pendergrass, Mel Turner and Bobby Shea. On May 7, 1999, they played at the St. Petersburg, Florida, Coliseum as a benefit for All Children’s Hospital. It was a tremendous success and many good friends were reunited in a free-spirited, fun-filled nostalgic evening, reliving the innocence of those wonderful times. This was the beginning of the resurgence of creativity for Charlie and his many talented friends and he had appropriately written a song, an anthem really, for the occasion called "Live Your Dream."
Well, I know my son Chip means well and some of this stuff above is a little twisted around but that's cool. ALL of this stuff and more has undergone many corrections and much editing, enough to fill up a book and will be out soon in the form a a book! http://liveyourdreambook.com I hope you'll pick up an autographed copy and get your free Livin' in Paradise" CD with your book! Peace, Charlie
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2. 04-07-2011 07:05
Wow, your post makes mine look febele. More power to you!
