[lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Sonny Charles[/lastfm] is ready for another tour with [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]The Steve Miller Band[/lastfm] that’s expected to begin in May…
A Las Vegas lounge favorite since the ’60s, Charles joined Miller in 2008, a year after the death of his onstage partner in [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]The Checkmates[/lastfm], [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Marvin Smith[/lastfm].
He tells Las Vegas Sun columnist John Katsilometes that Miller was a longtime fan of the group and asked Charles to join fulltime. “It’s a long way from playing the lounges, where you might have three people in the room and two are asleep and the other one is complaining that you’re not playing country music. I’m having the time of my life.”
The Checkmates found their greatest fame in 1969, when their [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Phil Spector[/lastfm]-produced single “Black Pearl,” went Top 10.
Here’s an awesome original vinyl copy to hear Sonny’s soulful stylings! ~JZ.
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