Charlie Wilson’s Hollywood Walk Of Fame Induction Was A Star-Studded Celebration
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Charlie Wilson became the latest Hollywood Walk of Fame inductee on Monday (Jan. 29), which also happened to be his 71st birthday.
Jimmy Jam hosted the star-studded ceremony that featured special guests like Chanté Moore, Kanye West, Johnny Gill, Tyler, The Creator, Ty Dolla $ign, Leon Thomas, Ant Clemons, Stephen Hill, Tank, Terry Lewis, and of course guest speakers Snoop Dogg and Babyface.
“I remember when I first came to Los Angeles, I was here to mix the songs from The Gap Band’s first record,” Wilson quipped during his speech. “But I was walking in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and I was trying to put my hands in the hands on the sidewalk. I was like, ‘Wow, what if I can get this one day?’ Some woman walking by said, ‘That’s not impossible.’ I said, ‘But I’m talking about me.’ She said, ‘Yeah, and I’m telling you it’s not impossible. It might be improbable, but not impossible.’ And now, here it is — so many years later, and I’m getting that star on Hollywood Boulevard.”
The 13-time Grammy nominee spoke of his “Superman“-esque story. During his ascent within music, he found himself addicted to drugs, and later homeless, living on the very streets where his Walk of Fame star now lays.
“That was my rock bottom time,” he reflected. “And once you’re on that curve, ain’t but one way back, and that’s up. So I prayed, ‘Lord, it’s too crowded down here, please take me up off this curve.’” However, his now-wife Mahin helped him become sober after they met in the rehab facility where she worked back in 1995. Wilson has since been clean for nearly 30 years, survived prostate cancer, and ultimately, changed his life for the better.
During the ceremony, Snoop, Babyface, Pharrell, and Wilson’s longtime manager, Michael Paran, all gave emotional anecdotes about their distinct relationships with the “There Goes My Baby” crooner.
Snoop discussed the moment when Mahin pulled him aside during a recording session, telling him to cut back on his marijuana usage around the singer. “‘Nobody can smoke if Charlie is in the studio,'” the rapper recalled, mimicking Mahin’s voice. “So, the first day we was like ‘man who is this lady tryna tell us what to do? We smokin’ homie. We doin’ what we wanna do. Kick rocks with all that.’ Second day, she pulled me to the side and she talked to me like my mother […] and she put so much respect in me [that] we didn’t smoke around Charlie Wilson when he was working with us.”
On a separate occasion, Wilson told him not to smoke around the children he coached on a youth football team. So, Snoop quit for 120 days.
He later expressed, “This man means the world to me—not just musically, but personally […] The things you taught me: showmanship, business, family—that’s a treasure to me.”
Terry Lewis considered Wilson to be “one of the greatest vocalists God ever created” as Jimmy Jam dubbed him a “divine artist.”
Babyface reflected on how Bobby Brown’s “Rock Wit’cha” was almost a Charlie Wilson record, how he is still a generational teacher, and how Wilson is one of the few people he gets “geeked” about.
Pharrell couldn’t be there in-person, but a special video message was played from the Neptunes superstar. “Thank you for continually inspiring us—song after song, run after run,” said the 50-year-old. “It’s incredible what you’re able to do. Like, you’re still crushing it. You absolutely deserve this star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”
Wilson spoke on his longevity before concluding his own speech. “I’m still here to be able to tell my story and be able to dance and sing and have a good time on the stage,” he stated. “All the things I’ve ever prayed for, they all came to pass. I really sort of am Superman — I’m faster than all of the speeding bullets that came after me.”
Watch the full ceremony below.
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