Not only was Channel 4's Top Boy a brilliant slice of TV drama, but it delivered a neat little pay-off over the closing credits with Charles Bradley's track "The World (Is Going Up in Flames)". An anguished chunk of classic soul, sung by Bradley in a gutsy James Brown-style rasp, it sounded at least 40 years old, but in fact it was only released in 2007 on Daptone Records' subsidiary, Dunham.
Bradley's story could make a thrilling TV biopic of its own. Born in Gainesville, Florida in 1948 and raised in Brooklyn, Bradley experienced a miserably impoverished childhood, but yearned to get into music after seeing James Brown perform at the Apollo in Harlem in 1962. Instead, he ended up becoming a chef, working all over the States and in Canada while playing music on the side. He finally got a chance at a record deal when he was spotted by Daptone's Gabriel Roth while he was doing James Brown routines in Brooklyn clubs under the pseudonym Black Velvet. It seems the death of Bradley's brother in a shooting incident served as a catalyst to help unleash his songwriting skills, which had lain dormant until he was in his fifties. The eventual result was Bradley's debut album, No Time for Dreaming, released earlier this year. Read all about it on Bradley's website.
Watch a video of Charles Bradley singing "The World (Is Going Up in Flames)"