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Gap Band's Charlie Wilson soaring on solo flight

A legal settlement, a soon-to-be-released autobiography and years of clean-and-sober living has given R&B titan Charlie Wilson plenty to celebrate.

PERHAPS Charlie Wilson should be playing the Powerball lottery these days. After all, the guy is on a hot streak.

Recently, Wilson, lead singer of 1970s R&B headliner the Gap Band, and four of his collaborators - including his brother Lonnie (another brother/co-writer, Robert, died in 2010) - settled with DJ/producer Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars and others who had claimed composing credits on Ronson's megahit, "Uptown Funk." Wilson and his partners (and their legal eagles) successfully argued that the song was a little too similar to the Gap Band's "Oops Upside Your Head."

Going forward, all copies of "Uptown Funk" will include Wilson's name and those of his co-writers. A collective 17 percent writers' royalty fee is also part of the prize.

In addition, Wilson, 62, will dive into literary waters June 30 when Simon & Schuster releases his autobiography, I Am Charlie Wilson. And then there's his thriving solo career.

Wilson's most recent album, "Forever Charlie," hit No. 2 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It also reached No. 17 on Billboard's Top 200 album list. And as a first-generation disco/funk avatar, he has been embraced by such current megastars as Snoop Dogg, Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake, all of whom have collaborated with Wilson.

He also was nominated for two Grammys this year for his work with Kanye West on the tune "Bound 2" from West's "Yeezus" album.

Wilson has likewise proven a sturdy concert attraction, playing to enthusiastic crowds across the country. His "Forever Charlie" tour brings him to the Mann Music Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday.

While he is legally prohibited from making any public pronouncements about the "Uptown Funk" kerfuffle, Wilson was happy to talk about the book, which chronicles his "Behind the Music"-like tale of fame and fortune followed by degradation and despair, a byproduct of the alcohol abuse and a brutal crack-cocaine habit in the early 1990s that caused him to spend a couple of homeless years.

"I just wanted to 'empty the garbage,' " said Wilson, during a recent phone call. "There are some things you bottle up, and some things you hold onto.

"Some of the past I had to let go. You keep looking back at it . . . and there ain't nothin' back there. My father [a minister] used to tell me all the time, 'There ain't nothin' back there. You have to go forward. Your blessings are ahead of you.' "

According to Wilson, the impetus to write the book was his frustration with the way his life had unfolded for so many years. "I was bitter for a long time about some of the stuff that did happen to me and some of the stuff I let happen to me," offered the long clean-and-sober singer. "I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired. So, one day, I just said, I want to write my memoirs. So we got together and signed with Simon & Schuster and they said, 'Let's go!' "

Wilson, who successfully battled prostate cancer in 2008, also takes great pleasure in his current success as a solo artist. Much of his satisfaction stems from the "better-late-than-never" aspect of his current career path.

Wilson name-checked several R&B and soul stars who began their careers as part of a group before finding superstardom on their own while still in their twenties (his list included Diana Ross and Lionel Richie). On the other hand, Wilson, whose first solo album, "You Turn My Life Around," was released in 1992, didn't permanently fly the Gap Band coop until the act disbanded in 2010, when he was 57.

"I just stuck with the Gap Band all the way out," he said. "Everything I'm doing now, I worked hard for, and everything has been given to me just like I asked for it. It's just comin' at a late date.

"When people see me on TV and see me . . . cry, those are happy tears. It's because of who I am now. And to think about where I was and where I've been and how bad it had gotten, it's amazing. I'm on this journey and I really can't wait to see where it ends up."