Local son becomes gospel sensation

By MATTHEW WHITTLE
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

August 18, 2006 12:03 pm

— It took a few years, but last Friday, as he was named the 2006 Gospel Music Association National Solo Vocalist, Charles Hyman was finally able to say that he'd reached the pinnacle of his profession.
"They know I'm here now," he said.
Of course in many ways he feels like he's been there for quite some time.
See, Hyman, 38, is not just a gospel music artist, he's also a minister, and for him, his music is just another tool to advance his already thriving C-LUV Ministries.
In fact, he said, the chance to advance and grow his ministry was the only reason he went to compete in GMA's Music in the Rockies Event in Estes Park, Colo.
"The main reason I went was just to contact some folks and get some help with my ministry, which has gotten too large for just me," Hyman said. "I really didn't want to go. I fought it all the way to the airport."
It wasn't that he didn't care, he continued, it's just that he was tired.
"I had done a concert the Saturday before that took a lot out of me ... I wasn't able to take my kids on a vacation this year ... I was feeling kind of guilty," he said. "Plus, at this point in my life I'm tired of the competition thing. I've been doing that for maybe 15 years off and on. It'd just gotten kind of old for me.
"But I just put it all in God's hands."
And that faith paid off.
Not only did Hyman win national solo artist of the year, he also was recognized as the 2006 Southern Gospel Artist winner and the 2006 Urban Gospel Artist runner-up.
"I was so grateful," he said. "I just began to weep and thank God for this. I've been diligent in what I do and He has rewarded me."
Hyman, born in Tarboro, began his music career at age four in a most unexpected way.
As the story goes, he was playing outside one day when an older sister – he was the youngest of 11 – dropped a Coca-Cola bottle on his head. When he ran inside crying to his grandmother, his sobs just happened to harmonize with the theme song to Soul Train, which was playing on TV.
He's been singing ever since.
"He was always singing," said Hyman's childhood minister, the Rev. James Brown at St. Luke Church of Christ in Princeville. "He's always had a love for drama and singing.
"I always expected him to have success in due time. We're real proud of him."
Outside of church, Hyman's first performances were at Tarboro High School where he played the lead in several musicals, including the role of Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof.” He then continued to take command of the stage holding leading roles in “Dream Girls” and “Joe Turner Come and Gone” in performances across the Carolinas.
But it wasn't until he got to North Carolina Central University – he was the only one in his family to go to college – that a career in music really began to look like a possibility.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and Performance, he hit the national stage, appearing on the PBS special “Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music,” opening for renowned artists as Phyllis Hyman, Kirk Franklin, Tonex and Marvin Sapp, and touring Europe with the Montreaux Jazz Festival.
The biggest moment of his career, at least until last Friday, came in 1991 when he won on "Showtime at the Apollo," singing “My, My, My.”
As his career progressed, however, he began turning away from secular music and back to his gospel roots.
“I was brought up in the church so gospel music is an innate thing that I have,” Hyman said.
In 1995 he served as minister of music for the Collective and Gospel Protestant services at Fort Drum, N.Y. and in Korea. Then in 1997 Hyman became a licensed and ordained minister under Full Gospel Ministries of New York.
He kicked off C-LUV Ministries in 2003 with his wife, U.S. Army Maj. Pamela Fulton-Hyman.
"I have a gift, but I also have a ministry here (in Fayettville) and my goal is reach as many people as I can with this ministry. My music is just what gets them," he said.
In 2005 he released his first CD – "I Surrender" – an album as diverse as his skills, featuring 13 tracks ranging from Christian worship ballads to contemporary to urban (a hip-hop and contemporary combination) to traditional gospel songs.