When jazz, pop and R&B fans catch saxophone virtuoso Adrian Crutchfield’s high-energy hometown gig at Uptown’s Carolina Theatre on Aug. 8, they will also witness a force of nature.
Crutchfield, an accomplished solo artist and key collaborator with Prince, will be joined onstage by his friend and colleague CeeLo Green, cofounder of iconic Atlanta rap collective Goodie Mob, one half of eclectic psych-soul duo Gnarls Barkley, and a formidable innovator himself as a solo soul and R&B performer.
Green has been at ground zero for much of the music that shaped today’s pop landscape. As a cofounding member of Goodie Mob, he helped invent Dirty South rap with fellow Dungeon Family cohorts such as OutKast. The hardcore-gangsta-bounce hybrid brought earth-shaking 808 drum machines to mainstream music.
As one half of Gnarls Barkley with Danger Mouse, Green gave pop a much-needed infusion of risk and adventure with a mix of hip-hop, funk, psychedelia, melody and a touch of melancholy.
As a solo artist and songwriter, he retrofitted classic soul, R&B and disco for modern ears, fusing this irresistible musical mélange to a larger-than-life, flamboyant personality that dazzled TV viewers when Green joined the cast of hit reality singing competition show The Voice.
Green’s willingness to test boundaries has frequently spilled over from his music into his public persona. He’s enlivened his energetic stint on The Voice and glitzy red carpet events by showing up in a series of outlandish outfits, including a gold-plated outer space alien, a Roman gladiator, a Muppet with a metal breastplate, Darth Vader and more.
Read more: Adrian Crutchfield Is Bringing Sax Back with Latest Album, ‘Slick’
He has also found himself at the center of controversy after facing charges for giving a woman ecstasy. After pleading no contest to those charges, he posted multiple tweets about what should or shouldn’t be considered rape that led to his own reality TV show getting canceled. He would later apologize for the tweets, calling them “idiotic, untrue and not what I believe.”
CeeLo’s songwriting often carries a dramatic and moral weight. Growing up in Atlanta, Green lost both his parents before he turned 20. His mother’s death in in 1993, when Green was 18, triggered suicidal thoughts, as he addressed in Gnarls Barkley’s “Just a Thought.” He also touched on the deaths of his parents and the behavioral problems they caused in the Rorschach ink blots animation of the duo’s video for “Crazy.”
Today, CeeLo says he’s focused on spreading joy.
“I love to make people laugh,” he told Queen City Nerve. “I love to make people feel alive.”
We spoke to CeeLo Green about his journey and the legacy he’ll leave behind in the lead-up to the upcoming Charlotte show.
Queen City Nerve: Can you remember what first sparked your interest in music and when that was?
CeeLo Green: A considerable amount of my childhood was spent in church. My mother and father were ministers, and … they introduced me to praise. I think praise music is the origin of all music because it’s ultimately an expression of gratitude. It was like the music was talking exactly to you.
I was not only introduced to the music outside of myself but the music inside of myself. The first thing you can ever be is a fan. Until you learn to sing by yourself and for yourself, you sing along. So my first inspirations and inclinations were gospel and then blues, R&B and soul.
How did that lead to you cofounding Goodie Mob?
T-Mo from Goodie Mob was my neighbor. He lived a street over from the house that I grew up in. T-Mo, Khujo and Big Gipp, they all graduated in my sister’s class. So when they were seniors, I was a freshman, and they knew me as [my sister’s] little brother.
I had heard through mutual friends of their musical aspirations. I wanted to do music and I did it informally as a hobby. It preoccupied me and gave me a focus and I ultimately ended up mastering a craft over time. So we had those things in common.
Read more: Historic Carolina Theatre to Reopen with Concerts this Month
[Goodie Mob became a key part of the Atlanta-based musical collective Dungeon Family, which recorded in Rico Wade’s studio, dubbed “The Dungeon.”]
When we all got to The Dungeon, I said, “Well, this must be the place.” [Then] the option came for me to be a part of the group. We had to pool our resources early on in the process. That’s what Goodie Mob was about. It was us … galvanizing each other to make sure that the situation was secure.
You and Danger Mouse met when his rap group won a contest to open for Goodie Mob at a show in Athens, Georgia. Then a few years later, in 2003, Danger Mouse approached you to feature on a remix for rapper Jemini’s song “What U Sittin’ On?” How did that lead to Gnarls Barkley forming?
Once that session ended, [Danger Mouse] played a few things for me. I said, “Wow, these are wonderful! I would love to work with you on a couple of these tracks.” He said to me that he didn’t do tracks; he did albums. So, I said, “Okay … let’s do an album.” And that’s how Gnarls Barkley was born.
What was your first production job? Was it Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha”? [Written by CeeLo and Busta Rhymes, the song peaked at No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100]
It was my first really big one, but I actually worked with Solange Knowles for her debut album [Solo Star (2002)]. I wrote and co-produced a song called “T.O.N.Y.” for her and I co-wrote another song called “Sandcastle Disco” for her off of that first album.
You’ve written songs and you’ve performed, recorded and produced. Do you prefer one of those over the others?
I can do them all simultaneously. I can have songs that I’ve written and produced for other people be in rotation on the radio, 48 hours a day, and I can still be performing elsewhere.
How did you get involved with The Voice? [Green was a coach on The Voice for the first three seasons (2011-2013) and then returned for season 5. He also made special appearances as an advisor in later seasons]
It didn’t hurt that I had probably the biggest record in the world at that time, which was “Fuck You.” I was performing on Saturday Night Live and Mark Burnett, the executive producer of The Voice, just happened to be in the audience. He said he saw a spark in my eye and thought that I would be perfect for this coaching position on this new show.
I was … given the premise and I thought that it read really well and it was interesting. Then I met with Adam [Levine], whom I had already known, and I got to meet Christina [Aguilera] and Blake [Shelton] for the first time. These people are legendary. We had a sit-down, [and] everybody was excited about doing it. We liked each other, [and] agreed to do it together.
You’re returning to The Voice for the upcoming Season 29 in 2026. What brought you back?
I’ve come back and forth over the years, and it’s really hard work. To be totally honest, it was quite tedious, although I enjoyed it. I think that I was a pretty good coach. It [became] tedious for me because I like to flow free. I like to perform and I don’t want any day of my life to have a dull moment. So, I like to be on the stage. No two shows are the same; no two audiences are the same; no two cities are the same. I like that.
But am I excited about going back? Yes, because I’m reminded that I miss it. I miss the opportunity to do something else that I have an affinity for, and that’s [helping] aspiring artists and advising and mentorship. I’m a wealth of musical knowledge that I can share. The more that you know the more that you should teach and pass down. I think that there’s a moral obligation there.
How would you like to be remembered?
My legacy is love and laughter. [It’s] a love for not only the music itself but the listeners. My sense of humor has always been interjected into the music, whether it’s outfitting or staging or stuff like that.
I’m about transferring that positive energy that propels and pushes [people] forward. It’s progressive and I want to be on that end of the endeavor to be a better version of myself and to be the change that I want to see in the world. I think music is a tool and a vehicle which can make that happen, a little bit at a time. I think it’s an honor to be doing what I do. It’s giving my life purpose and it’s giving me joy. I feel good about that.
Adrian Crutchfield told me he’s known you since he was 14 years old because you were family by marriage [through CeeLo Green’s ex-wife Christina Johnson], but that you got to know each other better later on. Do you remember how you met Adrian and how you two started working together?
We were introduced through the shared family. When we first met, he was much younger. We met at a couple of family functions and stuff like that. So it was really casual. When he started to venture out on his musical journey and career, which is illustrious in its own right, that’s when we [really] met. I think it was on a Lionel Richie tour, [where] I had the pleasure of opening up for Richie. Adrian and I joined ourselves and we stayed close and in contact. Then I had the opportunity to utilize his skill set — him and my man [saxophonist] Marcus Anderson, who both have an affinity for Prince.
[Anderson and Crutchfield are friends and both played in Prince’s New Power Generation horn section. Crutchfield remembers that six months after meeting Green at the Lionel Ritchie show, Green’s manager called Crutchfield and hired him for Green’s touring band.]
We’ve been rocking ever since. This [Carolina Theatre show] is an opportunity, a very rare one, that I get a chance to come out and support him, to reciprocate all of that love and that devotion that he’s given me over the years.
What can folks expect from your show with Adrian?
We’re going to go from A to Z, man, from top to the bottom doing a lot of the old classics and some current music, too. We’ll definitely do what we do. Any CeeLo Green fans, you’re welcome to come on out … and come right up. Do whatever you got to do to get up in front of that stage so you can feel that energy firsthand.
CeeLo Green and Adrian Crutchfield will take the stage of the newly restored Carolina Theatre on Friday, Aug. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $37.
