At the age of 15, he heard a performance by Fats Domino, an event that "changed my life forever," he recalled.
[4] "(I Don't Know Why) But I Do" was an early 1960s song that Charles composed, which Clarence "Frogman" Henry had a major hit with,[4] and which was on the soundtrack of the 1994 film, Forrest Gump.
[7] Charles was invited to play with the Band at The Last Waltz, their November 26, 1976, farewell concert at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.
That song, sung by Bob Dylan and pianist Richard Manuel, featured backup vocals from the entire ensemble, including Charles.
In 2005 the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur, Texas, inducted Charles into their Music Hall of Fame, which includes over eighty artists from the Gulf Coast region, including Janis Joplin, George Jones, Tex Ritter, ZZ Top, and others.