He should not be confused with its namesake, the swamp pop singer Charles Mann born in 1944.
[1] He built up a reputation as a writer and performer in the Atlanta area, which allowed him to be spotted by Jay Lasker, then president of ABC Records, who signed him for the label at the beginning of 1973.
[3] As a solo singer, he had a minor hit in 1973 with the song '"It's All Over", a track from his Philadelphia-recorded album Say You Love Me Too.
From 1977, he worked as a writer, arranger and producer for two labels owned by a company based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which had to stop its activities in 1980 for illegally marketing bootleg recordings.
[4] He later signed for Crawford's own small Los Angeles based label, LA Records and released "Shonuff No Funny Stuff Love", in 1981.