She briefly lived in Mays Landing, New Jersey before moving to Philadelphia to enroll in private school.

Charles graduated Temple University with a Bachelors of Fine Arts and went on to being named Miss America 1984.

Earlier in the week, she had won a Preliminary Talent Award for her performance of "Kiss Me in the Rain".

She acted on the ABC soap opera Loving, CBS television series Frank's Place and performed on This Morning, a British talk show.

She has appeared on stage singing with Stevie Wonder, Alan King, Joel Grey, Sammy Davis Jr., Bill Cosby and Frank Sinatra.