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“I had to record ‘Do You Wanna Funk?’ because it and I go way, way back,” enigmatic entertainer Karel (Charles Karel Bouley) stated from his Las Vegas, NV studios. “It was 1982, I was 20 years old, at the DOK West in Garden Grove, CA. The DJ, Andy, played the song, and my friend and I always danced, all night, always. Everyone cleared the floor, except us. The DJ stopped the song and over the microphone chastised the patrons saying ‘This is the hottest song in LA and I’m going to keep playing it until you queens dance. Eventually, the floor was packed. We danced the entire time. In 1983 I got the bar to book Sylvester in to perform and I spent the weekend with him. I could write a book about that weekend. But I was forever changed. Sylvester told me, ‘I love your voice, you’re a great singer, but there’s one queen bee in this hive!’ It was a compliment of the highest caliber if you knew him.
“Later, I met Jeanie Tracy, she actually sang backgrounds for Sylvester and then on my cover of Sylvester’s ‘Don’t Stop’ after his passing. She walked in to the studio and said, this track is great, when will you remove Sylvester? The engineer said, that’s Karel, and she was like, Boo, you got it going on…and now, in 2025, I’ve sung with her again on a song she inspired. Yes, she inspired ‘Do You Wanna Funk.’ Sylvester came over when she was recording ‘I’m Your Jeanie’ and they played around with a hook for that song about ‘funk’. Sylvester liked the idea of being funky and he and Patrick (Cowley) wrote ‘Do You Wanna Funk’ after Jeanie’s session. And now, here I am, singing it full throat with people that worked with him, that inspired him. It’s a dream. Let’s hope the queens don’t leave the dance floor when mine plays like they did at DOK for his!”
This is Karel’s 15th Dance single, and he refuses to abandon Dance music even with age. “You’re never too old to jam, to enjoy the sounds of the clubs. It’s been my life. I love the genre, which is why I, and so many others, rallied for it to have a category in Grammy and got that category. Jellybean Benitez got me in to Grammy/NARAS when I was on his label and I’ve been a voting member for over 30 years and he and others rallied all of us to get NARAS to give Dance a category in the ‘90s.”
“Now, more than ever, we need to Dance, to sing. Things are almost as bad for the LGBTQ community as they were in 1982 when it comes to attitudes, to civil rights and more. Sylvester was out front, proud, nonbinary before there were words to describe him. I’ve been the same my entire life, out, proud and loud. I can’t stop now.
The song will be released on San Francisco / Portland-based legendary Swishcraft Records headed by DJ, Producer and Publisher Matt Consola on April 8th, 2025. “I’m so excited to be working with Matt, I’ve known him almost 30 years and respect what he’s done for Dance Music from his label to his former magazine Dance Music Authority, which did a full feature on me in the late 90s. So full circle moment.”
The next single will be “You Have to Be Proud” a new anthem for a new age. “It’s hard to be proud right now, it’s hard to have hope, to feel like there’s a future in the USA for LGBTQ people. But that’s when you HAVE to be proud. Gay Pride wasn’t a party, it was a riot, a riot to say we won’t take this any more. And each year the commemoration of that riot was a bold statement that we won’t be invisible. Gay Pride Parades were acts of defiance, as open affection was outlawed forever, being in drag in public, things that seem to be happening again. So we need Pride more than ever right now.”
Karel has a Top 200 podcast but says, “I’m tired of just talking about things, it’s time to sing about them again.” After Do You Wanna Funk and Hard to Be Proud the next single, I Dance Because, is a tribute to all those who have passed away from AIDS that aren’t here to dance now, but whose presence is still felt by Karel every time he begins to move. “I’ve danced with so many fabulous gay men, now gone, from my husband to best friends, and I dance now for them, because they can’t.”
Karel’s history-making bio at #1 Talk Radio Stations (KFI Los Angeles, KGO San Francisco), on television, in music, is a great read and can be found at https://reallykarel.com/aboutkarel/ But he doesn’t want to rest on history, he wants to continue making it.
“Now is not the time to withdraw, to retreat. Now is the time to be activists in any way we can. I’m going to use music, my talk show, my voice, my writing, my lyrics, whatever I can to inspire, to change, to entertain.”
Karel’s been entertaining since the ‘80s and feels so lucky to still be doing it today. He’s a survivor in the LGBTQ community in America and ready to make music to make people dance, and think, and sing. The first is a tribute to his icon, Sylvester, a person who inspired him to keep singing in falsetto and keep singing Dance music. The other following singles over the Summer of 2025 will be lyrically meaningful while melodically enticing people to move, dance and sing.
“My community has always turned to music, to performing, to the Arts in tough times, in good times, to send messages or to simply escape. I’m so excited to be making it again. I’ve performed with so many fabulous people, from Thea Austin (Snap!) to Steve Bronski, Jeanie Tracy to opening for Grace Jones. Now, I get to start a whole new era of memories and I can’t wait.”