Biography
Charles Raymond Karel Bouley, II was born November 7, 1962, in Miami Beach Florida, to Charles Raymond Bouley (1929-1987) and Rose Marie Tremblay) Bouley (1930-2003). He has been an entertainer since childhood, emceeing his first event in 7th grade, the talent show, "Car Wash", at his junior high school in Long Beach, CA. While attending Long Beach Poly High School, Bouley was editor of the high school's newspaper, "High Life." As a member of the press through his involvement with the paper, he was able to be included on press-only lists for premieres and openings in the Los Angeles area. With this type of press access, Bouley began attending stage productions and writing reviews of the shows for publication in his school and community newspapers. Unable to afford tickets to movies, he became an usher at the Long Beach Terrace Theatre so he could review the new releases.
He attended community college and then university on scholarship where he majored in Theatre and minored in Journalism. He began professionally entertaining right out of high school in plays and stage productions in the Los Angeles area. This led him to music, and in the 1990s Karel, as he became known dropping the other names, released the album "Dance...Or Else." It was well received and he was hailed by Billboard as "the heir apparent to the throne left vacant by the late Sylvester." This led him to work with Dance music superstars like Thea Austin (Snap! Rhythm Is A Dancer), Steve Bronski (Bronski Beat), The Factory Team (Italy), Jeanie Tracy and more.
Music led Karel to talk radio, where he and his on-and-off air partner Andrew Howard (1966-2001) made history at KFI AM 640 Los Angeles as the first openly gay couple in drive time. Upon Howard's death, Karel fought for the right to sue for wrongful death as a partner resulting in a law-changing decisions that allowed the lawsuit to progress and paved the way for other GLBT community members. After KFI, Karel went on to the #1 station in San Francisco, KGO AM 810 (where he remains) as well as syndication of a national show through his production company, KDW Productions and Genesis Communication Network (GCN).
Karel continues in TV and film, doing a series hosted by Ryan Seacrest and produced by Woody Fraiser as well as countless TV guest appearances on cable news networks as an expert. His stage show, Karel Stands Up! has been filmed for TV and he continues to tour with that show. He has filmed several pilots and features and continues an active TV, Film and Web career; this includes hosting a daily web show on Ustream to accompany his national radio show.
Journalistically he has written for Billboard, The Advocate, the HuffingtonPost and several other prestigious outlets and continues to have columns published weekly. He has authored two books, "You Can't Say That!" (Alyson Publications) and "Shouting at Windmills: BS from Bush to Obama" (KDW).
Controversy has followed him on several occasions, with the most prominent being an of-air incident in which expletives went out regarding "joe the Plumber" as well as his playing "ding dong the witch is dead" the day Ronald Reagan died.
Karel continues his TV, Film, Stage and Radio career while living in Long Beach, CA with his two dogs.
