Charles S

Yates

Charles Sank Yates was born April 12, 1957 to George and Willie Bell Yates.

He attended Lincoln Elementary, Robinson Hr. High, where he played trumpet in the band under Mr. Whiten and Mr Edward Dixon. His freshman year in high school he attended Libbey High School. His remaining high school years were at Jesup W. Scott high School, where he played in the Marching 100 under the leadership of Gus Walker.

In his early years he also played bass guitar and performed with The Snatch Band and the Freedom House Band which opened for several celebrities.

After graduating from Scott, Charles attended Florida A & M and was a member of their Marching 100. Upon returning to Toledo, he became the Assistant Band Director at Scott High School, where he taught and mentored several students.

He later started his own production company, Powermore Productions. As an experienced producer he had demonstrated his talent and ability in the automation industry in skilled sound, music composition and social media.

Charles also helped young people who wanted to rep or sing and from those collaborations several albums were produced. One of the most popular was "At It's Finest" by Heavy X, 2 Dub. He was also instrumental giving some advice to Calvin Frazier II who a gospel producer and won a grammy award his first year of being nominated.

Charles was always striving to be better and do better in all aspect in his life. This driving force inspired him to enroll at Full Sail University in his fifties and obtain his Master Degree in music.

Shortly after Charles was diagnosed with cancer. Charles' determination mix with his deep faith in God, he beat cancer not once, but twice. God, Charles and Dr. Al-Nsour (his oncologist), were working together on his third battle with cancer, when other health concerns overpowered him on February 3, 2025.

Charles was preceded in death by both parents, George and Willie Bell Yates and sister Calle L. McVay-White.

He leaves to cherish his memory, his loving wife, Paula Ford-Yates; children, Derrick (Kate) Yates of Tallahassee, FL, Tracie Michelle (Jamal) Howell; granddaughter, Skylar Yates of Tallahassee, FL,; siblings Shirley (Ryland) Garrett of Toledo, Ohio, William (Ruby) Garrett, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.