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Paul McCartney He grabbed a bottle of water, drank just under half, and set it on the floor. He went on stage mounted at the Centennial Stadium and began to sing Hello, Goodbye. He was wearing a blue jacket over a white shirt and black pants. It was April 15, 2012. While more than 50,000 people watched the exbeatle sing for the first time in Uruguay as if it were a miracle or an epiphany, Carlos Bradford he saw that the bottle of Fiji water – “natural artesian water” – that McCartney had taken before the show was still in the same place, intact. Two and a half hours later, the Englishman sang The end, said goodbye and left the stage towards the dressing room, while Carlos and his companions escorted him. Before leaving, Carlos asked someone who worked on stage to keep the bottle for him, who was coming back for it. He left, left McCartney at the hotel, and when he was released from his duties as safety, returned to the Centennial. They had kept it for them.
Nine years and four days later Carlos says that the bottle is an “anecdote”, that he does not believe that there is DNA of Paul McCartney there but that he still has it stored in his house as a souvenir of that night. Later, he says: “The day he was leaving, I and another colleague were in charge of accompanying him until he got on his plane at the airport. When he went upstairs to get in, he turned around, shook our hands and said ‘Good job’. And there you feel a very nice feeling, like a mission accomplished, because Paul McCartney tells you that … “.
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Carlos Bradford is 49 years old, measures 1.76 meters and weighs 100 kilos. He does not like the word “patovica” and defines himself as “personal custody”. He says that he is one of the best known in the business for having been the safety of many celebrities, that he has always worked with respect and that he has a lot of passion for what he does for more than 20 years. He says people know him as Charly.
He has a wife, Rossana, with whom he has been for more than 30 years, a small brown dog, Pía, and an Instagram account, charlybsegurity. There she shares photos of Rossana and Pía, of the dishes she prepares, of her work. In the first one he published – it is dated May 11, 2017 – he is seen in a black suit and white shirt next to Rod Stewart, who walks waving with his left hand raised. In the caption, it says: I love my #work an #honor #care. Photos and videos follow with Gimena Accardi, Nicolás Vázquez, Benjamín Rojas and the entire cast of the play The Other Side of the Bed, and a video in which he is seen behind the members of Aerosmith in his meeting with José Mujica in Uruguay . Afterwards, there is to entertain yourself: with William Levy, with Susana Giménez and with Mirtha Legrand, with Christian Meier, Alejandro Sanz, Julianne Moore, Hugh Jackman, Los Olimareños, Chucho Valdés, Edinson Cavani, Luis Suárez and Diego Godín, Daddy Yankee, Chayanne, Tini Stoessel, Joaquin Sabina, Natalia Oreiro, Agustín Casanova and Felipe, King of Belgium. And so it goes.
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With each one he has an anecdote. For example, it was Gimena Accardi and Nicolás Vázquez who created his Instagram account when he accompanied them on the tour of his work in Uruguay. Or that Chayanne likes to be talked to but Marc Anthony doesn’t. Or what Joaquin Sabina He is very pleasant in his treatment and that every time he comes to Uruguay, he is the one who takes care of him. Or what was the security of Elton John but he does not have any photos with him and would have liked to have. Or what did he tell Celia CruzAfter working with her, that his wife was a fan of hers and the actress asked for her name and the address of her workplace and a few days later an envelope with a photo autographed by the Cuban arrived to Rossana. Or what when Axl Rose He and his partner came to Uruguay, they were ordered not to detach from the singer and they stayed in a room opposite his in a hotel in Montevideo and took turns sleeping, always dressed and with the door open, so that they could constantly look towards the Rose’s door. Or that when Luisana Lopilato was doing Rebelde Way, he was her security in Uruguay and he looked for her at the airport and in the freeshop they gave her gifts and, incidentally, they also gave him gifts. Or that his first plane trip was with Los Olimareños.
Or also that Julianne Moore He asked her for a photo after having been recording blindly for several days in Montevideo with Charly taking care of her and he said yes and she hugged him but he did not smile and she looked at the photo and asked him to please smile and he said no He was smiling too much but he was trying and they took another photo and at the very moment of the flash, the actress tickled him and he barely made a face with his lips. And so it goes. And it goes on. And it goes on.
With respect and ethics
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On a Monday in April at seven thirty in the afternoon, Charly He says, on the other end of the phone, that he is nervous but that he took out all the accreditations he has saved to remember each anecdote. Later, he clarifies that surely when we cut he will remember more things because there are many years as personal custody. And he begins to tell his story, more or less like this.
He was born in Young but when he was 12 his family moved to Paysandú. He is the oldest of his siblings and since he was a child he liked to help and take care of others. He doesn’t know where that vocation comes from, but he does know that he always wanted to do something about it. He started working at the age of 18 as a security in Paysandú nightclubs and also in events in the city. There she met Rossana, an announcer, and when they offered her a job at Concierto FM, in Montevideo, he told her that if it was what she really wanted, she would leave everything – then Charly worked as safety in the city shopping – and accompanied her. It was 1999. From the radio they contacted him with Gastón Volonterio, owner of a security company. There it remains until now and also works in a private way.
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Although this year due to the pandemic he had to reinvent himself and is going to start working on the goal of a building, he still has time to do what he likes the most: he is the security in charge of Natalia Oreiro, Agustin Casanova, Orlando Petinatti, Claudia Fernandez Y Maria Noel Riccetto during the Got Talent recordings. There, the followers who wait for the entry and exit of their idols meet Charly. Those from Oreiro, for example, take photos with him and upload them to the networks, they thank him for “always taking care of her” and he replies that thanks to them for the respect; He makes Casanova’s men stand in a row at a distance and accompanies Agustín to greet them. He always talks to them, tells them that if they help him, he will help them. Always works.
To be security, it is not enough to be big and strong. He believes that the most important thing is to know how to relate to people, treat them with kindness, have ethics and codes. In more than 20 years working as custody never used physical force; he says it almost always reaches with a look or a gesture.
Charly asks how long he has to send me the things he forgot. We cut the phone and after a while some audios arrive. So for the next two days. They are all memories of your work. In one of them he says: “To this day I walk straight and calm through life (…) I am proud of who I am”.
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