Birth name Harold Bradley Instruments guitar Siblings Owen Bradley Occupation(s) Guitarist Education Peabody College | Genres pop Role Guitarist Also known as Harold Ray Bradley Name Harold Bradley Awards Grammy Trustees Award | |
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Born January 2, 1926 (age 98)
Nashville, Tennessee ( 1926-01-02 ) Nominations Academy of Country Music Award for Guitar Player of the Year Associated acts Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Bill Chinnock, Slim Whitman Similar People Owen Bradley, Grady Martin, Don Law, Walter C Miller, Florence Greenberg | ||
Harold bradley performing the christmas song chestnuts roasting
Harold Bradley (born January 2, 1926), also known as Harold Ray Bradley, is an American country and pop guitarist and entrepreneur.
Contents
- Harold bradley performing the christmas song chestnuts roasting
- Harold bradley
- Early life
- Career
- Discography
- References
Harold bradley
Early life
Bradley was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1926 and played banjo as a child but switched to guitar on the advice of his elder brother, Owen. Owen arranged for Harold to tour with Ernest Tubb while Harold was still in high school. After graduation, Harold joined the Navy. After his discharge, he attended George Peabody College (now a part of Vanderbilt University) in Nashville, studying music and accompanied Eddy Arnold and Bradley Kincaid at the Grand Ole Opry. His first session was with Pee Wee King and the Golden West Cowboys in 1946.
Career
In 1954 Owen and Harold built Bradley Film and Recording Studios, later known as the Quonset Hut, which was the first music-industry related business on what is now known as Music Row. Harold enjoyed frequent work as a session musician into the 1970s, performing on hundreds of albums by country stars such as Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley and Slim Whitman. He also played bass guitar on records, initiating the "tic-tac" method of bass muting. According to Guitar Player-Magazine, Harold is the most recorded guitar player in the world and he is a member of the Nashville A-Team, which was inducted into the Musician's Hall of Fame in 2007. Harold recorded three albums as a pop guitarist on Columbia Records, "Misty Guitar", "Guitar for Lovers Only", and "Bossa Nova Goes to Nashville" in the 1960s.
From 1991 – 2008 Bradley served as the president of the Nashville chapter of the American Federation of Musicians(AFM). In 1999 he was elected as the AFM International Vice-President and served until 2010. Harold was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006 as his brother Owen previously had been. In 2010 Harold was one recipient of the Trustees Award at the 52nd Grammy Awards.
Discography
With Kai Winding