Martin Luther King's fave gospel singer, J. Robert Bradley R.I.P.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/arts/music/04bradley.html?ref=music

Jon Pareles penned an obituary in the May 4th New York Times for 87 year-old J. Robert Bradley. Pareles said in part:

Mr. Bradley was the favorite singer of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Mahalia Jackson once said he had the greatest voice she had ever heard.

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 6 May 2007 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

According to Mr. Heilbut, Mr. Bradley’s gospel performances could create an uproar. “Women would throw their pocketbooks, hats and wigs,” he said. “Men would run in circles or even hurl themselves out of balconies.”

John Robert Lee Bradley was born in Memphis and spent much of his career there. He was raised by his mother and grew up poor. When he was 12, he recounted in the book “A Wealth of Wisdom: Legendary African American Elders Speak,” he found himself outside the city auditorium in Memphis, at a National Baptist Convention Christmas Eve program at which poor children singing in a church choir would be given clothes and Christmas stockings.

“I sang my way in there,” he said. He started singing outside the door, and a policeman brought out the convention’s music director, Lucie Campbell, a pioneering gospel songwriter who would become Mr. Bradley’s mentor. He recalled that the policeman asked her, “What do you hear?” and she replied, “I hear an angel singing.”

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 6 May 2007 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

http://ilx.wh3rd.net:8080/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=23614

an older ILX gospel thread

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 6 May 2007 13:35 (nineteen years ago)

Can't find an allmusic.com bio, and not much via google even, but perhaps this explains it:

[i]From Amazon.com write-up of the cd "The Great Gospel Men"-
As gospel scholar Anthony Heilbut points out in his notes, the most celebrated male gospel singers (R.H. Harris, Sam Cooke, Claude Jeter, Julius Cheeks, Ira Tucker) sang in harmony-group "quartets." On this disc, Heilbut focuses on the neglected tradition of male soloists. Joe May, James Cleveland, and Alex Bradford are fairly well known, but the raspy, bluesy vocals of Eugene Smith and Robert Anderson and the powerful Paul Robeson-like baritones of J. Earle Hines and J. Robert Bradley are welcome revelations. There are 27 performances in all from nine different singers. --Geoffrey Himes[/]

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 6 May 2007 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

I wonder if Mike Yeti M. knows much about him? Although he may not have sung the kind of gospel Mike's into.

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 6 May 2007 23:59 (nineteen years ago)

gospel bump

― curmudgeon, Monday, 7 May 2007 11:06 (nineteen years ago)

I see that a black gospel blog reprinted the NY Times obit as well (and has received no comments so far).

http://blackgospel.blogspot.com/

― curmudgeon, Monday, 7 May 2007 13:34 (nineteen years ago)

“I sang my way in there,” he said. He started singing outside the door, and a policeman brought out the convention’s music director, Lucie Campbell, a pioneering gospel songwriter who would become Mr. Bradley’s mentor. He recalled that the policeman asked her, “What do you hear?” and she replied, “I hear an angel singing.”

What happens if an angel sings but doesn't have his songs released on a John Fahey-associated indie label? He gets ignored in the online world.

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 03:44 (nineteen years ago)

you sound bitter

― s1ocki, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 04:20 (nineteen years ago)

I thought bitterness might inspire someone else to post on this thread, though yea I guess I kind of am here.

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 04:48 (nineteen years ago)

if it makes you feel better i did read thread & associated article

― deej, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 04:51 (nineteen years ago)

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