Reverend Alex Bradford

Reverend Alex Bradford | Discogs | ch951

Gospel singer, composer, arranger and choir master Reverend Alex Bradford was born in Bessemer, Alabama on January 23, 1927.

He is regarded as a major influence on Ray Charles, Bob Marley and Little Richard. He was a pioneer of the modern choir movement in Gospel Music. His first appearance singing on stage was at the age of four. By the time he was thirteen he had his own radio programme.

After a racial incident his mother sent him to New York. In 1947 he moved to Chicago and worked with Mahalia Jackson and others. Little Richard imitated his style of singing and his flamboyant appearance. The singer Madeline Bell was a member of his show which toured Europe in 1962, and she decided to settle in the UK. Rev. Bradford was still performing when he suffered his fatal stroke in Newark, New Jersey on February 15, 1978.

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