Bradley Curtis Martin (May 3, 1973 – March 11, 2022) was an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer-songwriter. He made his debut on the American country music scene in 2002 with the release of his debut album ''

Wings of a Honky-Tonk Angel ''Wings of a Honky-Tonk Angel'' is the only studio album of American country music artist Brad Martin. Released on Epic Records in 2002, it features the singles "Before I Knew Better" and "Rub Me the Right Way", which both charted on the ''Billbo ...

'', which produced the No. 15 single "

Before I Knew Better "Before I Knew Better" is a debut song recorded by American country music artist Brad Martin. It was released in February 2002 as the first single from his debut album ''Wings of a Honky-Tonk Angel''. The song was written by David Lee and Bryan S ...

". In 2008, he and songwriter John Ramey briefly founded the duo Martin Ramey.

Biography

Martin was taught to play the guitar at an early age. He later gained an interest in songwriting, and moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

in his early 20s. AllMusic ((( Brad Martin > Biography )))/ref> He performed daily in a nightclub, and was eventually spotted by Joe Carter, an artist manager who had previously worked with

Tracy Byrd Tracy Lynn Byrd (born December 17, 1966) is an American country music artist. Signed to Universal Music Group Nashville, MCA Nashville Records in 1992, Byrd broke through on the country music scene that year with his 1993 single "Holdin' Heaven" ...

. Carter saw potential in the young artist and he was soon signed to Sony Epic Record Label. Martin was signed to

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

in 2000. His debut single, "Before I Knew Better", was released in 2002, the first single from his debut album ''Wings of a Honky-Tonk Angel''. The album received a favorable review from

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

for its neotraditionalist sound. In addition, "Before I Knew Better" won an award from BMI for being among the fifty most played country songs of 2003. However, the second single from ''Wings of a Honky-Tonk Angel'', "Rub Me The Right Way", failed to make Top 40, as did "Just Like Love". A non-album single, "One of Those Days", followed in 2003 before Martin exited Epic's roster. He remained inactive in country music until joining songwriter John Ramey to found the duo Martin Ramey in 2008. Martin Ramey signed to

Curb Records Curb Records (also known as Asylum-Curb and formerly known as MCG Curb) is an American record label started by Mike Curb, originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963. From 1969 to 1973, Curb merged with MGM Records where Curb served as President of M ...

that year. Martin died in Nashville on March 11, 2022, at the age of 48.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Brad 1973 births 2022 deaths Epic Records artists 21st-century American singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters Country musicians from Ohio People from Greenfield, Ohio Singer-songwriters from Ohio