Christopher Michael Bradford (born 4 May 1950) is a British musician and songwriter. He is best known for being the lead vocalist and songwriter in the British rock band The Heroes, and member of the singer songwriting trio, Bardot.

Early years

Bradford and Mark Hankins formed the band Palomino in the early 1970s, playing the pub rock scene and university gigs supporting such acts as

Osibisa Osibisa are a Ghanaian-British Afro-Rock band founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London based Caribbean musicians. Osibisa were the most successful and longest lived of the African-heritage bands in ...

and Vinegar Joe (with

Elkie Brooks Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder; 25 February 1946) is an English rock, blues and jazz singer. She was a vocalist with the bands Dada and Vinegar Joe, and later became a solo artist. She gained her biggest success in the late 1970s and 19 ...

and

Robert Palmer Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful, soulful voice and wikt:sartorial, sartorial elegance, and his stylistic explorations, combining Soul music, so ...

). The band also supported

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

at the Albert Hall in 1972. A first airing of Bradford's early songs. Hankins' next band, country rock outfit Randy, recorded Bradford's song "Crazy Love" on their debut album ''Lady Luck''.

Bardot 1977–1978

Bradford hooked up with Laurie Andrew (aka Laurie Forsey) and Ray McRiner to form Bardot in 1977. Each member a strong singer/songwriter, their sound, heavy on melody and complex harmonies was sometimes compared to Crosby, Stills & Nash. The band were signed to

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

in 1977, and released three singles between 1977 and 1978, the debut "Witchfire" hitting number 14 in the Dutch charts. During 1977 Bardot supported

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh people, Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album ''The World Start ...

and her band in concert, and on 2 August performed "Eagle Road" and "Rockin in Rhythm" on The Elaine Simmons TV Show in Scotland. RCA released their album ''Rockin in Rhythm'' in 1978 – a collection of polished folk rock songs. 1978 also saw Bardot working at

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

Startling Studios Tittenhurst Park is a Grade II listed early Georgian country house set in off London Road at Beggar's Bush near Ascot and over the parish border into Sunningdale, both in the English county of Berkshire. It was famously the home of music ...

providing all the backing vocals for

Graham Bonnet Graham Bonnet (born 23 December 1947) is an English rock singer. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal bands including Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri ...

's album ''No Bad Habits''. The album was produced by

Pip Williams Philip Malcolm "Pip" Williams (born 7 October 1947) is a record producer, arranger and guitarist, best known for producing albums for Status Quo and The Moody Blues and acting as well as supervising the orchestra parts and orchestra arrange ...

who collaborated extensively with Bardot and with Bradford on his later projects.

The Heroes 1979–1981

Formed in 1979, with Bradford and Mark Hankins on guitar and vocals, The Heroes line-up was completed by Pete Lennon (lead guitar), Dave Powell (drums) and ex-Randy band-member Brian (Wally) Wallis on bass guitar. Their musical style combined pop / rock ballads and boogie. Although primarily a recording group, they undertook a tour of Germany playing the Olympianhalle in Munich, the

Top Ten Club The Top Ten Club was a music club in Hamburg's St. Pauli district at Reeperbahn 136, which opened on 31 October 1960 and kept its name until 1994. In 1961, the Beatles performed 92 times at the Top Ten Club. History At the beginning of the 2 ...

in Hamburg and a show in Berlin. In this show, the truck carrying the group's instruments did not stop and continued into Poland, forcing the group to use the equipment belonging to the band they were touring with, Dr. Feelgood. The Heroes signed with

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

in 1979, and recorded an album of ten songs, ''Border Raiders'' also produced by

in 1980, plus a single "Some Kind of Women" b/w "10% Will Do".

Sweet connection

Bradford has worked for many years with Andy Scott, guitarist and writer of

Sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, keto ...

who went on to have a successful solo career after

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on div ...

. Some of Scott's solo successes came from his collaborations with Bradford: they co-wrote "Krugerrands" - a top ten hit in Australia and South Africa, "Invisible", "Let Her Dance" and many others. Bradford also worked with Sweet's lead singer

Brian Connolly Brian Francis Connolly (5 October 1945 – 9 February 1997) was a Scottish singer-songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of glam rock band The Sweet between 1968 and 1979 and renowned for his charismatic stage presence ...

on his solo work. During 1983, Bradford, Scott and producer Mike Vernon wrote a collection of songs together, intended for release by other artists. Some of the music written that summer was used in the Italian film ''Il Lupo di Mare''.

Covers

Bradford has written songs for many diverse artists such as

Kit Hain Kit Hain (born 15 December 1956) is a British musician, songwriter and writer. She was a member of the rock duo Marshall Hain and had a solo career as a performer and songwriter. Musical career Hain met Julian Marshall while they were pupils ...

Kiki Dee Pauline Matthews (born 6 March 1947), better known by her stage name Kiki Dee, is an English singer. Known for her blue-eyed soul vocals, she was the first female singer from the UK to sign with Motown's Tamla Records. Dee is best known for he ...

, Dr. Feelgood,

Lene Lovich Lene Lovich (; born Lili-Marlene Premilovich; March 30, 1949) is an English-American singer, songwriter and musician. She first gained attention in 1979 with the release of her hit single " Lucky Number", which peaked at number 3 on the UK Sing ...

and

Greg Lake Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). Born and b ...

Studio work

Bradford has provided backing vocals for many artists including

, Dr. Feelgood,

Terry Sylvester Terence Sylvester (born 8 January 1947) is an English musician and songwriter. He is a former member of the Escorts, the Swinging Blue Jeans (1966–1969), and the Hollies. In the latter role, he took on the high parts formerly sung by Graham ...

of The Hollies, blues guitarist Ray Minhinnet,

The Monroes Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorporated community and census-designate ...

, Breathe and Andy Scott.

Discography

Solo

Albums

* 2019 - ''Christopher Days'' * 2020 - ''Beachcomber'' * 2022 - ''Winterface''

With Bardot and The Heroes

Albums

* 1978 – ''Rockin in Rhythm'' – Bardot (Composer, Guitar, Vocals) * 1980 – ''Border Raiders'' – The Heroes (Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Vocals)

Singles

* 1977 – "Witchfire" / "Hero's Reward" – Bardot * 1978 – "Julie" / "Mountain Side" – Bardot (Netherlands) * 1978 – "No-One Cries" / "All The Ladies" – Bardot * 1980 – "Some Kind Of Women" / "10% Will Do" – The Heroes

With other artists

* 1978 – ''No Bad Habits'' album by

– Vocals (Background, with Bardot) * 1980 – "Take Away the Music", single by

- Vocals (Background) * 1981 – "Sunnuntaiaamu" ("Julie") song on the album ''Armi'' by

Armi Aavikko Armi Anja Orvokki Aavikko (1 September 1958, Helsinki – 2 January 2002, Espoo) was a Finnish beauty queen and singer. She was chosen as Miss Finland in 1977 and was best known for her duets with singer Danny. Toward the end of her life, ...

- composer * 1982 – ''Perfect Timing'' album by

– Composer, Vocals (Background) * 1983 – '' School For Spies'' album by

– Composer * 1983 – "Famous Last Words" (on '' Manoeuvres'' album) by

– Composer (with Andy Scott), Vocals (Background) * 1983 – "Krugerrands" single by Andy Scott – composer, arranger * 1984 – "Let her Dance" single by Andy Scott – Composer, Vocals * 1984 – "Invisible" single by Andy Scott – composer, arranger * 1985 - ''Face Another Day'' album by

- Vocals (Background) * 1987 – ''Classic'' album by Dr. Feelgood – Vocals (Background) * 1987 – " Hands to Heaven" single (UK no 4, US No 2) by Breathe – Vocals (Background) * 1987 - "In The Heat Of The Night" b/w "Invisible" single by Press The Flesh - composer * 1989 – "Wonderland" by

– Composer * 1990 – ''

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

'' album by

– Composer * 1990 - ''Me And My Mouth!?❊'' album by Robert Lloyd – Vocals (Background) * 1992 – "Natural" (song on album ''A'') by Andy Scott's Sweet – composer, arranger * 1995 – "A Touch of Class" (on ''Looking Back'' Box Set) by Dr. Feelgood – Composer, Vocals (Background)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford, Chris 1950 births Singers from Liverpool Living people English rock singers English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters