Jerry Bradley (January 30, 1940 – July 17, 2023) was an American music executive known for his role in country music. As head of RCA Records in Nashville from 1973 to 1982, Bradley was involved in the marketing and creation of the first platinum album in country music, Wanted! The Outlaws, which reached that mark in 1976. Bradley was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019.
The son of Owen Bradley, who later headed the Decca Records Nashville studios (later MCA Nashville, now part of Universal Music Group), Bradley started his high school years at Montgomery Bell Academy, but then switched to Hillsboro High School over a disagreement with Montgomery Bell and their administration. After graduation, Bradley served two years in the United States Army.
After his Army discharge, Bradley returned to work with his father Owen at the first Bradley Barn recording studio in Mount Juliet, Tennessee (East of Nashville). He would learn the music business at the Forest Hills Music Studio, the official name of “Bradley’s Barn”, during the 1960s. While there, Jerry saw the recording of three future Country Music Hall of Fame inductees take place (Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, and Webb Pierce). . . .
While also at the Bradley Barn, Bradley befriended Chet Atkins of RCA Nashville (now part of Sony Music Group). Atkins, a record producer and head of RCA Nashville, was a creator of the Nashville Sound in the 1960s along with Bradley’s father Owen. Bradley told his father about a possible job at RCA Nashville to which Owen replied, “You already have a job.” Owen then advised Jerry on the RCA position: “If you aim for another position, make sure it’s an opportunity to advance”.
Accepting the position as a staff assistant to Chet Atkins of RCA in 1970, Bradley assisted Atkins in communications and paperwork with RCA’s main office in New York. . . .
Bradley’s tenure was also noted for the return of Elvis Presley to country music. Songs such as “Moody Blue” and “Way Down” hit number one on the Billboard country charts prior to Presley’s 1977 death. . . .
After stepping down from RCA Records in 1982, Bradley would become head of the Opryland Music Group, an organization created from Gaylord Entertainment’s purchase of Acuff-Rose Music in 1985. . . .
Bradley served as president of the Country Music Association (CMA) Board in 1975. He was also instrumental in the creation of Fan Fair (now the CMA Music Festival) and in managing the historic RCA Studio B in downtown Nashville.
Besides Bradley sharing the musical talent of his father Owen, uncle Harold was a well-known session guitarist who was part of the Nashville A-Team players. Bradley’s wife Connie worked for the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) offices in Nashville from 1980 until her 2010 retirement and was CMA Board president in 1989. . . .
Jerry Bradley died on July 17, 2023, at the age of 83.
In 2019, Bradley was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, in the same year as Brooks & Dunn and Stevens. This made Bradley the third member of his family inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, after his father Owen and uncle Harold (2006).
Go here to read the fuller bio (this offering was seriously edited down from the original):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Bradley_(music_executive)
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
Warning Signs of Suicide – National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or if you want to discuss, call the old numbers at 800-273-TALK or 800-273-8255 for English and 888-628-9454 for Spanish. Learn the signs of someone who may be contemplating suicide.
If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at
http://www.wikipedia.com
July 2023
19: Mark Thomas, 67, British composer (Twin Town, The Final Curtain, Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London).
17: Jerry Bradley, 83, American Hall of Fame music executive (Wanted! The Outlaws); João Donato, 88, Brazilian jazz and bossa nova pianist; Valentin Gheorghiu, 95, Romanian pianist and composer; Walt Groller, 92, American polka musician.
16: Jane Birkin, 76, English-French singer (“Je t’aime… moi non plus”) and actress (La Piscine, Evil Under the Sun).
15: Chen Mao-shuen, 87, Taiwanese composer; Dano LeBlanc, 55, Canadian musician and cartoonist (Acadieman), pancreatic cancer; Daniza Mastilovic, 89, Yugoslav-born German opera singer.
14: Anthony Meo, American drummer (Biohazard), cancer.
12: André Watts, 77, American pianist and academic, Grammy winner (1964), Avery Fisher Prize recipient (1988), cancer.
11: Toni Carbone, 62, Italian bass guitarist (Denovo), complications from a heart attack; Sam Cutler, 80, English tour manager (The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead), cancer; Yuzo Toyama, 92, Japanese composer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2023
Music Executive Jerry Bradley (RCA, Sony, CMA Music Festival), 83, Dies // Other Notable Musicians’ Death
