Michael Bradford

In Sound on Sound magazine, Michael summed up his philosophy this way: "For me it's really crucial to understand what the artist is basically trying to say through the record," Bradford explains. "That is, assuming the artist is actually trying to communicate some sort of deeper message, as opposed to just singing the song. Both kinds of record are valid — some are purely entertainment, whereas others have this whole level of communication going on, and if you are lucky enough to be part of one of those records, I think it's really important to listen to what the artist is trying to say. You can be of maximum use by just helping him or her to bring that out and get their point across."

Although known as an accomplished songwriter and producer, Michael has always considered himself a bassist. 2010 has provided him with new opportunities to enjoy his primary instrument. January 2010 saw the release of Ringo Starr's new album Y Not, featuring Bradford on bass on certain tracks, along with fellow bassist Sir Paul McCartney on others. In July 2010, Michael was brought in by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard to play bass on the upcoming Stevie Nicks album. Michael joined an A-List group of musicians for the album, including Waddy Wachtel, Steve Ferrone, Mick Fleetwood, Mike Rowe and Zac Rae. Michael has also enjoyed live performance in 2010, primarily with Jazz pianist Kevin Toney.

For Uncle Kracker's fourth album, Happy Hour (2009), producer Rob Cavallo was brought in to make new recordings. However, some of Michael's songwriting was included, including "I'm Not Leaving" and "Another Love Song". Michael's production of "I'm Not Leaving" was also released on Happy Hour: The South River Road Sessions (2010), an EP of mixes, geared towards the country music market. This album also included "Letter To My Daughters", from No Stranger to Shame.

In 2007, Michael met artist Dave Stewart, formerly of Eurythmics, who was looking for someone who could put together a band for him to perform a retrospective of his famous songs with, and also to write arrangements so that the songs could be performed with an orchestra. The first of these shows was to be a performance at the Tower Music Festival, in front of the Tower of London. Stewart also had plans to record this material for an album, as well as new songs at a future date. Dave hired Bradford, and thus began a collaboration that has taken the two of then around the world. The album The Dave Stewart Songbook, Vol.1 was released in 2008. In August 2010, Stewart and Bradford traveled to Blackbird Studios in Nashville, TN to record a new album of songs with local musicians.

In 2005, Deep Purple reconvened with Michael to record their next album, Rapture of the Deep. This album was recorded at Michael's private studio in Tarzana, California. The album was recorded quickly, due to Bradford's concern that taking a long time would lose the spontaneity of the band. Although some band members felt rushed, the result was an album that caused the BBC to report, "lengthy jams, heavy riffs, chugging basslines, and waves of deliciously smoking Hammond organ signal an intent within the Purple camp. They're back, and they are on form". The Rapture of the Deep tour found the band circling the globe yet again, and once again, Michael joined them on stage periodically, culminating in a 2006 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the site first mentioned in Deep Purple's classic song "Smoke on the Water".

In 2002, Michael was contacted by Disney Music Exec Brian Rawlings, who presented Mike with an offer to produce Deep Purple. Mike flew to England to meet Rawlings and then accepted an invite from Bruce Payne manager of Deep Purple to come to one of their concerts in Brighton, England. Upon arriving, Michael met the band and was presented with the opportunity to produce their next album. After the tour ended, Michael and the band set up camp in Los Angeles, to write and record the album Bananas, which was released in 2003. Reviews were positive, with Prog Archives Magazine commenting that Michael "proves himself to be a good songwriter, not just a great producer". The "Bananas" Tour went on to being a very successful run for the band, and Michael appeared onstage with Deep Purple several times during the promotion of the album.

In 2001, Michael was introduced to Beth Hart by Lava Records' President, Jason Flom. Michael and Beth began a musical collaboration that eventually yielded the 2003 album Leave the Light On. The album was well received by Beth's fans as well as the critics, including website epinions.com, who said of the album, "It's real, it's raw, and it's gorgeous" The album featured Beth Hart's live band, with arrangements by Michael. Michael also played some additional keyboard and guitar overdubs during the post-productionphase of the album.

A recurring theme in Michael's life has been his association with artists from his home state of Michigan. Anita Baker, Earl Klugh and Gregg Alexander were all from the Detroit area. For his next project, Michael was introduced to Madonna by New Radicals producer Rick Nowels. Rick enlisted Michael to create electronica-inspired drum loops and beats, which were used as building blocks for songwriting sessions that Rick was having with Madonna. Some of these songs were finished, and became part of Madonna's 1998 album Ray of Light. Prior to this, Michael had worked with Madonna producer Stephen Bray, preparing tracks for an album called In the Beginning, a collection of songs written by Madonna and Bray before Madonna became a household name. Madonna took a liking to Michael, as he was from her home state of Michigan, and took to calling him "Detroit Mike", a nickname that he still is known by today.

In 1998, Michael had been given a demo by another Michigan native, Kid Rock. Michael called Rock, to express his interest in his music, and to offer to introduce him to record executives in California. Although Kid Rock eventually found his own way to a deal with Atlantic Records, he never forgot Michael's belief in him, and invited Michael to join him on his tour, opening for Limp Bizkit. Michael built a small "rolling studio" on Kid Rock's tour bus, and during this period, they recorded tracks for Kid Rock's triple-platinum album The History of Rock. Also, at this time, Michael met Kid Rock's DJ, Matt Shafer, aka Uncle Kracker. Uncle Kracker was signed to Kid Rock's Top Dog Records, and during the tour, production began on Uncle Kracker's first album, Double Wide.

Released in 1997 Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too was a critical and commercial success, going Platinum in the U.S.A., and gold in several other countries.

Another artist who recorded at Ambience was Anita Baker. Gerard Smerek was her engineer as well, and Gerard brought Michael into Anita's camp to help with keyboard sounds and drum programming, using drum machines, samplers and recordings of percussion instruments to spice up the sound. This eventually led to receiving a production credit on Anita's 1994 album Rhythm of Love. The album went double-platinum, getting great reviews and opening more doors for Michael.

After the success of Rhythm of Love, Michael was faced with a small dilemma. In 1994, faced with the choice between New York and Los Angeles, Michael chose Los Angeles, for the more agreeable climate. Upon his arrival, Michael was introduced to Paul Buckmaster, a legendary arranger for artists such as Elton John, Carly Simon and Train, and composer for films such as 12 Monkeys. Paul hired Michael as his programmer and engineer. Once again, a mentor relationship developed, and Paul taught Michael about arranging for orchestras, as well as giving Michael a basic understanding of film score techniques. Paul enlisted Michael's sound design and programming skills on independent films such as The Maker, starring Matthew Modine and Murder In Mind, starring Mary-Louise Parker. These sessions began a friendship and collaborative relationship that is still ongoing.

In 1981, Michael met jazz guitarist Earl Klugh, while working at Ambience. Earl was extremely successful at the time, making albums such as Crazy For You. Earl was one of the most successful of the new instrumental jazz artists, and his compositions were heard on radios all over the world. Earl is still considered to be "one of the finest acoustic guitar players" on the music scene, but what also impressed Michael was the income that Earl was producing from his album sales and the royalties from airplay and TV and film licenses. Earl tutored Michael in composition, using examples from composers like Antonio Carlos Jobim. Earl also educated Michael about the mechanics of publishing, copyright and licensing. This information inspired Michael to become serious about songwriting as a career in which he could make a living.

In 1973, Michael was admitted to University Liggett School, a private school in Grosse Pointe Michigan. Classmates included Jeffrey Eugenides, who would go on to write The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex. Michael stayed at ULS, graduating from the 12th Grade in 1978.

He was born and raised on Detroit's East Side, an area that was once a stable working-class neighborhood, but quickly deteriorated into decay after the city's tumultuous riots in 1967.

Michael Bradford (born 1961, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, United States) is an American musician. A native of Detroit, Michigan he is known mainly as a bass guitarist but also plays guitar and keyboards, and has done extensive work in music production and engineering. Among others, Bradford has worked with Madonna, Youngstown, Kid Rock and in music for films.

The late 1960s and early 1970s were also a remarkable time in Detroit for music. The Motown Sound was sweeping the nation, but also local bands like The Rationals, Bob Seger and The Frost were getting constant exposure on local radio, along with rock from bands like The James Gang, Sly and the Family Stone and Vanilla Fudge. Many of these bands performed at a local concert venue, The Eastown Theatre, on Harper Avenue. The theatre was a converted movie theatre, and was a short distance from the Bradford home. Due to the influence of the rock crowd, the theatre had gotten a reputation for being "one of the city's most notorious drug-infused rock venues". Michael's early exposure to rock music made him want to pursue a career in rock, rather than the more obvious choice of R&B.