Bradley Nowell

Coordinates	52°4′0″N21°1′0″N
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Bradley James Nowell
Born	February 22, 1968Long Beach, California, United States
Died	May 05, 1996San Francisco, California, United States
Instrument	Vocals, Guitar
Genre	Ska-punk, Alternative rock, Reggae, Reggae fusion
Occupation	Guitarist, Songwriter
Years active	1982–1996| Label = MCA, Skunk
Associated acts	Sublime
Notable instruments	Ibanez S

Bradley James Nowell (February 22, 1968 – May 5, 1996) was an American musician who served as lead singer and guitarist of the Californian band Sublime. He died at the age of 28 from a heroin overdose shortly before the release of Sublime's self-titled major label debut.

Raised in Long Beach, California, Nowell developed an interest in music at a young age. His father took him on a trip to the Virgin Islands during his childhood, which exposed him to reggae and dancehall music. Nowell played in various bands until forming the group Sublime with bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh, whom he had met while attending California State University Long Beach. As Sublime gained success, Nowell struggled with a worsening addiction to heroin. After several attempts to quit using drugs, Nowell died of a heroin overdose while Sublime was on tour on May 25, 1996.

Biography

Early life

Bradley Nowell was born and raised in Long Beach, California to Jim and Nancy Nowell (née Watilo), with his sister, Kellie. As a child, he enjoyed surfing and sailing and often participated in boat races. As Nowell grew, he became a difficult child and was often hyperactive and disruptive. His mother recalled that he was "very emotional, very sensitive, very artistic, but he was needy...He was always testing just to see what he could get away with." Nowell's father, Jim Nowell, was a big fan of Jimmy Buffett and encouraged Bradley to learn guitar. In 1982, 9th grader Brad Nowell joined a band of Belmont Shore/Long Beach neighborhood children called Second Sight for about one week. At the age of 13, he began playing guitar and started his first band Hogan's Heroes with Eric Wilson, who would later become the bassist of Sublime. On holidays, Nowell would sing and play guitar with his father and uncles for hours. Nowell attended Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California as well as the California State University Long Beach, which he dropped out of one semester shy of earning a degree in finance.

Career with Sublime

In 1987, Nowell founded Sublime with bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh, and began performing in small shows at house parties and barbecues. The band was often forced to leave the parties they performed at due to excessive noise, which would result in neighbors calling the police. In February 1996, Sublime returned to the studio to record the bulk of their self-titled major label debut album. Production was done by Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers (and producer of Marcy Playground and Meat Puppets) at Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studio in Austin, Texas.

Death

Seven days after Nowell's marriage to Troy Dendekker, Sublime embarked on a drug-fueled five-day tour through Northern California. The following morning, in San Francisco, drummer Bud Gaugh woke up to find Nowell lying half-way across a bed, with his knees and feet on the floor. At first, Gaugh assumed he had been too intoxicated to get into bed; however, further inspection allowed him to notice a green film around his mouth, and it became apparent that he had overdosed on heroin. Nowell's widow and the various bands who performed wanted to make it clear that they were not glamorizing the way that Nowell died, but that they wanted to celebrate his life as well as establish a college fund for his son, Jakob.

On January 11, 1997 Los Angeles Times article titled "Cautionary Concert in Rocker's Memory", writer Jerry Crowe quoted No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal as saying: "Obviously, it's going to be very emotional because you're there playing a show to commemorate a good friend who died and died for very wrong reasons. But you're also there to change things for the future and prevent stuff like that from ever happening again. A lot of times we hear about musicians using drugs and it's so blasé and cliched. You just kind of say, 'Oh, he'll be fine. Somebody will take care of him.' But that's not true. It's important for every single one of us to stand up and say, 'Enough of this shit.' It's time to make a difference". In late 2010 and early 2011 the remaining band members, along with Rome Ramirez, began touring under the name "Sublime with Rome."

Post-death

In light of Nowell's death, record executives considered not releasing Sublime's major label debut album. After some debate, the album was eventually released, though the album's original title, Killin It, was substituted with an eponymous title, and Sublime was released on July 30, 1996.

By 1997, the album entered Billboard's Top 20, and its first single, the largely acoustic "What I Got", soon became the number one song on the Modern Rock chart. Throughout 1997, the album produced three more radio hits: "Santeria", "Wrong Way", and "Doin' Time". The accompanying music videos from Sublime for radio hits including "Santeria", "What I Got", and "Wrong Way", received heavy rotation on MTV, with previously filmed footage of Nowell performing live interspersed into the video. The footage used came mostly from shows in 1996.

To the surprise of many, Sublime became arguably the most successful American rock act of 1997. Rolling Stone reported in March 2010 that the album Sublime had sold over 6 million copies. Danin says of Nowell, "he will live inside all of us and will influence the music careers of many."

In 2009 Gaugh and Wilson teamed up with young musician Rome Ramirez to form Sublime with Rome. The new band plays all of original Sublime's songs except for Caress Me Down, which Rome refuses to play because of the lyrics "Mucho gusto, me llamo Bradley" ("Pleased to meet you, my name is Bradley"). Rome did not want to change the lyrics or sing the song as is out of respect for Bradley Nowell and his fans. The new band also records original music.

Relationships

Marriage and fatherhood

While on tour in the mid-1990s, Nowell met Troy Dendekker, and they started dating. In September of 1994, Troy became pregnant. In June of 1995, Dendekker gave birth to a son, Jakob James Nowell.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Gaugh recalled that "Lou Dog just loved Brad because it was the first time he had ever actually been shown love." While Lou was missing, Nowell also recorded this song to his home answering machine as a sort of audio lost dog poster. As another homage to Lou, Nowell and Sublime composed, "I Love My Dog SammyA". A song sounding similar to that of Bad Brains "I Love I Jah", with the lyrics referencing Lou.

Following Nowell's death in 1996, Lou Dog was cared for by Miguel. Lou Dog died on September 17, 2001.

In popular culture

Bradley is also the main subject of a song entitled "Brad Nowell" (see lyrics here http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/subb/bradnowell.html) by French Canadian ska punk band Subb, that mentions Sublime, their musical style, and also Brad's dalmatian, Lou Dog.

G. Love & Special Sauce have dedicated two songs to Nowell: a remake of the Sublime song "Greatest Hits," and a song called "Dreamin'," which begins, "This song is dedicated in loving memory of Brad from Long Beach, California."

Fellow California punk rockers, NOFX, refer to Nowell in their song "Door Nails", the lyric is "and this fix is for Bradley". The song centers around rockstars who have died from overdoses.

In the movie Grind, the main characters walk into a skate shop and Tom Green is behind the counter with a couple of turn tables trying to remix "Smoke Two Joints" unsuccessfully.

Duddy B of The Dirty Heads drop a line about Bradley in the song Believe: "I never wanted something so badly, I want to learn to play guitar and sing just like Bradley". The next few lines of the song also reference lyrics from What I Got.

Equipment

Amps

Marshall JCM-800 Combo / 2x12

Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Combo / 2x12

Mesa/Boogie {Dual Rectifier} Head/4X12 Cabinet

Guitars

Dan MacDonald Custom Electric Guitar - Body based on a mix of a 1960s Vox Hurricane and a G&L; 100 guitar - Ebony Fretboard - Fitted with a Floyd Rose Vibrato System

Ibanez S-470 Electric Guitar - Smoke Black - Flame Top

Ibanez S-540

Bradley borrowed guitars many times from other bands.

Pedals

Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

Boss OS-2 Overdrive Distortion

Whirlwind A/B Selector

See also

Dub music

Long Beach Dub All Stars

Long Beach Shortbus

Sublime (band)

References

External links

Category:American male singers Category:American punk rock guitarists Category:American punk rock singers Category:Musicians from California Category:California State University, Long Beach alumni Category:Deaths by heroin overdose in California Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:People from Long Beach, California Category:Wilson Classical High School alumni Category:1968 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Sublime members