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James Bradford (b. James Martin Blackford in St. Louis, Missouri, USA) is an American singer/songwriter and actor. His schizophrenic birth mother put him up for adoption wherein at the age of 2 1/2 he became James Warnock. When choosing a stage name, he selected the last name Bradford under the mistaken impression it was his original birth name.
Born in Missouri but raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, Bradford came out of the closet in his teens. He moved to New York City at age 17 to attend The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. At 19 he was working in musical theater when he was discovered by DJ/remixer Richard Morel, who signed him to the short-lived Outsider Music label.
Morel elected not to release their collaborative work, but Bradford (then going by "Easter Bradford") released it independently. The hard house/electronica/pop album, "Mnemosyne's Lounge," went largely unnoticed, though the first and only single, "Relationship Destruction Machine," was included on the compilation "DCide: the 40" from DCide Records.
Bradford took a break from music to work in a variety of branches of entertainment. Between the ages of 21-26 he worked as a stand-up comedian, improvisational actor (with troupe "Far From Kansas,") and appeared on several television shows and in independent films.
In 2005 he was cast in the VH1 reality show "Can't Get a Date", where he was portrayed as a negative, effeminate man who had become disillusioned with life after gaining weight and having minimal career success. The show proved popular; on it he teamed up with musician Toshio Mana (of "The Bootlickers"). The show included footage of a concert he performed at legendary Manhattan cabaret The Duplex, and spotlighted the song "Bayou Refueling Station" from his first album. This revitalized interest in Bradfords' music, particularly within the gay community.
In 2006 Bradford and Mana collaborated on his second album, an acoustic folk record called "Metronomosexual". This included several acoustic versions of songs from "Mnemosyne's Lounge" as well as new tracks; notably a cover of "Sugar Daddy" from the musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." They also released an alt-country E.P., "The Fumes of Burning Bridges".
The same year he had featured roles on the television shows "L.A. Forensics" and "Veronica Mars". Additionally, five of the songs from the "Lounge" album and "Destruction" single were utilized in the LOGO television programs "Dante's Cove" and "The Lair".
A concert album recorded at Manhattan's Rockwood Music Hall, "Live at Rockwood," followed in 2007. Released later that year was a b-sides and remixes collection, "Medium Rare". This included a remix of "Burning Bridges" by Shardcore, the pseudonym of musician Neil Forrester (from "The Real World London".)
In 2008 he released a three disc 56-song retrospective boxed set called "AyeAyeAye Tunes Exclusive: The Collected Works". A one-disc promotional version also circulated, called "Hatest Grits". A free E.P., "The August E.P.," was made available as a digital download on his website. A full length-album project (to have included the songs from "The Fume of Burning Bridges") called "Ipecac Kisses" was scrapped; instead two more singles - "Artificial Reality" and "One Day Behind" were released.
In 2009 another free E.P., "The February E.P.ebruary" was released digitally. Bradford began performing live, either solo with Toshio Mana or with a full band called "Hazlenut Highway," at a variety of high-profile gigs (often connected to the LGBTQIA community.)
In 2010 he toured with the "Bearapalooza" concert. In 2011 he created a sold out Fringe Festival Show, "James Bradford is... Thick!", which he then toured with. James began to branch out into live storytelling and stand-up comedy, appearing at the Boston Comedy Festival and eventually touring throughout 2012-2016 as a comedian.
He was selected as the mascot, "The Official Dum-Dum," of the longrunning "The Chris Gethard Show", and appeared on multiple episodes of the show. He wrote and co-starred in the indie horror comedy "Queers of the Western Zombie Apocalypse," which debuted at the 2015 Fringe Festival.
James continues to work in film, television, music and comedy in 2020. His newest album "Syrup" is slated for release, and his autobiography is being published by Penguine Books in April.
