Clive Bradley (musician)

Clive Bradley
Clive Bradley, 2005
Background information
Born	November 4, 1936 (1936-11-04)
Origin	Trinidad
Died	November 26, 2005 (2005-11-27) (aged 69)
Genres	Calypso, Steelpan
Occupation(s)	Musician, arranger, teacher
Years active	1956–2005
Associated acts	Desperadoes Steel Orchestra

Clive Bradley (4 November 1936 – 26 November 2005) was a known arranger of steelpan music.

Person

Bradley grew up in Diego Martin, Trinidad, where he attended elementary school.^[1] He then went to Fatima College.^[2] He did not play steelpan himself, but in 1968 he was asked by Mr. Rudolph "Charlo" Charles, manager of the Desperadoes Steel Orchestra from Laventille to try his arranging talents for the band. Besides Mr. Bradley's 6 panorama arranging victories with Desperadoes, he led them to wins at Pan Fiesta in 2003 & 2005, and Pan in the 21st Century in 2005. Mr. Bradley is the only arranger to place 3 different steel orchestras in the top-three at panorama in 3 different decades. Desperadoes 1st in 1977, Pandemonium 2nd in 1988 and Nutones 3rd in 1999.

In 1973, Bradley founded an advertisement agency together with historian Gérard Besson. Bradley also was a teacher of mathematics at Fatima College and later on at the University of West Indies.^[3]

Clive Bradley also arranged for a number of steelbands from New York City. In 1999, he arranged the same song for two different competitions and steelbands and won the Panorama title both in Port-of-Spain and New York. He repeated the same in the year 2000, won the Panorama title in Trinidad and came second in New York. This achievement is a good example of Clive Bradley's musical genius and immense reservoir of creative ideas.

Panorama

Panorama in Trinidad

Bradley won the Panorama competition in Trinidad seven times, six times with Desperadoes.^[4]

-1986    "Sugar for Pan"   Mighty Terror   Pandemonium Steel Orchestra

Panorama in New York

Over the years, Bradley took part with three steelbands in the New York Panorama, held during the West Indian Carnival Day. He won the competition ten times with two different groups:

Further reading

• History of Steelband Panorama 1963-1990 of Trinidad and Tobago by Gideon Maxime
• Felix I. R. Blake: The Trinidad and Tobago Steel Pan. History and Evolution. ISBN 0-9525528-0-9

Notes

1. ↑ Diego Martin retrieved 14. Dec. 2008 from Toronto Lime
2. ↑ Fatima College
3. ↑ Teacher
4. ↑ Panorama