Holidelic



Everett Bradley’s

HOLIDELIC

Nativi-tay


Since 2002 Six-time Tony Award nominee & Grammy Nominated singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor and dancer Everett Bradley’s Holidelic has been the talk of New York’s Holiday scene.  Providing the city with a funky alternative to the holiday’s (and the Rocketts!) Holidelic blends the musical influences of Parliament-Funkadelic and other 1970’s and 80’s funk and soul bands in songs that celebrate diversity, mild familial seasonal dysfunction, individuality and holiday booty shaking. An infectious, high energy, funky show the cast is in full P-Funk costume with Afros, glitz and glamour! It’s perfect for the theatre looking to offer an alternative to the usual holiday Nutcracker fare.

Holidelic was inspired by Everett’s rave reviewed holiday CD, TOY featuring 14 original songs with duets by Everett and Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora, jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, and siren singer Ann Hampton Callaway.  The evening features some of those originals plus reworked funked out classics like “Frosty The Snow Man” and “Little Drummer Boy” among others. Since its inception, Everett’s sold out performances have featured a range of artists celebrating one’s uniqueness and diversity with the power of the groove as his common denominator.  As new songs and new ideas emerged, Everett’s contemporary wide eyed look at the holidays evolved into his infections Holidelic! 

Everett Bradley

Lesser lights might be stymied by such a diverse wealth of gifts, but multi-instrumentalist/composer/singer/actor/dancer/choreographer/playwright Everett Bradley deftly integrates his dizzy-making array of talents with pitch-perfect instincts and a riveting, big-hearted performance style.

It's a matter of focus and chemistry. Whether beating the skins and harmonizing from the stage of legendary East Village sweat hole CBGB's; pounding the keys, and crooning jazz from the elegant cocoon of an uptown boite; firing U.K. charts with a dance music hit; aiding and abetting the studio efforts and concerts of pop giants like Jon Bon Jovi and David Bowie; or leading the cast of "Swing," the breathtakingly inventive Broadway show he helped create, Bradley gives it 200% and wraps it all up in a broad, luminous smile.

Even this chameleon was taken by surprise by an offer in 1998 to audition for a Broadway musical that eventually became the Tony Award-nominated "Swing." He sang two jazz tunes, and "they asked me to come back wearing a suit," Bradley recalls. "I had to buy one. A friend and I picked out a brown and white plaid because it was multi-purpose, also appropriate for other situations." Bradley was offered a role in the as-yet unscripted show.

"Swing" was created over the course of rehearsals and three or four workshops, largely by its cast. Among Bradley's writing contributions is the first act's show-stopper, "Throw That Girl Around," featuring Bradley singing, dancing, and playing percussion. The show, which opened November 2, 1999, at the St. James Theater, to universal critical acclaim, was nominated for 6 Tony Awards. Bradley was singled out in 2000 by the Friends of New York Theatre [Fany Awards] for "Outstanding Individual Performance" and selected by a panel of top theater critics for the prestigious Theater World magazine's "Outstanding New Performer" Award.

After a move from his home state Indiana, Bradley recorded and toured with artists as diverse as GRP Records' Dee Carstensen, Joey Ramone, Polygram act Jane Williams, Verve's Chris Botti, and Cyndi Lauper, with whom he sang "Time after Time" at a Sound Factory benefit concert and recorded the single "The World Is Stone," released in Europe. "Then I took a break to audition for this little show coming in from England called 'Stomp'." From understudying 7 out of the show's 8 roles for the British cast, Bradley became the first American male drafted for the American replacements. He also directed that production and oversaw the various touring companies nationwide. As "Leader of the Opposition," he appeared in the 1996 Oscar-nominated short feature "Brooms," that was based on "Stomp" and produced by Quincy Jones. His percussion work on the tune "Stomp," also included on Jones' "Jook Joint" CD, won him a GRAMMY nomination.

In between juggling all of the above, Bradley managed to sing backgrounds and play percussion on tours with Darryl Hall in '96, Jon Bon Jovi during '97 and beyond, and Richie Sambora in '98, as well as play percussion on "Seven," a track on David Bowie's "Hours" album. "Vices," a musical play he co-wrote, was nominated for 8 Jeff Awards in Chicago. Everett is currently working on a rewrite with director Gabriel Barre, who directed "The Wild Party" off Broadway. The New York staging will be produced by Niclas Nagler. Until his current "Swing" tenure, Bradley also found time every summer to teach music, dance, and arranging at a Bloomington high school music camp.