Sonny Bradshaw

Cecil "Sonny" Bradshaw CD (28 March 1926 – 10 October 2009), known as the "dean of Jamaican music", and the "musician's musician", was a Jamaican bandleader, trumpeter, broadcaster, and promoter who was a major figure in Jamaican music for more than sixty years.

Biography Bradshaw was born in Kingston, Jamaica, the only child of Edgar and Gladys Bradshaw, until the birth of his sister Marion twenty years later. His first professional work as a musician came in the late 1940s in Eric Deans' orchestra. He left in 1950 to form the Sonny Bradshaw Seven (he claimed seven was his lucky number), which became renowned for recreating the sound of a 14-piece orchestra with only seven musicians, The band also backed the visiting Sarah Vaughan in 1956, the first time a Jamaican band had backed a visiting artist. Along with his wife, singer Myrna Hague, he founded the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival in 1991.

Bradshaw was known as the "dean of Jamaican music", and the "musician's musician". He was awarded the Order of Distinction, Commander class by the Jamaican government for his contribution to Jamaican music in 2004. He was also honoured by the Miramar City Commission at a ceremony to mark the opening of the Miramar Cultural Arts Center in Florida in 2008, for his contribution to music in Jamaica and internationally.

Bradshaw regularly visited the United Kingdom, where he would attend the annual service of thanksgiving on the anniversary of Jamaica's independence at St Martin-in-the-Fields. He suffered a stroke while in London in August 2009, and remained in hospital until his death on 10 October, aged 83. Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding paid tribute by calling Bradshaw "a pioneer whose contribution to Jamaica's music industry could not be quantified".

Discography Jamaica Independence Souvenir Album (1962), Top – The Sonny Bradshaw Quartet Jamaica Roots, (1974) – Sonny Bradshaw 7 On Tour With Reggay! (19??), Dynamic – Sonny Bradshaw 7 Reggae Version (19??), Dynamic – Sonny Bradshaw 7 Do It Reggae (1996), Jamaican Gold Live (1999), Jamaica Roots – Sonny Bradshaw and the Jamaica Big Band