Nelson Bragg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007) |
| This article may not meet the general notability guideline or one of the following specific guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. If you are familiar with the subject matter, please expand or rewrite the article to establish its notability. The best way to address this concern is to reference published, third-party sources about the subject. If notability cannot be established, the article is more likely to be considered for redirection, merge or ultimately deletion, per Wikipedia:Guide to deletion. This article has been tagged since December 2007. |
| Nelson Bragg | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Nelson Bragg |
| Born | 1961 |
| Origin | Dover, New Hampshire, United States |
| Genre(s) | Drumming |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, drummer, songwriter, |
| Instrument(s) | Drums |
| Years active | present |
| Website | [1] |
Nelson Bragg (born in Dover, New hampshire, 1961) is a drummer/percussionist/vocalist from Rockport, Massachusetts.
Contents |
[edit] Early years
Nelson Bragg played in several bands from 1979-1999 including positions as a pit drummer for over 20 stage musicals. (Emerson College theater in Boston, New London Barn Playhouse, New London, NH among others) His bands include the horn driven/post-punk dance band, Big Noise, (1981-1987, Woodstock, New York) and Farmhouse (1989-1992), a harmony based folk-rock group based out of Northampton, Mass. Nelson moved to Los Angeles in 1999.
[edit] Bands
In 2000, Bragg finally found a successful path joining several L.A. pop bands that include The Now People, The Quarter After and Cloud Eleven. In 2001, he joined "Stew" for his "Naked Dutch Painter" CD and played subsequent shows and residencies promoting it. That CD was "Entertainment Weekly's "Album of the Year" for 2002. He also played with The Negro Problem, Stew's former band and alter ego. In 2003, Nelson got the call to join Brian Wilson's band as percussionist/vocalist to perform Wilson's legendary unreleased album "Smile". That now legendary February 2004 premiere in London and tour, was followed by a formal recording of "Smile", released in September of 2004, winning a Grammy award, ironically in the "Best instrumental" category ("Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" featuring Bragg on virtually all of the whistles and sound effects at the top of the piece.) In 2005, the Smile 2 DVD set was released featuring a full-length documentary of Brian Wilson's incredible Smile story and the making of it both in 1966-67 and newly in 2004. That documentary aired on Showtime in October of 2004 and was directed by Beach Boys and pop authority David Leaf. A live concert performance of Smile is featured on the second disc.
[edit] Tours
Nelson Bragg has continued on for nine tours worldwide including Smile performances for 2 nights at Carnegie Hall (broad-casted on NPR radio, nationally on Thanksgiving Day 2004) 2 nights at The Sydney Opera House, The Hollywood Bowl, Brandenburgh Gate, Berlin for the world-wide Live 8 benefit and at The 2005 Glastonbury Festival in the UK, setting attendance records. Nelson has also performed with the band on several television appearances including Late Night With Jay Leno 3 times and on the Brian Wilson Christmas album: "All I really Want For Christmas" released in 2005. In 2006-2007, the band performed the legendary "Pet Sounds" album in the U.S. and Europe celebrating it's 40th anniversary. Beach Boy Al Jardine joined the band for the U.S. leg of those concerts.
[edit] Albums
In 2003, prior to his position with The Brian Wilson Band, Bragg started recording a solo album which was completed and released on Side B Music in 2007. "Day Into Night" was reviewed very favorably and continues to garner college and Internet airplay worldwide. It boasts the talents of Nick Walusko, fellow Brian Wilson band-mate and Wondermint, Mike Randle, Guitarist with Baby Lemonade and longtime member of Arthur Lee and Love, Morley Bartnoff, keyboardist with Burning Sensations and currently with Dramarama, Rob Campanella, organist/guitarist with The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Quarter After, Probyn Gregory, fellow Brian Wilson band-mate and Wondermint, Severo Jornacion, Bassist with The Smithereens and Debbie Shair, keyboardist with Heart. It also features The Stockholm String Ensemble on seven of its twelve tracks. Nelson performed all acoustic guitars, vocals, drums and percussion among other instruments on the record. The record is influenced by CSNY, George Harrison, The Byrds, The dB's, Canada's The Grapes Of Wrath, and was produced by well known L.A. pop/garage producer Steve Refling.
[edit] Other Projects
Nelson has been involved with many bands including drumming live and recording cd's with the aforementioned Now People, the Quarter After, Cloud Eleven and with The Mello Cads, Keven Kane (The Grapes Of Wrath), Andrew Sandoval and most notably The Mockers. Bragg has garnered 3 tours of Spain with The Mockers in 2002, 2005 and 2007. A documentary about The Mockers and the American dream is in the works with a 2008 release in mind.
[edit] Future
Bragg is the drummer/percussionist and harmony vocalist on several dozen records but his most well known recording other than Smile came in 2006 on the "In My Room" CD tribute to Brian Wilson included with Mojo magazine's January 2007 issue. Nelson sang lead and drummed on The Mockers Beatlesque version of "God Only Knows". That recording was the largest exposure of Bragg's lead vocal to date with a pressing of over 200,000 copies worldwide. At this writing, Nelson Bragg will embark on a 30 date tour of Europe and the U.S. with Brian Wilson and Al Jardine from The Beach Boys. The tour includes a premiere in London of Wilson's new work "That Lucky Old Sun". Nelson is planning his follow-up to "Day Into Night".
