Brad Delson
| Brad Delson | |
|---|---|
Delson performing with Linkin Park at the Sonisphere Festival, 2009
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Bradford Phillip Delson |
| Also known as | Big Bad Brad, BBB |
| Born |
December 1, 1977 Agoura, California, United States |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist, musician, A&R representative, Record Producer |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Associated acts | Linkin Park, Fort Minor, Relative Degree |
| Website | linkinpark |
| Notable instruments | |
Bradford Phillip "Brad" Delson (born December 1, 1977) is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the Grammy Award winning rock band Linkin Park.
Brad Delson attended Agoura High School in Agoura Hills, an affluent suburb of Los Angeles, with childhood friend and Linkin Park band mate Mike Shinoda. He played in various bands throughout his high school career, the most notable being Relative Degree, in which he met and teamed up with drummer Rob Bourdon. Relative Degree's goal was simply to play a show, and, after achieving that goal, they disbanded.
After graduating in 1995, Delson, Shinoda and Bourdon formed Xero, which would eventually become the starting point for Linkin Park. Delson entered UCLA in 1995 as a Regent Scholar working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies with a specialization in Business and Administration. He shared a dorm room with future Linkin Park band mate Dave Farrell for three out of his four years at school. Delson also had the opportunity to intern with a member of the music industry as part of his studies and ended up working for Jeff Blue, an A&R representative at Warner Bros. Records, who offered constructive criticism on Xero's demos, which were from the 4-track sampler tape Xero, which was released in 1996. Blue later introduced Chester Bennington, who would become the lead vocalist of Linkin Park, to the rest of the band.
After graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA in 1999, Delson decided to forgo law school in order to pursue a musical career with Linkin Park.
In 1999, Delson's band, Xero, replaced former lead vocalist Mark Wakefield with Arizona native Chester Bennington and renamed themselves Hybrid Theory. Before long, Delson, along with Shinoda, had produced the six-track EP of the same name as the band, distributing it to various websites online and earning the band its own cult following. By 2000, after one more band name change, Linkin Park was signed by Warner Bros. Records.
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