Lou Dog
| Bradley Nowell | |
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Nowell performing in the mid-1990s.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Bradley James Nowell |
| Born |
February 22, 1968 Long Beach, California, United States |
| Died | May 25, 1996 (aged 28) San Francisco, California, United States |
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| Years active | 1981–1996 |
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Bradley James Nowell (February 22, 1968 – May 25, 1996) was an American musician who served as the founder, lead singer, and guitarist of the band Sublime.
Raised in Long Beach, California, Nowell developed an interest in music at a young age. His father took him on a trip to the Virgin Islands during childhood, which exposed him to reggae and dancehall music, then gained a strong interest in rock music once he learned how to play guitar. Nowell played in various bands until forming the group Sublime with bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh, whom he had met while attending California State University, Long Beach. As Sublime gained success, Nowell struggled with a worsening addiction to heroin. He eventually became sober after his son, Jakob Nowell, was born. Nowell shot up again on the morning of May 25, 1996, and died of a heroin overdose in a San Francisco hotel while Sublime was on tour.
Bradley Nowell and his sister, Kellie, were born and raised in the Belmont Shore neighborhood of Long Beach, California to Jim and Nancy Nowell. As a child, he enjoyed surfing and sailing, often participating in boat races. Nowell became a difficult child and was often hyperactive and disruptive; his mother recalled that he was "very emotional, very sensitive, very artistic, but he was needy...He was always testing just to see what he could get away with". After his parents' divorce when he was ten, Nowell's behavior worsened. His mother was awarded custody, but found him too difficult to control, and at the age of ten he had moved in full-time with his father.
Music was an integral part of Nowell's upbringing on the part of both of his parents. His father, a construction worker, enjoyed playing guitar and exposed him to the music of Jim Croce; his mother taught piano for a living in addition to playing the flute. Both parents helped teach young Nowell to play the guitar. In the summer of 1979, eleven-year-old Nowell accompanied his father on a month-long sailing trip in the Virgin Islands, where he was first exposed to reggae music.
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