BRAD HAWKINS

BRAD HAWKINS INTERVIEW.
ALL QUOTES BY BRAD HAWKINS.

I was born in Dallas, my mom and dad split up and I went to live with my mom in South Carolina. In a little place, a small town in South Carolina called Summerville, My mom’s musical preferences are what influenced the rock side of my music.

Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bob Seger were what was played in the house when I was growing up in the ’70’s. I graduated in 1992, I’m 23 years old. In high school, I was never a musician, I was more of an entertainer. There weren’t many bands playing for 17 year olds in my town in South Carolina at that time, so while I was working as a bus boy in restaurants, I started singing karaoke in clubs around the area. My mom(name Debra) passed away when I was in high school (at 17) living in South Carolina. That’s when I moved to Texas and grew up. That was a big transition for me, I left this small country town and moved to Texas to be with my dad. At that time I wanted to get away from everything that was in South Carolina and be with my dad.

But when I moved to Texas, that’s when the country side of my musical influences started to take shape.

My dad (name Johnny,a carpenter by trade) had a country band named Wind River and we’d play around the Dallas Fort Worth area. Wind River was a popular regional act. What’s funny is that all of my uncles along with my dad, everyone on his side of the family is musicians. So, when I went out to Dallas they let me sit in with them whenever they were playing clubs. I was overwhelmed with country music influences by singing in those honky tonks with my dads band. I’d sing country classics or the Top 40 country hits of the day. Whatever it was they’d let me sit in and sing with them from time to time.

So, I really learned a great deal about singing country music by playing with my dads band.

I mean I grew up with my mom and until then I hadn’t spent much time with my dad, because to me my dad was always a kind of hard to reach guy. So music was the one thing that we had in common. It was the one way we could have a father and son moment without it being a father and son moment.

So in Texas I actually got a taste of the stage and I said at that point,’This is it. I’m hooked.’ Of course, my dad’s playing five and six nights a week, so me singing and performing with him on those nights wasn’t always that exciting for him(he laughs). My dad played acoustic,electric and pedal steel.

My big goal now with my career singing country music is to hopefully get to a point where I’ll be able to have my dads band get back together and play on-stage with me once again.

All those guys got married and had kids so they’re not playing together as of this date. So my family paved the way for me and now I’m getting my shot. I feel like I’m living my families dream. Every single one of the would give up what they have right now to be an artist. So there’s a little bit of tension between those guys on my father’s side because everyone of them is dying to get a record deal and be where I am now. But the way I look at it, is that I’m doing all this for them now.

When I first popped up with a record deal three years ago they were all like,’Well, what do you mean, you’ve got a record deal? We’re the ones who have been doing this for years!’ But over time they’ve seen what I went through and they’ve since learned about the politics of Nashville and what it takes to get a record deal and a single out there. I did a demo for about $150 and sent it off to “Be A Star” in Nashville, this was about in 1987-88. They invited me out to audition, so I grabbed a couple of friends and a friend of mine knew somebody at Warner Brothers Nashville and they called me about my demo. So I was planning to go there and I got a call from the label, the day were leaving to drive there, and they said the weren’t interested. So that was kind of a let down, but I realized that it probably wasn’t my time and I needed to work on my career.

So I still auditioned and I didn’t get the show. I went out to the car and decided that I needed to pay some more dues, I realized I wasn’t ready yet. So I went back to Texas and went to college on a personal football scholarship at Cisco Junior College outside of Abeline,in west Texas. I lasted about two weeks there and then I realized that five foot eight wide receivers don’t make it in the NFL, (he laughs). So I ended my career and went back to Plano(spelling?) which is where I was living and studied psychology in college for a while. Meanwhile the music hit me hard again and I made another demo.

Well, during that time someone saw me in public and this individual worked for a modeling agency and they told me that I should get into modeling. But the modeling agency said I was too short and that I should get into acting. So the acting division of the company set up an audition and at a local talent contest and they had a producer come out from LA. I did a cold reading and by the end of the night the guy said,’if you come to LA, I’ll represent you.’ I didn’t have anything else going on so I went to LA. I moved there when I was 19, with $500, my Honda Civic hatchback and one box of clothes. I started getting auditions around LA, I probably went to about 100 auditions. It was a real reality check. After about six months, I finally landed a role on a TV series called “Power Rangers.”

In the meantime a new show called VR Troopers on FOX came along and I was offered the lead role. So I did that for two years. During the entire show that was the first time I made real money. I took every penny I saved and invested it in recording a top notch demo. My manager, who used to manager Warrant, The Moody Blues and Three Dog Night, pitched the demo around Nashville. Curb Records in Nashville said,’We want to see him perform.’ So they flew out to LA and I did a showcase and that night they said,’Come on, we’ve got you.’ When people say I haven’t paid my dues to sing country music I tell them,’Do you know what I’ve been through to get where I am today!’ I haven’t played honky tonks for the last six years but I’m actually glad it’s that way because I’m not burned out on the gig.

The stuff I went through, I went through a lot of money and a lot of people came my way who said they were my friends only to do me wrong. I’ve basically put everything on the block to get rejected and I’m glad that I’ve had this much accepted.

As far as my TV career, I never really talk about it, other then in interviews. I mean I don’t step up on-stage and say,’You might remember me from.’ I don’t use it as a calling card. I get up on-stage and it’s Brad Hawkins country singer. We get up there, rock the house and let people get to know me as a country music recording artist. Probably once a night when I’m on the road, someone will come up to me in a club and say,’I know who you are. I’ve got kids and they watched you on TV.’ Then we share a kind of smirk and that’s it. If someone has kids we’ll joke about it and I’ll sign pictures for the kids.