BRAD COTTER: A BLESSED-WITH-TALENT WINNER

The son of a preacher man, he must have been told all his life he was “Blessed with talent.” And, even now as a certified Winner, Brad Cotter remembers that, early on, talent, blessed with it or not, won’t make you a star. What does is a lifetime of playing music for the people, a decade of fighting your way through the gristmill called Nashville, learning how to do it all, write, play, and sing like nobody else. Not to mention how to take those inevitable punches called rejection and disappointment. Punches you can take after you’ve become a nationally known champion winner of Nashville Star.

Brad’s the kind of talent that impresses an icon like Vince Gill, who has seen, and sung with more up-and-coming hopefuls blessed with talent than you can imagine. When asked by a radio station in Illinois who he thought the next big thing is, Gill said, “I think that Brad Cotter is really good.”

But, you don’t have to take Vince Gill’s opinion alone. All you have to do is pick up a Brad Cotter CD and then, to make sure he’s as great in person as he is on disc, go see Brad Cotter perform his songs live. That’s when you really understand he turned the talent he was blessed with into art. It’s when you know Brad is one of those top tier talents who has that mystical “it.” He’s always had it, continues to perfect it and it’s kept him in the game all of his career, from his rise to the top as the Nashville Star champion where millions of country fans have imprinted on his voice, to Cotter’s new big thing as the flagship artist for a strong, new record label, Adobe Road Records.

“This Adobe Road Records thing is going to be really cool,” says Brad. “I was talking to another artist friend of mine, about the way it seems radio is opening up more now, and through the Internet and satellite radio the Independent labels are really starting to take off. I just have faith and I think the Lord has put me in the right place at the right time to be positive and successful from it.”

THE OVERNIGHT SENSATION THAT WAS A LIFETIME IN THE MAKING

During his rise to the champion spot on Nashville Star, fans heard some of the story that Brad was about to give up his nearly decade-long fight for stardom coming up the ranks in Nashville when he auditioned for the talent show.

And how country fans that heard his debut single, “I Meant To,” on the radio and ran out to buy his debut album, Patient Man, when it was released, may not have realized just how hard that struggle was...or how well it prepared him for the stardom he has now. Even though Brad Cotter was ready to give it up before he auditioned for Nashville Star, it’s unlikely that he could’ve left the music business, because he’s been making music for nearly all of his life, it is his life, it’s just there in his blood.

“I was born in Opelika, Alabama and I grew up singing gospel music. I started singing when I was 9, and between the ages 11 and 17, I recorded 5 gospel albums,” says Brad.

After Brad came of age he decided to take a break from professional singing and went to college.

“I recorded my last gospel album when I was 16 and didn’t really play or sing much again until after I graduated from high school. I then went to Southern Union State Jr. College on a music scholarship for two years, but didn’t exactly take my classes very seriously... I did gain a lot from the experience though.”

Brad showed early on his commitment to music would keep him in it no matter what. Even his “time away in college” didn’t deter him from earning his living making music.

“I went to school for a little while and that led to playing fraternity houses, and clubs... You know, the college circuit. I’ve never quit, I’ll never quit singing and writing songs whether there’s a record deal or not. I’ll just do it for the sheer love of it.”

Brad was 25 when he made the move to Nashville, after being on the road and paying his dues for several years with different bands and playing a variety of music and venues. He was signed to a record contract at the time, and thought stardom was just months away. He didn’t think it would be easy, but he sure didn’t think it would take 9 years.

“No, I never thought it would be easy, anybody that moves to town thinking that is sadly mistaken. I moved to town with a development deal on RCA records and, at the time, thought I was going to get a record out. Like everybody else I thought, Okay, ‘signed a record deal and a year later I’m out in stores and doing the radio tour...’ But, that didn’t happen and it took 9 long years and three major label deals later for me to finally get something recorded and actually released”.

But even though that chance didn’t work out, Brad was still encouraged by other opportunities that came his way.

“I signed a publishing deal after the RCA deal didn’t work out. I was going to try the songwriter angle, and was a staff writer at Tom Collins music for three years, then EMI for four years and then Warner-Chappell for a couple. Then, after leaving Warner Bros. in June 2003, Nashville Star started up in August.” The rest is history.

FRUSTRATING YEARS IN MUSIC CITY TIME WELL SPENT

Brad did what other survivors like Trisha Yearwood, Buddy Jewell and scores more have done to bide their time and earn money, he began singing demos for other songwriters which he claims only intensified his efforts as a writer, while providing him the opportunity to gain valuable studio experience as a vocalist. In the process he sang the demos for a number of hits including “Good Morning, Beautiful,” a #1 hit for Steve Holy.

When asked to name a few hits he can recall singing the “stunt vocal” for; “I know I sang the demo on “Good Morning Beautiful” because that was the first #1 I ever sang. But, I’m afraid to mention other titles, because I’m afraid another writer friend of mine might say ‘well he sang so and so for me why didn’t he mention my song?’ Also, when you sing 200 or 300 demos a year you don’t really keep track of them,” he said sheepishly.

The best news about all the demo singing and songwriting Brad was doing, is that it was preparing him to be able to take advantage of the opportunity he would have IF he won the Nashville Star competition.

The grand prize for the competition was the release of a single, the day after the final show, and immediately heading into a studio to complete an album, a process that sometimes takes years to do but Brad had to do in just weeks.

“Yes, I had no idea you could make a record in three weeks... I still don’t recommend it either. Luckily Rick Giles, Steve Bogard, and I had already written a pool of songs over the last couple of years, so for us it was just sort of cherry picking. We were real fortunate we were already prepared or we couldn’t have done it in the short amount of time we had,” Brad concludes.

Given the circumstances, Brad Cotter’s debut country album, PATIENT MAN, was remarkably good, and it’s thanks to songs he co-wrote like the first single, “I Meant To,” and the heart-renching ballad “I Miss Me,” along with more light-hearted tunes like “High On Love,” which describes growing up as a preacher’s son, and the witty and carefree “I’ve Got Time,” mixed in with straight from the soul lyrics like “Hard To Be A Rock,” a hopeful look at the trails in his personal life, which he wrote shortly after his mother passed away.

At first, Brad got off to great start. His first single "I Meant To" quickly broke the record for the highest chart debut by a new country artist since 1990 entering the charts at #42. Billboard reported it as the "second highest selling single of the year" on the charts. PATIENT MAN also debuted at #4, and made the Billboard Top 100 Sales list for the year, even though it wasn’t released until July.

But, when things didn’t work out the way Brad planned after the release of the first single and the album, and his record deal came to an abrupt halt, mainly due to the fact that Sony Nashville was no longer involved with Nashville Star. Cotter soon learned ironically, the title of his debut album described the “patient man” he had to learn to be.

“I learned to pray a lot, and continue to persevere, and that no man can stand in the way of what God has planned for me. That’s all stuff you have to learn in one way and one way only -- through trial and error.

And I guess what I learned from the Nashville Star deal was patience, had to wait a lot, had to be patient in a lot of situations...and I’m still learning patience. I’m not the most patient person, contrary to the title of the album. That was the toughest lesson I had to learn during the whole deal.”

LEARNING PATIENCE SERVED HIM WELL

Cotter’s newly acquired appreciation for being patient, and his dedication and enthusiasm are the reasons why Adobe Road Records, and associated industry veterans, Gary Cotton and Cathy Gurley, were happy to provide Brad with a new creative “musical canvas” for his art as a singer, instrumentalist and songwriter.

It’s paying off, too. The label is excited about the new music on Brad’s debut album for the imprint. Brad Cotter is excited about getting his music out to the millions of fans that watched him on his way to winning Nashville Star. And, the first single will likely lift the spirits of everybody that hears “God’s Fingerprints.” This first release from his new “CONTINUNITY” CD is a song that personally resonates to the very foundation of Cotter’s soul as a gospel-singing young prodigy at age 9. Yet, the great thing about the spiritual nature of the song is that it doesn’t make it only a Gospel music song. It is a song any fan anywhere can relate to.

The proof of that for Brad came from his father’s reaction to “God’s Fingerprints.” He said, “That’s the only Gospel song I’ve heard that can be played at a bar.” That his preacher father got it is a universal song thrilled Brad...just as much as it does when the song evokes enthusiastic (like-they-just-heard-a-hit) responses from fans on every stage and concert hall he’s played it for so far.

So, patience and belief in the talent he’s enjoyed sharing nearly every day of his life brings Brad Cotter back where he wants to be, writing music, making records, and most of all, singing for the people.