   
  |
Brad Gillis
Brad Gillis is best known for his role as half the dynamic guitar duo of the chart-topping band
Night Ranger. Since its first release in 1982, Brad's mastery of the
strings and whammy bar have helped lead this AOR band to the top of the
charts and multi-platnum sales around the world. Brad has almost twenty
gold and platnum albums to his name and has appeared in over a dozen
MTV and VH1 music videos. His first solo album Gilrock Ranch, released
in 1993, produced the top twenty AOR single, "Honest to God",
co-written and sung by the legendary Gregg Allman. His latest release,
Alligator, is bound for even greater success.
Gillis' guitar history began at age nineteen when he joined the San Francisco
based funk-rock band Rubicon. They recorded two albums with 20th
Century Fox Records, Rubicon and American Dreams. When Rubicon
disbanded, Brad and two other band members, Jack Blades and Kelly
Keagy, formed a hard rock band the short-lived name Sterio. When the
other half of the guitar duo, Jeff Watson, and keyboardist Alan "Fitz"
Fitzgerald joined the ranks, Night Ranger was born.
At the same time Night Ranger was gaining public interest, heavy metal god
Ozzy Osbourne recognized the talent in Brad and asked him to supplant
Randy Rhoads in his ongoing tour. For the next year Brad participated
in both the Osbourne sensation and the Night Ranger effort and can be
heard on lead guitar on Osbourne's Speak of the Devil live album.
Gillis chose to put all his efforts into Night Ranger when it began to
take off and from that point the band was unstoppable.
For over a decade Gillis wrote, recorded and toured with Night Ranger,
contributing to such hits as "Don't Tell Me You Love Me", "Sister
Christian", "When You Close Your Eyes", and "(You Can Still) Rock in
America", just to name a few. After years of being one of the top
grossing touring bands of the '80s, the members of the band went their
separate ways. Gillis then formed the band Mega-Mega. The band was
spotlighted on the motion picture soundtrack to "Don't Tell Mom the
Babysitter's Dead." Gillis and his fellow Night Ranger drummer, Kelly
Keagy, had the desire to regain the hard drive and soul back into their
music, which lead them to songwriter, vocalist and bassist Gary Moon.
The reborn Night Ranger trio tantalized the world and toured for three years solid.
Feeding Off the Mojo (1995) breathed new life into what had been
labeled an '80s band. The energy created from this release ignighted
the fire within the original five members leading them to reform and
two more albums were born, Neverland (1997) and Seven (1998). Brad
toured with the band and spent the summer of 1999 headlining the Rock
Never Stops Tour with Ted Nugent, Quiet Riot and Slaughter.
Brad's newly released CD, Alligator, is currently available from Pony
Canyon Records and carries with it the energy and stamina from years of
guitar experience Alligator once again reunites the axe slinging
mastery of Brad Gillis wit the emotionally packed voice and lyrics of
Gary Moon. The melancholy sound of "Survive", shows the potential of
this extraordinary guitarist and for those guitar enthusiasts,
"(Your Eyes are the Window) Eyes" packs the flamboyant waang-bar
techniques. Alligator is the first album that Gillis has also ventured
into the role of lead vocalist with exhilarating results, which one has
learned to expect from Brad Gillis.
Download PDF
|
|
|
|
|
