James Dean Bradfield

Although rhythm guitarist and lyricist Richey James Edwards' assaultive public persona garnered most of the band's headlines in their early days, the heart of Manic Street Preachers was always singer and lead guitarist James Dean Bradfield. With his short, stocky physique and hard-man bravado, Bradfield had an Everyman anti-mystique that rooted the band's often inchoate political posturing and served as an anchor for Edwards' considerably flightier proto-Pete Doherty antics. Together, Bradfield and Edwards made Manic Street Preachers THE buzz band of the early days of Brit-pop, before the reconfigured band became worldwide stars after Edwards' apparent suicide in 1995. Born in the small Welsh industrial city of Pontypool on February 21, 1969, James Dean Bradfield claims that his father named him after the doomed American film actor. Early exposure to the first wave of punk bands, especially the Clash, led Bradfield to form a band with his cousin Sean Moore on drums and childhood friend Nicholas Jones (soon renamed Nicky Wire) on bass in 1986. Wire soon convinced his university friend Edwards to join the band, and the newly rechristened Manic Street Preachers released their first D.I.Y. single in 1988. A long series of singles and EPs, along with the band's growing live buzz and a notorious incident where Edwards carved the phrase "4 Real" into his arm in front of a journalist from New Musical Express, led to the Manics signing to Sony in 1991. Three albums -- 1992's Generation Terrorists, 1993's Gold Against the Soul, and 1994's The Holy Bible -- followed, but Edwards' increasingly aberrant behavior eclipsed the band's music even in the eyes of many fans. When Edwards disappeared in February 1995 (his abandoned car found on a bridge near Bristol), many assumed that...