 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Fred Bronson" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Fred Bronson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bronson in 2024 | |
| Born | Fredric M. Bronson (1949-01-10)January 10, 1949 (age 77) Culver City, California, U.S. |
| Occupations | Journalist, author, writer |
Fredric M. "Fred"Bronson (born January 10, 1949) is an American journalist, author and writer. He is the author of books related to number one songs on theBillboard Hot 100 chart and other books related to various music charts as well. He is also known for his appearances onAmerican Idol and the weekly "Chart Beat" column inBillboard magazine.
The 5th edition ofThe Billboard Book Of Number One Hits was published in 2003. The 4th edition ofBillboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hits was published in 2007. Bronson is also the author ofThe Billboard Book of Number One R&B Hits (with Adam White),American Bandstand (with Dick Clark) andThe Sound of Music Family Scrapbook, written at the behest of the seven actors who played the von Trapp children in the 1965 film.
Born to Irving and Mildred Bronson and raised inCulver City,California. At age five, he was selected to portray actor/writer/producerJack Webb as a child in a series of photographs in the May 1954 issue ofCosmopolitan. Bronson showed an early aptitude for gauging the popularity of artists and songs. At age eleven, Bronson won a contest in theLos Angeles Mirror-News requiring him to select favorites in several music categories. His prize was a lunch with actressConnie Stevens. As Bronson later wrote, "I realized that keeping track of records and artists wasn't such a bad idea."
One of Bronson's earliest published works was in the first letters column ofThe Amazing Spider-Man, in issue 3, published in 1962. A follow-up letter was printed inThe Amazing Spider-Man No. 608, published 47 years later.[a] His letters were also published on a regular basis in issues ofSuperman,Action Comics,Adventure Comics,The Flash and otherDC Comics publications.
From 1971 to 1982, he was a publicist forNBC-TV inBurbank, California. Bronson handled publicity for a number of TV series, includingSanford and Son,Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,B. J. and the Bear,Man from Atlantis,The Bionic Woman,Police Story,Police Woman,Bonanza,Quark,Joe & Valerie,Voyagers!,The Powers of Matthew Star,Hollywood Squares,The Tomorrow Show withTom Snyder, and theBob Hope specials.
Bronson's regularChart Beat column appeared weekly inBillboard magazine from January 1993, when he took over from Paul Grein who originated the column in March 1981, until April 2005, when it was transferred completely to Billboard.com. The onlineChart Beat Chat column appeared at Billboard.com from April 1996 until March 5, 2009. Both dealt with notable activity on theBillboard charts including theBillboard Hot 100 for songs andBillboard 200 for albums. His new Billboard column,This Week In Billboard History, launched on the www.billboard.biz website on December 6, 2011. Bronson also co-created the syndicatedcomic stripDick Clark's Rock, Roll & Remember in 1995 withDick Clark and art work byDon Sherwood.[1]
Bronson has written for numerous award shows including both theWorld Music Awards andAmerican Music Awards. He has also appeared as a repertoire expert four times onAmerican Idol, during Seasons 2, 4, 7 and 9. He was seen on March 11, 2008, discussing the oeuvre ofLennon–McCartney and on March 23, 2010, talking about the history ofBillboard and the Hot 100. He was identified as "Author, Billboard Books." As in episodes from seasons two and four, hisNumber One Hits book was the exclusive basis of repertoire selection. His book also served as source material for the first episode ofCMT's series,CMT's Next Superstar. Bronson appeared on the first episode as a guest judge, along withKristin Chenoweth and permanent judgeMatt Serletic. The series premiered on April 8, 2011, the eighth anniversary of Bronson's first appearance onAmerican Idol.
Bronson's musical preferences were heard on his own radio programPop Goes the World and the online radio stationRadio Fred Bronson.[2] For seven years, he wroteThe Billboard Radio Countdown, a weekly webcast hosted byBillboard magazine's writer and editorChuck Taylor.
Bronson wrote one episode of theStar Trek: The Animated Series, "The Counter-Clock Incident", under the name John Culver.[3] He is also the co-writer on two episodes ofStar Trek: The Next Generation: "The Game" and "Ménage à Troi". Other writing credits for television include two-hour tributes toBrooks & Dunn,George Strait, and the superstar women of country music (including Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Reba, the Judds, Loretta Lynn and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland) on "Girls' Night Out" for CBS, aLionel Richie special that aired in April 2012, aMotown 45th anniversary special, the originalLive Aid, and adisco music special for ABC as well as the annualDick Clark'sNew Year's Rockin' Eve WithRyan Seacrest, also for ABC. Bronson was head writer on NBC's January 2005 telethon to raise funds for victims of the2004 tsunami in southeast Asia. For 20 consecutive years, Bronson wroteThe American Music Awards.
On March 5, 2009, Bronson announced in his weeklyChart Beat column that it was to be his last. In August 2009, he wrote his first articles for theLos Angeles Times. The latimes.com website posted his interviews withAmerican Idol finalistsAdam Lambert,Kris Allen andAllison Iraheta. In 2011, Bronson began writing forBillboard again on a regular basis. His articles appear on the Billboard.biz website. He also writes forThe Hollywood Reporter.
Bronson has also conducted interviews forSirius XM includingPaul McCartney,Benny Andersson andBjörn Ulvaeus andUlf Ekberg fromAce of Base. Bronson also announced that he would be a guest onJon Peter Lewis' internet TV seriesAmerican Nobody (episode 4 in March 2009).[4]
Bronson was a member of the international jury ofMelodifestivalen 2009, national preselection event to choose the Swedish representative in theEurovision Song Contest 2009.[5]
In August 2012, Bronson began writing a weekly column forThe Hollywood Reporter:American Idol on the Charts.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
