ORANGEBURG, S.C. – South Carolina State University alumnus and faculty member Willie Bradley has received the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award, a civil volunteer service award bestowed by the president of the United States.

 “Willie Bradley’s commitment to community exemplifies the core values we hold dear at South Carolina State University,” SC State President Alexander Conyers said. “His achievements as a musician are reason enough for us to celebrate this loyal son, but Mr. Bradley’s dedicated service history gives us many more reasons to be proud.

 “It should be no surprise to anyone that he has received one of our nation’s highest honors. I extend congratulations on this award and thanks for everything Mr. Bradley does for his alma mater and the community,” Conyers said.

 The highest level in the President’s Volunteer Service Award program, the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes people who have exemplified the willingness to provide a high level of humanitarian experience to their communities and the nation. Bradley’s name will be included in President Joe Biden’s Whitehouse Archives alongside others whose selfless dedication has been assets to those in need.

 A jazz artist, Bradley is an instructor and artist in residence in SC State’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts in the College of Education Humanities and Social Sciences (CEHSS).

 “Over the years, Mr. Bradley has used his talent, skillset and knowhow in service to his community, state, alma mater and the nation,” said Dr. M. Evelyn Fields, CEHSS dean. “He has been a wonderful asset to our music program. He is well respected by his colleagues and appreciated by his students for the experience he brings to the classroom. I am honored and proud to work with him on a daily basis.”

 Bradley is an Orangeburg native. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in music education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in performance from SC State. He received the university’s Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2022.

 Bradley’s role at SC State

Bradley is influential with assisting his students with artist development skills, while providing them with a solid foundation that will assist them with becoming successful artists in the music industry. He has featured several of his music industry students in his community jazz concerts, which has given them the experience of a lifetime.

 Last year, Bradley discovered there was a great need for scholarships to help students in his department who needed financial assistance. Consequently, he established the Willie E. Bradley, Jr. Scholarship Foundation, which will support music industry students at SC State.

 In 2021 and 2022, Bradley promoted three community jazz concerts that raised money for the endowment scholarship fund, which featured SC State music industry students.

 Service to HBCUs, South Carolina and young people

Bradley’s community activities have included:

• Working with the South Carolina Institutes of Innovation and Information (SCIII), which was established by the late Honorable Senator John L. Scott Jr. to develop academic specialty institutes at seven HBCUs in South Carolina. Bradley has also taken a leadership role with the planning and implementation of the annual South Carolina HBCUs President’s’ Forum, where the presidents of the HBCUs meet to discuss their individual SCIII Institutes.
• A leadership role in a special project with Office of Regulatory Systems that aimed to improve the broadband capacity in rural areas in South Carolina. Recently the program was awarded $24 million for Orangeburg and Bamburg rural communities in South Carolina to improve broadband and internet access.
• As a Life Member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., his work has included local, district and international Talent Hunt committees; OMEGA STEM, an initiative is designed to encourage students worldwide to become excited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; spearheading the Scholarship Committee, which awarded scholarships to over 2,000 high school seniors; and the Fatherhood Mentoring Initiative for at-risk male youth.
• Holding life membership in the NAACP, he has led the Thanksgiving and Christmas basket give-a-ways to feed over 5,000 families for the last ten years. Every year since 1995, Bradley has “adopted” a family by purchasing gifts for the entire family. He has actively worked every year since 1995 with voter registration in various communities and has also worked at the voting polls. Bradley received the Superior Service Award and Citizen of the Year for his continued and dedicated service to the community.
• Bradley is a certified substance abuse counselor and is passionate about helping individuals who are sick and suffering from alcohol and drug addiction.
• Every year since 1990, he has donated music instruments for local music middle school students and offered music lessons at no expense to the families. In 1994, Bradley and Company, which is one of his companies, held a spring recital which featured the students that received the donated instruments.

 Over the course of his music career, he has become a go-to musician for many of music’s greats over the years. His music reaches worldwide and can be heard on Smooth Jazz radio stations including Sirius XM, Music Choice, Pandora, Spotify, and iHeart Radio. Bradley has recorded six successful Contemporary Jazz projects and is completing his seventh CD. Bradley’s musical productions have been considered for two Grammy Awards. He had two No. 1 Billboard Smooth Jazz Hits and he was selected as Beats Magazine’s 2021 Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year by The Smooth Jazz Network.

 His stage presence includes performances nationally and internationally with jazz greats including Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Frank Foster, Max Roach, Betty Carter, Gerald Alston, Ronnie Laws, Marion Meadows, Walter Beasley, George Clinton, Gerald Albright, James Lloyd, and Andre 3000. Willie has performed the National Anthem for the Baltimore Orioles, Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Hornets, Carolina Hurricanes, and the Los Angeles Clippers. He is also known for being a member of the brass section with The Original James Brown Band.

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 About South Carolina State University

Founded in 1896 as a land grant institution with a mission of providing service to the citizens of the state, South Carolina State University has evolved from a small teachers’ college into a major University center of learning and research. Located in Orangeburg, S.C., South Carolina State offers more than 50 different fields of study on the undergraduate and graduate levels. South Carolina State University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Council of Graduate Schools.