Bradford Phillip Delson (born December 1, 1977) is an American musician, lead guitarist, and one of the founding members of the alternative rock band Linkin Park. He is also the A&R Representative for Machine Shop Recordings. Brad Delson attended Agoura High School with childhood friend and Linkin Park bandmate Mike Shinoda. He played in various bands throughtout his high school career. One of those bands was Relative Degree, in which he met and teamed up with drummer Rob Bourdon. Relative Degree had one goal, and, after achieving that goal, they eventually dibanded. After graduating in 1995, Delson, Shinoda, and Bourdon formed Xero, which eventually became the start of Linkin Park. Delson entered UCLA in 1995 as a Regent Scholar working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies with a specialization in Business and Administration. He ended up sharing a dorm room with future Linkin Park bandmate Dave Farrell for three out of his four years at school. Part of Delson's studies gave him the opportunity to intern with a member of the music industry. Through this, he ended up working with Jeff Blue, an A&R representative at Warner Bros. Records, who offered constructive criticism on Xero's demos. Incidentally, it was Blue who later introduced Chester Bennington, the current lead vocalist of Linkin Park, to the rest of the band. In 1999, Delson's band, Xero, replaced former lead vocalist Mark Wakefield with Arizona native Chester Bennington and renamed themselves Hybrid Theory. They produced the six-track Hybrid Theory (EP), distributing it to various websites online. By 2000, the band changed its name to Linkin Park and was signed by Warner Bros. Records.

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