b. Fulton, Missouri, USA. McBride started out on piano when he was four years old, later beginning to sing too. In his teens, he was diagnosed as having a degenerative eye disease but continued his studies at the Missouri School for the Blind and at Webster University in St. Louis. In the early 80s, he played in San Diego, California, with various artists including guitarist Steve Laury. In the mid-80s, while visiting his brother who lived in Dallas, Texas, McBride found himself in continuous demand with engagements at many local clubs. What had started out as a family visit became a musically and commercially profitable residency. It was during this period that he met trumpeter Dave Love who later founded Heads Up International.
Love signed McBride to a recording contract and the resulting Grace, released in 1992, achieved instant success on smooth jazz radio. Backed by his own band, the Texas Rhythm Club, together with guests such as Grover Washington Jnr. , Richard Elliot, Dave Koz and Larry Carlton, McBride’s popularity continued to grow through the 90s. In 1999, he visited South Africa for the first of two consecutive appearances at the annual Jazzathon festival in Cape Town. A direct result of this appearance was that McBride became one of the most popular smooth jazz artists in South Africa. Unlike many smooth jazz artists, McBride’s performances carry elements of soul, a quality that makes him more attractive to the hardcore jazz audience than many of his contemporaries in the genre.
