Brad Buxer

Bradley Buxer is an American keyboardist and composer, known for his many collaborations with the American musician Michael Jackson. In addition to recording with Jackson, Buxer was also the musical director for Jackson's tours for many years. Prior to that, he was a session musician for artists such as Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson and a member of the new wave band the Jetzons with Bruce Connole, Damon Doiron and drummer Steve Golladay. In the 2000s, he reunited with Connole with the Suicide Kings. Buxer was contracted by Jackson to write music for the 1994 video game Sonic the Hedgehog 3. He assembled a team composed of Bobby Brooks, Darryl Ross, Geoff Grace, Doug Grigsby III, and Cirocco Jones to assist him and Jackson. The theme of the game's IceCap Zone stage is an instrumental version of the then-unreleased 1981 song "Hard Times" by the Jetzons, of which Buxer was a member. The ending theme was used as a base for Jackson's 1995 single "Stranger in Moscow". As of 2020, Buxer was working as an airline pilot.