Bruno Radolini: The musical alter-ego of Bruce Willis
Of course, we primarily recognise Bruce Willis for his roles in several Hollywood blockbusters beginning in the 1980s. However, the legendary actor also has a somewhat secret career. In 1988, Willis performed in arguably his most celebrated role as John McClane in John McTiernan’s Die Hard. Around the same time, Willis also had a simultaneous career as a recording artist, performing under the pseudonym Bruno Radolini. Just over a year prior to Die Hard’s release, Willis released his debut album as Radolini, a project entitled The Return of Bruno.
The album featured a swathe of high-profile musicians, including the Pointer Sisters, who played on the album’s lead single ‘Respect Yourself’. The track reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and number seven on the UK Singles Chart. ‘Respect Yourself’ had originally been performed by the Staples Singers back in 1971. While the follow-up single ‘Young Blood’ didn’t perform quite as well, ‘Under the Boardwalk’ was a hit in the UK. Elsewhere on the record, the likes of Booker T. Jones and Temptations also featured.
Accompanying the album was a brilliantly inventive mockumentary in the style of 1984’s This is Spinal Tap. Amongst the musicians featured in the film were Phil Collins, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Brian Wilson, Grace Slick, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Jon Bon Jovi, all of whom claimed to have been profoundly influenced by Radolini’s music. Of course, they were joking.
In the film, we see fake footage of Willis as Radolini, playing at a number of significant events throughout the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, including the historic Woodstock Festival. When The Return of Bruno was released, Willis signed a deal with Seagram’s Golden Wine Coolers to feature in a number of adverts in which he can be heard putting his singing skills to the test.
After Willis’ acting career took off with the widespread success of Die Hard, he left Bruno Radolini behind in the 1980s but did record and release another album called If It Don’t Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger. However, that record was released under his real name.
Evidently, Willis had at least some talent for music, even if his career never properly took off in that light. It’s easy to wonder whether he had true intentions of trying to make it in the music industry or if the whole thing was a bit of a laugh, but the actor appeared to clarify his intentions when he told The Scotsman in 2012: “No, over, retired. I never really called myself a singer. The closest I got was that I used to shout in key”. Still, for a moment, he had us fooled.
Check out the full mockumentary below.
