October 28 [12:00 EDT] -- While others come into music with dreams of stardom, Robert Bradley was just trying to survive.

The 47-year-old blind singer currently fronts Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise, but he recently told MTV News that he took his steps toward a career in music, and found his bandmates, on the streets of Detroit.

"Disability for the blind, you know, you can get a little check or a little Medicaid or something like that, that's what they was going on in. The government said I was dead so they cut all that off, and that's the reason why I went off and started doing what I was doing, and it took them like nine months before they found out that I wasn't dead," Bradley said.

"So they started sending back again, but it was too late. I was hooked. I was hooked, and so I been doing it ever since and that's how I met these guys. .

Robert Bradley and his Blackwater Surprise went on to land a recording contract with RCA Records, and recently released their self-titled debut album. The group also recently won over MTV's "12 Angry Viewers" with their new video, "Once Upon A Time" [800k QuickTime]. Bradley and company return to the road on November 5 in Springfield, Missouri.