Charles Brown (musician)

For other people named Charles Brown, see Charles Brown (disambiguation).
Charles Brown

　 Charles Brown (1996)
Background information
Birth name Tony Russell Brown[1]
Born (1922-09-13)September 13, 1922
Texas City, Texas, United States
Died January 21, 1999(1999-01-21) (aged 76)
Oakland, California, United States
Genres Blues, Texas blues, R&B, soul, soul blues, rock, blues rock, jazz, soul jazz
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Piano, vocals
Years active 1948–1999
Labels Aladdin, King, Ace, Bullseye Blues, Verve, 32 Jazz

Tony Russell "Charles" Brown (September 13, 1922 – January 21, 1999) was an American blues singer and pianist whose soft-toned, slow-paced blues-club style influenced the development of blues performance during the 1940s and 1950s. He had several hit recordings, including "Driftin' Blues" and "Merry Christmas Baby".[2]

Early life

Born in Texas City, Texas, Brown demonstrated his love of music as a child and received a classical music training on the piano.[3] He graduated from Central High School of Galveston, Texas in 1939 and Prairie View A&M College in 1942 with a degree in chemistry. He then became a chemistry teacher at George Washington Carver High School of Baytown, Texas, a mustard gas worker at the Pine Bluff Arsenal at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and an apprentice electrician at a shipyard in Richmond, California before settling in Los Angeles in 1943.[1]

Career

Early success with Johnny Moore

In Los Angeles, the great influx of blacks created an integrated nightclub scene in which black performers tended to minimize the rougher blues elements of their style. The blues club style of a light rhythm bass and right-hand tinkling of the piano and smooth vocals became popular, epitomized by the jazz piano of Nat King Cole. When Cole left Los Angeles to perform nationally, his place was taken by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, featuring Charles Brown's gentle piano and vocals.[4]

The Three Blazers signed with Exclusive Records, and their 1945 recording of "Drifting Blues", with Brown on piano and vocals, stayed on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart for six months, putting Brown at the forefront of a musical evolution that changed American musical performance.[5] Brown led the group in a series of further hits on Aladdin over the next three years, including "New Orleans Blues" and the original version of "Merry Christmas Baby" (both in 1947), and "More Than You Know" (1948).[6] Brown's style dominated the influential Southern California club scene on Central Avenue during that period and he influenced such performers as Floyd Dixon, Cecil Gant, Ivory Joe Hunter, Percy Mayfield, Johnny Ace and Ray Charles.[4]

Solo success

In the late 1940s, a rising demand for blues was driven by an increasing white teenage audience in the South which quickly spread north and west. Blues singers such as Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown were getting much of the attention, but what writer Charles Keil dubs "the postwar Texas clean-up movement in blues" was also beginning to have an influence, driven by blues artists such as T-Bone Walker, Amos Milburn and Charles Brown. Their singing was lighter, more relaxed and they worked with bands and combos that had saxophone sections and used arrangements.[7]

Brown left the Three Blazers in 1948 and formed his own trio with Eddie Williams (bass) and Charles Norris (guitar). He signed for Aladdin Records, and had immediate success with "Get Yourself Another Fool", before having one of his biggest hits in 1949 with "Trouble Blues", which stayed at number one on the Billboard R&B chart for 15 weeks in the summer of 1949. He followed up its success with "In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down", "Homesick Blues", and "My Baby's Gone", before having another R&B chart-topping hit with "Black Night", which stayed at number one for 14 weeks between March and June 1951.[6]

His final hit for several years came with "Hard Times" in 1952. Brown's approach was too mellow to survive the transition to rock and roll's harsher rhythms, despite recording in Cosimo Matassa's New Orleans studio in 1956, and he faded from the national limelight.[3] Though he was unable to compete with the more aggressive sound that was increasing in popularity, he managed to maintain a small, devoted audience. Additionally, his songs were covered by the likes of John Lee Hooker and Lowell Fulson

His "Please Come Home for Christmas", a hit in 1960 on the King Records remained seasonally popular.[2] "Please Come Home for Christmas" sold over one million copies by 1968, and was awarded a gold disc in that year.[8] During the 1960s Brown recorded a couple of albums for Mainstream Records.

Later career

In the 1980s he made a series of appearances at New York City nightclub Tramps. As a result of these appearances he signed a new recording contract with Blue Side Records and recorded One More for the Road in three days. Blue Side Records closed soon after but distribution was picked up by Alligator Records. Soon after the success of One More for the Road, Bonnie Raitt helped usher in a Charles Brown comeback tour.[9]

He began a recording and performing career again, under the musical direction of guitarist Danny Caron, to greater success than he had achieved since the 1950s. Other members of Charles' touring ensemble included Clifford Solomon on tenor saxophone, Ruth Davies on bass and Gaylord Birch on drums.[2] Several records received Grammy Award nominations, and in the 1980s he toured widely as the opening act for Bonnie Raitt. .

Tributes

He became a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,[10] and received both the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship[11] and the W. C. Handy Award.[12]

Death

Brown died of congestive heart failure in 1999 in Oakland, California,[13] and was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.[9]

Discography

Original 10" shellac (78rpm) and 7" vinyl (45rpm) releases

Note: to see the {Original 10" shellac (78rpm) and 7" vinyl (45rpm) releases} listing of Charles Brown's work with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, check-out that Wikipedia page.

Original LP/CD releases

CD compilations and other releases of note

Contributions

References

  1. 1 2 "Brown, Tony Russell (Charles)". Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 70–71. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
  3. 1 2 Biography by Bill Dahl, Allmusic.com. Retrieved 10 November 2015
  4. 1 2 Gillett, Charlie (1996). The Rise of Rock and Roll (2nd ed.). New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press. pp. 143–147, 316–317. ISBN 0-306-80683-5.
  5. ↑ "Charles Brown". Retrieved 2006-11-06.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-1995. Record Research. p. 48-49.
  7. ↑ Keil, Charles (1991) [1966]. Urban Blues. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. pp. 255 + ix + 8pp of plates. ISBN 0-226-42960-1.
  8. ↑ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 83. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  9. 1 2 "West coast artists - Charles Brown". History-of-rock.com. Retrieved 2006-11-06.
  10. ↑ Archived March 30, 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ Archived July 25, 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ Archived November 8, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ "The Dead Rock Stars Club 1998 - 1999". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  14. ↑ "All My Life - Charles Brown | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
  15. ↑ "Charles Brown | Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-05-21.

External links

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