Six Brown Brothers

Six Brown Brothers

Top portion of an ad with Tom Brown in blackface and his clown band, the Six Brown Brothers, for the 1920 Broadway musical Tip Top.
Background information
Origin Lindsay, Ontario, Canada
Genres Vaudeville
Years active 1913 (1913)–1933 (1933)
Past members
  • William Brown
  • Tom Brown
  • Alec Brown
  • Percy Brown
  • Fred Brown
  • Vern Brown

The Six Brown Brothers were a Canadian vaudeville era saxophone sextet consisting of six brothers.

History

The brothers comprising the Six Brown Brothers were, William, Tom (1881–1950), Alec, Percy, Fred, and Vern Brown. The Brown Brothers lived in Lindsay, Ontario until 1893. The first instrumentation consisted of a saxophone quintet (bass, baritone, tenor, and 2 alto saxes. A soprano sax was never used with the group, except as a feature for Tom Brown). The group began working at circuses, and later worked in minstrel and vaudeville shows, and then on Broadway. In 1913, they added a second baritone sax. Success in 1912-14 lead to touring to Scotland and elsewhere in Europe. Additional non-family members also played with the group.

After they broke up in 1933 only the leader, Tom Brown, continued as a musician but with limited success.

External links

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This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, April 17, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.