Biography
13 September 1922, Texas City, Texas, USA, d. 21 January 1999, Oakland, California, USA. Brown’s mother died only six months after he was born and he was raised by his grandparents. Despite learning piano and church organ at the insistence of his grandparents while a child, Brown became a teacher of chemistry. In 1943, living in Los Angeles, he realized that he could earn more money working as a pianist-singer. He was hired to play at singer Ivie Anderson’s Chicken Shack club, but with the requirement that he play ‘nothing degrading like the blues’. At that time, the top small group in Los Angeles was the Nat ‘King’ Cole Trio, but when Cole moved on, the Three Blazers, led by Johnny Moore (guitarist brother of Oscar Moore) and whom Brown had just joined, moved into the top spot. By 1946 the band was a national favourite, with hit records including Brown’s ‘Driftin’ Blues’, and appearances at New York’s Apollo...
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