Glen Brown
b. Glenmore Lloyd Brown, Jamaica, West Indies. Brown started in the music business in the mid-60s as a singer recording duets with Lloyd Robinson and Dave Barker (see Dave And Ansell Collins) for various producers, including Duke Reid and Coxsone Dodd. However, it was in the early '70s that he found his true vocation as a producer, his legendary Pantomine label home to dozens of unique and often eccentric records. He scored a big hit in 1972 with Merry Up, a melodica instrumental much in the vein of Augustus Pablo, who had popularised the instrument some months earlier with his hit, Java. Brown was adept at recycling his rhythms in new and interesting ways. If one of his backing tracks proved particularly popular, he would go on to cut a number of versions of it using different singers, instrumentalists and DJs, thereby prolonging its life and recouping the maximum potential for his outlay. He worked with many of the best DJs of the time, including Big Youth (Come Into My Parlour, Opportunity Rock), Prince Jazzbo (Meaning Of One, Mr Harry Skank, Mr Want All), I Roy (Brother Toby Is A Movie From London), Berry Prince Hammer Simpson (‘Whole Lot of Sugar’) and U-Roy (No 1 In The World). 
As well as providing fine vocal renditions himself on sides such as Realize (with Richie MacDonald), Tell It Like It Is, Boat To Progress and Away With The Bad, he recorded the likes of Roman Stewart, Keith Poppin, Johnny Clarke, Lloyd Parks (Slaving) and Gregory Isaacs; the latter's One One Cocoa being among that singer's finest vinyl moments. But perhaps the real grist to Brown's mill were the many instrumental sides his various labels carried, cuts like Dirty Harry by Tommy McCook and Richard Hall, More Music by McCook and trombonist Ron Wilson, and the melodica sides by the man himself; Pantomine Rock, Crisp As A Ball and 2 Wedden Skank. Brown's highly individual approach, coupled with the God Sons’ tough bass and drum rhythms, has ensured these records a special place in the hearts of many reggae fans. In the latter half of the '70s the hits were fewer, but records like his own Father For The Living and Lambs Bread Collie Man, Wayne Jarrett's Youthman and a run of Sylford Walker gems like Lambs Bread, Eternal Day and Chant Down Babylon, maintained his profile and reputation. During the '80s Brown became less visible on the reggae scene as he divided his time between Jamaica, New York and the UK. He recorded a melodica instrumental album for London's Fashion Records in 1990 that captured much of his charm, and reportedly has a Joseph Cotton album in the can.