Joe Brown
b. 13 May 1941, Swarby, Lincolnshire, England. Brown has sustained a career for over 30 years as a cheerful ‘cockney’ rock ‘n’ roll singer and guitarist. He was a popular live and television performer in the late '50s, a major UK recording star in the early '60s and is still a well-loved personality in the '90s. In 1956, this east London-based performer formed the Spacemen skiffle group, which became the backing outfit on Jack Good's top-rated television series Boy Meets Girl in 1959. At this point in his career, Brown was generally regarded as one of the finest guitarists in the UK and his services were frequently in demand. Re-christened Joe Brown And The Bruvvers, the group joined Larry Parnes's successful stable of artists (Parnes allegedly tried to rename him Elmer Twitch!) and signed to Decca Records. He first charted with a unique treatment of Darktown Strutters Ball in 1960 and had a trio of UK Top 10 hits on the Pye Piccadilly label in 1962-63 with A Picture Of You, It Only Took A Minute and That's What Love Will Do. Being a happy and cheeky ‘character’ with a regional accent, it is likely that he could have had success in the USA in the way that Herman's Hermits did (Brown actually recorded I'm Henry The VIII, I Am first). Brown's timing was just two years early, and before America was totally receptive to the ‘British invasion’. As it was, his major hits were covered in the USA by acts like Paul Evans, the Kalin Twins and Bobby Goldsboro. He was voted Top UK Vocal Personality in the NME poll in 1962 and 1963. He appeared in the film What A Crazy World and in the mid-'60s starred in the hit musical Charlie Girl. He has recorded sporadically since then on a variety of labels including MCA, Vertigo and Parlophone Records. During the early '70s Brown put together the country-rock band, Home Brew, which featured his wife Vicki, Ray Glynn (guitar), Pete Oakman (bass/violin), Jeff Peters (bass), Dave Hynes (drums) and Kirk Duncan (piano). Vikki was one of Britain's most successful and prolific backing session vocalists until her career was tragically curtailed by illness. She died from cancer in 1991. Brown has occasionally appeared on other artists'recordings; in 1982 he guested on George Harrison's GONE TROPPO. His daughter Sam Brown has forged her own career as a notable rock singer.