T. Graham Brown
b. Anthony Graham Brown, c.1954, Arabi, Georgia, USA. As much a southern R&B singer as a country vocalist/songwriter, Brown was at school in Athens, Georgia, with members of the B-52s. He earned extra cash singing cover versions in lounge bars, until he saw a television documentary on David Allen Coe, after which he formed Rio Diamond, an ‘outlaw’ band in 1976. By 1979, he was fronting T. Graham Brown's Rack Of Spam a white soul band, singing Otis Redding material—he later covered Redding's classic (Sitting On) The Dock Of The Bay. In 1982, he moved to Nashville, where he worked as a demo singer, recording songs for publishers who wanted famous artists to record their copyrighted material. A song he demoed as ‘1962’ was later recorded by Randy Travis as ‘1982’, but more lucrative was the use of his voice on jingles for products like Budweiser beer and McDonald hamburgers. Signed to a major label in 1985, he was known as T. Graham Brown to avoid confusion with the noted Nashville producer Tony Brown. His first album I TELL IT LIKE IT USED TO BE, included two US country number 1 singles, Hell Or High Water and Don't Go To Strangers, and he returned to the top again in 1988 with Darlene. His albums were never huge hits, and an attempt to penetrate the European market in the late '80s was unsuccessful.