Roy Brown
When you draw up a short list of the R&B pioneers who exerted a primary influence on the development of rock & roll, respectfully place singer Roy Brown's name near its very top. His seminal 1947 DeLuxe Records waxing of "Good Rockin' Tonight" was immediately ridden to the peak of the R&B charts by shouter Wynonie Harris and subsequently covered by Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many more early rock icons (even Pat Boone). In addition, Brown's melismatical pleading, gospel-steeped delivery impacted the vocal styles of B.B. King, Bobby Bland, and Little Richard (among a plethora of important singers). Clearly, Roy Brown was an innovator -- and from 1948-1951, an R&B star whose wild output directly presaged rock's rise.
Born in the Crescent City, Brown grew up all over the place: Eunice, LA (where he sang in church and worked in the sugarcane fields); Houston, TX; and finally Los Angeles by age 17. Back then, Bing Crosby was Brown's favorite singer -- but a nine-month stint at a Shreveport, LA, nightclub exposed him to the blues for the first time. He conjured up "Good Rockin' Tonight" while fronting a band in Galveston, TX. Ironically, Harris wanted no part of the song when Brown first tried to hand it to him. When pianist Cecil Gant heard Brown's knockout rendition of the tune in New Orleans, he had Brown sing it over the phone to a sleepy DeLuxe boss, Jules Braun, in the wee hours of the morning. Though Brown's original waxing (with Bob Ogden's band in support) was a solid hit, Harris' cover beat him out for top chart honors.
Roy Brown didn't have to wait long to dominate the R&B lists himself. He scored 15 hits from mid-1948 to late 1951 for DeLuxe, ranging from the emotionally wracked crying blues of "Hard Luck Blues" (his biggest seller of all in 1950) to the party-time rockers "Rockin' at Midnight," "Boogie at Midnight," "Miss Fanny Brown," and "Cadillac Baby." Strangely, his sales slumped badly from 1952 on, even though his frantic "Hurry Hurry Baby," "Ain't No Rockin' No More," "Black Diamond," and "Gal From Kokomo" for Cincinnati's King Records rate among his hottest house rockers.
Brown was unable to cash in on the rock & roll idiom he helped to invent, though he briefly rejuvenated his commercial fortunes at Imperial Records in 1957. Working with New Orleans producer Dave Bartholomew, then riding high with Fats Domino, Brown returned to the charts with the original version of "Let the Four Winds Blow" (later a hit for Domino) and cut the sizzling sax-powered rockers "Diddy-Y-Diddy-O," "Saturday Night," and "Ain't Gonna Do It." Not everything was an artistic triumph; Brown's utterly lifeless cover of Buddy Knox's "Party Doll" -- amazingly, a chart entry for Brown -- may well be the worst thing he ever committed to wax (rivaled only by a puerile "School Bell Rock" cut during a momentary return to King in 1959).
After a long dry spell, Brown's acclaimed performance as part of Johnny Otis' troupe at the 1970 Monterey Jazz Festival and a 1973 LP for ABC-BluesWay began to rebuild his long-lost momentum. But it came too late; Brown died of a heart attack in 1981 at age 56, his role as a crucial link between postwar R&B and rock's initial rise still underappreciated by the masses.
© Bill Dahl /TiVo
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Anthology: The Deluxe Collection (Remastered)
Blues - Released by Master Tape Records on May 29, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Good Rockin Tonight
Blues - Released by Jukebox Records on Dec 14, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Butcher Pete, Pt. 1 & 2
Soul - Released by Jukebox Jam Series on Dec 15, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Roy Brown’s Greatest
Blues - Released by Red Cab Records on Jan 17, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classics: 1947-1949
Blues - Released by Classics Blues & Rhythm Series on Aug 4, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Heard the News Live
Blues - Released by Bringins Music on Feb 7, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Travellin' Blues
Soul - Released by Collecting Records OMP on Jan 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Complete Imperial Recordings Of Roy Brown
Rock - Released by Capitol Records on Jan 1, 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Love for Sale
R&B - Released by Memo Tutti Frutti on Jul 31, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Good Rockin' Tonight
R&B - Released by Classic Records on Jan 4, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boogie Woogie Blues
Blues - Released by Jukebox Records on Dec 14, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Milestones of Legends - "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?", Vol. 9
Jazz - Released by Documents 2 on Mar 25, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Good Rockin' Tonight
Pop - Released by Findina Records on Oct 24, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Roy Brown - Live In San Francisco
Blues - Released by Eastmill on Feb 12, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classics: 1950-1951
Blues - Released by Classics Blues & Rhythm Series on Aug 4, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Very Best Of
Soul - Released by Brownbeats Records on May 12, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Travelin' Blues
R&B - Released by The Entertainers on Jan 1, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Laughing But Crying
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Jasmine Records on Sep 26, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rocking All the Time
Rock - Released by Stomper Time on Mar 26, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo