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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Roy Brown Selected Favorites Volume 6
Blues - Lançado por Charly Records em 20/06/2006
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Poetas Puertorriqueños
Alternative & Indie - Lançado por Roy Brown em 31/10/1992
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Good Rockin' Tonight: All His Greatest Hits + Selected Singles (1947-1958)
Blues - Lançado por Jasmine Records em 14/09/2018
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Good Rockin' Tonight
Rockabilly - Lançado por Good Time Records em 08/07/2022
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Distancias
Folk - Lançado por La Mafafa Discos & Discos Lara Yari em 01/01/1976
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Hard Luck Blues
Blues - Lançado por Vanilla OMP em 17/08/2009
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Roy Deluxe
Blues - Lançado por Transatlantica em 07/04/2023
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En Fuga
Folk - Lançado por Discos Lara Yari em 01/01/1994
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Presenting Roy Brown
R&B - Lançado por Universal Digital Enterprises em 01/01/1900
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Hard luck and good rocking
Jazz - Lançado por EPM em 04/06/2002
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Aires Bucaneros
Folk - Lançado por La Mafafa Discos & Discos Lara Yari em 01/01/1978
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Roy Brown III
Folk - Lançado por La Mafafa Discos & Discos Lara Yari em 01/01/1973
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Balada de Otro Tiempo
Folk - Lançado por La Mafafa Discos & Discos Lara Yari em 01/01/1989
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Distancias
Folk - Lançado por La Mafafa Discos & Discos Lara Yari em 01/01/1990
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All That Has Been Is All That Is
Rock - Lançado por Roy Brown em 10/07/2018
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Basta Ya... Revolución
Folk - Lançado por Discos Lara Yari em 01/01/1971
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1951-1953
Blues - Lançado por Classics Blues & Rhythm Series em 04/08/2008
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Blues Masters-Roy Brown-Vol. 22
Soul - Lançado por RP-DSP em 28/11/2011
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Hard Luck Blues
Pop - Lançado por Black Sheep Music em 16/08/2013
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Casi Alba
Folk - Lançado por La Mafafa Discos & Discos Lara Yari em 01/01/1980
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