Roy Brown

Roy James Brown (September 10, 1925 — May 25, 1981^[1]) was a pioneering Rhythm & Blues singer, songwriter and musician who had a primary influence on the early development of rock & roll music. His seminal "Good Rocking Tonight" was covered by Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Pat Boone. In addition, his melismatical pleading, gospel-steeped delivery impacted the vocal styles of B.B. King, Bobby Bland, and Little Richard. His role as a crucial link between postwar R&B and rock's initial rise is underappreciated by the masses.^[2]

Career

Brown was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.^[1] He started singing gospel music in the church. His mother was an accomplished singer and church organist.^[3] After a move to Los Angeles, California some time in the 1940s, and a brief period spent as a professional boxer in the welterweight category, he won a singing contest in 1945 at the Million Dollar Theater covering "There's No You" by Bing Crosby. In 1946 Brown moved to Galveston, Texas, where he sang in a club. His numbers included a song he wrote entitled "Good Rocking Tonight". He returned to New Orleans in 1947, where he performed at The Dew Drop Inn.^[4]

Brown failed to interest Wynonie Harris in recording "Good Rocking Tonight", but got an introduction to the president of Deluxe Records, who signed him. Brown recorded the song in a jump blues style with a swing beat. It was released in 1947 and reached #13 on the Billboard R&B charts. Harris quickly covered it and hit the top of Billboard's R&B chart in 1948.^[5] Elvis Presley also covered the song for Sun Records in 1954; later re-released on RCA Victor when his recording contract was sold to that record label in 1956.^{[citation needed]}

Brown continued to amke his mark on the R&B charts, scoring 15 hits from mid-1948 to late 1951 with DeLuxe, ranging from the emotionally wracked crying blues of "Hard Luck Blues" (his biggest seller of all in 1950) to the party-time rockers "Love Don't Love Nobody", "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.^[5]

Brown and his band "The Mighty Men" were spectacular performers, with the kind of crowd-pleasing stage histrionics for which Little Richard would soon be famous.^{[citation needed]} However, as far as commercial success was concerned, things changed in the early 1950s.

The decline of his fortunes coincided with his successfully winning a lawsuit against King Records for unpaid royalties in 1952, one of the few African American musicians to do so in the 1950s. This has led some, such as author Nick Tosches (in his book Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll, which contains a chapter on Brown) to believe that Brown may have been blacklisted. When his popularity ebbed in the rock and roll era, he tried teen-slanted songs like "School Bell Rock", but had little success and more or less retired.^[6]

Brown did not experience commercial success during the mid-1950s rise of rock n roll, although he had a bried comeback through Imperial Records in 1957. Worked with New Orleans producer Dave Bartholomew, who was experiencing success at the time with Fats Domino, Brown returned to the charts with the original version of "Let the Four Winds Blow", which would become a hit later for Domino. He also released a few other notable rockers, such as "Diddy-Y-Diddy-O," "Saturday Night," and "Ain't Gonna Do It".^[5]

He returned to King Records where his popularity ground down to a low by 1959, but he sporadically managed to find work through the 1960s.^[5] To supplement his income, he worked as an encyclopedia salesman.^[7]

In 1970, Brown closed The Johnny Otis Show at the Monterey Jazz Festival. As a result of the crowd reaction he recorded "Love for Sale", which became a hit for Mercury Records.^[3]

In the late 1970s a compilation album of his old work brought about a minor revival of interest. In 1978 he had a successful tour in Scandinavia following the release of Laughing But Crying and before the release of Good Rocking Tonight. Shortly before his death he performed at the Whisky A Go-Go in West Hollywood, California and headlined the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival during the spring of 1981.

He died of a heart attack, in San Fernando, California at the age of 55, in May 1981.^[1][8] He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame the same year.

In 2008, two of his songs, "Butcher Pete Pt. 1" and "Mighty, Mighty Man" were included in the video game Fallout 3. Following the game's release, iTunes reported a 700%, month on month, increase in sales of Brown's music.^{[citation needed]}

Discography

This article is incomplete and may require expansion or cleanup. Please help to improve the article, or discuss the issue on the talk page.

Albums

• Laughing But Crying — late 1970s
• Good Rocking Tonight — 1978
• We Came to Party — 1978

Singles

See also

• List of blues musicians
• List of Dirty blues musicians
• List of Jump blues musicians
• List of 1950s one-hit wonders in the United States
• List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart
• West Coast blues

References

External links

• Rocknrollshow.co.uk - biography
• Rockabilly.nl - biography