Charles Brown born in Texas City, Texas

Texas City, Texas

Texas City is a city in Chambers and Galveston counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 41,521 at the 2000 census. It is a part of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

 was an American blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 singer and pianist whose soft-toned, slow-paced blues-club style influenced the development of blues performance during the 1940s and 1950s. He had several hit recordings, including "Driftin' Blues

Driftin' Blues

"Driftin' Blues" or "Drifting Blues" is a blues standard done in the West Coast blues style. Written and first recorded by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers,the song became one of the biggest blues hits of the 1940s. Over the years, it has been interpreted and recorded by numerous artists...

" and "Merry Christmas Baby".

In the late 1940s a rising demand for blues was driven by an increasing white teenage audience in the South which quickly spread north and west. Blues shouters got the attention, but also greatly influential was what writer Charles Keil dubs "the postwar Texas clean-up movement in blues" led by stylists such as T-Bone Walker

T-Bone Walker

Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the...

, Amos Milburn

Amos Milburn

Amos Milburn was an African American rhythm and blues singer and pianist, popular during the 1940s and 1950s...

 and Charles Brown. Their singing was lighter, more relaxed and they worked with bands and combos that had saxophone sections and used arrangements.

Career

As a child Brown demonstrated his love of music and took classical piano lessons. Early on, Brown moved out to Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, where the great influx of blacks created an integrated nightclub scene in which black performers tended to minimize the rougher blues elements of their style. The blues club style of a light rhythm bass and right-hand tinkling of the piano and smooth vocals became popular, epitomized by the jazz piano of Nat King Cole

Nat King Cole

Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...

. When Cole left Los Angeles, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 to perform nationally, his place was taken by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers

Johnny Moore's Three Blazers

Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers were a successful and influential African-American vocal and instrumental group in the 1940s and 1950s.The original members were :-Johnny Moore and his younger brother Oscar grew up in Texas and then Phoenix, Arizona, where they both started playing guitar and formed...

, featuring Charles Brown's gentle piano and vocals.

Brown signed with Aladdin Records

Aladdin Records (US)

Aladdin Records was a post-World War II United States record label, with headquarters in Hollywood, California. The label was founded in 1945 by brothers Eddie, Leo, and Ira Mesner and was originally called Philo Records, before changing to its better-known name in April 1946.Aladdin Records...

 and his 1945 recording on that record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 of the bestseller

Bestseller (music)

A bestseller in music is a song or album listed at or near the top of a hits list or chart such as the Billboard charts produced by Billboard magazine which published its first hit parade in 1940. As with most book bestseller lists, these lists are usually based on sales to the retail sites and...

, "Driftin' Blues", with a small combo was a typical club blues song. The single was on the U.S. Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

R&B chart for six months, putting Brown at the forefront of a musical evolution that changed American musical performance. His style dominated the influential Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 club scene on Central Avenue

Central Avenue (Los Angeles)

Central Avenue is a major north-south thoroughfare in the central portion of the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. Located just to the west of the Alameda Corridor, it runs from the eastern end of the Los Angeles Civic Center south, ending at Del Amo Boulevard in Carson...

 during that period and he influenced such performers as Floyd Dixon

Floyd Dixon

For the American football player see Floyd Dixon Floyd Dixon was an American rhythm and blues pianist and singer.-Biography:...

, Cecil Gant

Cecil Gant

Cecil Gant was an American blues singer and pianist.-Biography:Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Gant worked local clubs through the mid 1930s up until the Second World War, when he enlisted in the United States Army. Though his piano was blues-based, vocally he was a crooner of considerable...

, Ivory Joe Hunter

Ivory Joe Hunter

Ivory Joe Hunter was an American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, and pianist. After a series of hits on the US R&B chart starting in the mid 1940s, he became more widely known for his hit recording, "Since I Met You Baby" . He was billed as The Baron of the Boogie, and also known as The...

, Percy Mayfield

Percy Mayfield

Percy Mayfield was an American songwriter famous for the songs "Hit the Road Jack" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love", as well as a successful rhythm and blues artist known for his smooth vocal style.-Career:...

, Johnny Ace

Johnny Ace

Johnny Ace , born John Marshall Alexander, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, was an American rhythm and blues singer. He scored a string of hit singles in the mid-1950s before dying of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound....

 and Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

.

"Driftin' Blues" was the first of several hits. Brown subsequently released "Get Yourself Another Fool", "Black Night

Black Night (Charles Brown song)

"Black Night" is a 1951 song by Charles Brown. The single was the second of two chart entries to make it to number one on the U.S. R&B chart.-References:...

", "Hard Times" and "Trouble Blues", all major hits in the early 1950s on such labels as Modern Records

Modern Records

Modern Records was an American record label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. In the 1960s, Modern Records went bankrupt and ceased operations, but the catalogue went with the management into what became Kent Records. This back catalogue was eventually licensed to the UK label...

 as well as Aladdin. He was unable to compete with the burgeoning rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 sound, though he maintained a small and devoted audience.

Brown's approach was too mellow to survive the transition to rock's harsher rhythms, and he faded from the national limelight. His "Please Come Home for Christmas

Please Come Home for Christmas

"Please Come Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song, released in 1960, by the American blues singer and pianist Charles Brown. Hitting Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in December 1961, the tune Brown co-wrote with Gene Redd peaked at position #76. It appeared on the Christmas Singles chart for nine...

", a hit in 1960 on the King Records

King Records (USA)

King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...

 remained seasonally popular. "Please Come Home for Christmas" sold over one million copies by 1968, and was awarded a gold disc

Music recording sales certification

Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

 in that year. During the 1960s Brown recorded a couple of albums for Mainstream Records.

In the 1980s he made a series of appearances at New York's

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 club

Nightclub

A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

, Tramps. As a result of these appearances he signed a new recording contract with Blue Side Records and recorded One More for the Road in three days. Blue Side Records closed soon after but distribution was picked up by Alligator Records. Soon after the success of One More for the Road, Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...

 helped usher in a Charles Brown comeback tour.

He began a recording and performing career again, under the musical direction of guitarist Danny Caron, to greater success than he had achieved since the 1950s. Several records received Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 nominations.

He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

, and received both the National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

' National Heritage Fellowship

National Heritage Fellowship

The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts...

 and the W. C. Handy Award.

Brown died of congestive heart failure in 1999 in Oakland, California

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, and was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery

Inglewood Park Cemetery

Inglewood Park Cemetery was founded in 1905 in Inglewood, California. A number of notable people, including entertainment and sports personalities, have been interred or entombed here.-List of notable and celebrity interments at Inglewood Park:...

, Inglewood, California

Inglewood, California

Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...

.

Original albums

• 1961 Charles Brown Sings Christmas Songs (King)
• 1964 Boss of the Blues (Mainstream)
• 1965 Ballads My Way (Mainstream)
• 1970 Legend! (Bluesway)
• 1972 Blues N' Brown (Jewel)
• 1978 Music Maestro, Please (Big Town Records)
• 1986 One More for the Road (Blue Side; later reissued by Alligator Records
  Alligator Records
  Alligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record...
  
  )
• 1990 All My Life (Bullseye Blues)
• 1992 Someone To Love (Bullseye Blues)
• 1994 Just A Luck So and So (Bullseye Blues)
• 1994 Charles Brown's Cool Christmas Blues (Bullseye Blues)
• 1994 These Blues (Verve/Gitanes)
• 1996 Honey Dripper (Verve/Gitanes)
• 1998 So Goes Love (Verve)
• 1999 In A Grand Style (Bullseye Blues)

Compilations and others

• 1995 Snuff Dippin' Mama (w/Johnny Moore's 3 Blazers) (Nigh Train International)
• 1995 Walkin' in Circles (w/Johnny Moore's 3 Blazers) (Nigh Train International)
• 1996 Johns - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande VDS-5778)
• 1998 1944-1945 (Classics)
• 1999 Blue Over You - The Ace Recordings (Westside)
• 2004 Alone at the Piano (Savoy Jazz)

External links

• [ Biography on Allmusic]