The 5 Browns
Encyclopedia
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
musical group
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
consisting of five siblings. Their repertoire includes mostly popular classical tunes, such as George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's Rhapsody In Blue
Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects....
, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
's Flight of the Bumblebee
Flight of the Bumblebee
"Flight of the Bumblebee" is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900. The piece closes Act III, Tableau 1, during which the magic Swan-Bird changes Prince Gvidon Saltanovich into an insect so that he can fly away to...
and Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King
In the Hall of the Mountain King
In the Hall of the Mountain King is a piece of orchestral music composed by Edvard Grieg for the sixth scene of Act II in Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt, which premiered in Christiania on February 24, 1876....
.
Background
In descending order of their age, the Browns are Desirae (born 1979), Deondra (born 1980), Gregory (born 1982), Melody (born 1984), and Ryan (born 1986). All five siblings, the children of Keith and Lisa Brown, were born in Houston, TexasHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, where each began piano study with Yelena Kurinets at age 3. In 1991, the family moved to Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, and the children were homeschooled
Homeschooling
Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...
and continued private study there with Irene Peery-Fox. They were the first group of five siblings to attend the musical conservatory Juilliard studying with Yoheved Kaplinsky
Yoheved Kaplinsky
Yoheved "Veda" Kaplinsky is an award-winning classical pianist, lecturer and professor of music at the Juilliard School...
. From 2004 to 2008 they were signed with the RCA Red Seal
Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Sony BMG Music Entertainment was a recorded music company, which was a 50–50 joint venture between the Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG...
label (later folded into Sony BMG Masterworks), but as of their 2010 release, The 5 Browns In Hollywood, they are signed with E1 Music. The 5 Browns are Steinway Artists. The Brown family are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2009, the group published an autobiography, Life Between the Keys: The (Mis)adventures of the 5 Browns.
Critical reception
Tom Manoff from National Public Radio reviewed their first commercial recording and described the idiom of five people playing piano at the same time as a public relations "novelty", and the Browns' execution as "clunky", but noted that they had talent and that he was interested in following their individual development.Sexual abuse charges
Early in 2011, Keith Brown, father and former manager of the group, was charged with sexually abusing his three daughters on various occasions over a period from 1990 to 1998. Soon after the charges were filed, Brown and his wife, Lisa Brown, 54, the musicians' mother, were involved in a car accident in which Brown totaled their Porsche when he drove off a Utah canyon cliff. The couple was rescued by emergency teams and hospitalized. On February 17, 2011, under a plea agreement, Keith Brown pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree felony sodomy and two counts of second-degree felony child abuse. He was sentenced to 10 years to life on the count of felony sodomy of a child; and 15 years to life for each of two counts of sexual abuse of a child. The sentences will run concurrently and, under the terms of the plea agreement, Brown must serve at least 10 years.Keith Brown's three daughters decided to reveal the abuse they suffered as children when they learned that their father was exploring opportunities to represent or teach children again.
Keith Brown was involved in another car accident on March 3, 2011, when he turned his BMW into the path of an on-coming vehicle in Highland, Utah. Neither Brown nor the seventeen-year-old driver of the other vehicle was seriously hurt as a result of the collision.
Discography
- The 5 Browns (2005, RCA Red Seal)
- No Boundaries (2006, RCA Red Seal)
- Browns In Blue (2007, Sony BMG Masterworks)
- 5 Stars: Favorites From The 5 Browns (2008, Sony Masterworks)
- The 5 Browns in Hollywood (2010, E1 Music)