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COLOUR PHOTOS: JUDY TOTTON
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FULL STEAM AHEAD Musical pioneer, early rock-and-roll recording star, singer, guitarist, TV performer and live entertainer – there are many strings to Joe Brown’s bow. Adam Woods looks back on the colourful career of the influential Cockney musician on his 50th year in the business and finds him with a rejuvenated recording career and a hugely successful life on the road Joe Brown profile THERE IS A CLIP OF JOE BROWN’S PERFORMANCE at the NME Poll Winners’ Concert in 1964, the year Roy Orbison presented him with the top British vocal personality of the year award. All the familiar elements of the Brown persona are in evidence: he does a comedy Elvis wiggle and sneer as he comes up
to the microphone, jokes with the crowd in between songs, does a few funny voices, plays the Cockney card. These are the things everyone remembers about Joe Brown. But three albums into a renewed recording career and 50 years into his performing life, he is working hard to remind us of the serious musician underneath – the working-class musical pioneer who
was there at the birth of British rock and roll, a hero to the heroes of the Sixties. At the Royal Albert Hall last Wednesday, Brown was joined on stage by a band of admirers, including Mark Knopfler, Jools Holland, Dave Edmunds, Dennis Locorriere and Chas ‘n’ Dave. And these are not the only ones who have been happy, over the years, to stand up and pay tribute
PICTURE ABOVE Joseph Roger Brown, born on May 13, 1941, in Lincolnshire, celebrated his 50th year in the music business with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall last week
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Joe, Congratulations on your 50th Anniversary and an incredible career. With love from all your friends at UMTV
THE VERY BEST OF
JOE BROWN A sensational Greatest Hits album 25 tracks chronicling an incredible career Including A Picture Of You • That’s What Love Will Do Sally Ann • It Only Took A Minute and many more
www.joebrown.co.uk
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to one of Britain’s first and most influential rock and rollers. “He was always a really good player,” says guitarist Gary Moore, a friend and former neighbour, who says Brown’s A Picture Of You was one of the first two songs he ever learned to play on the guitar. “A lot of people have a lot of respect for him as a musician.” Knopfler saw Brown opening for Del Shannon in the early Sixties and offered his own high praise. “He is the genuine article – a bona fide British rocker and a born entertainer whose roots go back beyond the UK skiffle boom to music hall, early folk music and the Mississippi Delta,” he said. Providing the foreword to George Brown’s autobiography in 1986, the late George Harrison identified his friend as “a clever little bastard”. He wryly praised Brown’s “Academy-award-winning Christmas TV commercials for Woolworths”, before adding that “he appears to me at his happiest as a musician, playing the guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica and fiddle”. It is playing music that has always made Joe Brown tick. Even at that NME show 44 years ago, he was clearly
keen to stretch his musical legs, while playing up to his destined role as an all-round entertainer. In the YouTube clip of that night, the Cockney nursery rhyme of I’m Henry The Eighth, I Am rides along on a ragged rock and roll spirit, while Brown’s overdriven country fills on What A Crazy World (We’re Livin’ In) prefigure Neil Young. But it is the song in between, an instrumental piece from Bizet’s Carmen – performed before an audience of early Sixties pop fans, don’t forget – that lets you know there was always more to Joe Brown than a music-hall turn. The serious side of Joe Brown has often been overlooked in a career that has taken in West End shows, daytime TV and much Harrison Cockney capering. But, in recent years, a remarkable career revival has taken place, fuelled by tireless live shows and some impressive new music. A Universal Music TV collection released this year, gathering old, new and re-recorded material, went gold. His last album of originals, 2006’s Down To Earth, is a straight-faced doc-
“Joe appears to me at his happiest as a musician, playing the guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica and fiddle...”
1941 Joe Brown born in Swarby, Lincolnshire 1956 Formed skiffle group The Spacemen 1959 Recruited as resident guitarist for Jack Good’s Boy Meets Girls TV show, simultaneously tours with artists including Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Del Shannon 1960 Charts with single The Darktown Strutters Ball, on Decca 1962 Hits the Top 10 with A Picture of You and It Only Took A Minute. The hits will continue through the 1960s 1965 Takes the lead role in West End musical Charley Girl 1972 Releases the Brown’s Home Brew album with the band of the same name 1974 A second Brown’s Home Brew album, Together, is released. It will be Brown’s last album of original material for 23 years as he dedicates himself to television and touring 1997 56 and Taller Than You Think appears, his first album since 1974. Its closing track is Jones and Kahn’s I’ll See You In My Dreams 2002 Brown closes the George Harrison tribute concert at the Royal Albert Hall, performing I’ll See You In My Dreams 2004 Hittin The Hi Spots is Brown’s first album under a new deal with revived Sixties independent Track Records 2006 Down To Earth, the second Track album, is released 2008 A UMTV compilation, The Very Best Of Joe Brown, sells more than 100,000 copies. A third Track album, More Of The Truth, is cued for release just weeks after Brown headlines at the Royal Albert Hall with guests including Mark Knopfler, Jools Holland, Chas & Dave and children Sam and Pete Brown.
Congratulations Joe - what an incredible journey. These past ten years have been a real pleasure and a privilege. Here’s to the next decade! Lots of love Jude and all at JTP
J U DY T O T T O N P U B L I C I T Y
·
020 7371 8158 / 8159
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w w w. j u d y t o t t o n . c o m
PICTURE BELOW Brown formed The Spacemen skiffle group in 1956, aged 15. Skiffle was big in the late Fifties until rock and roll emerged
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Well done Joe for 50 YEARS in the business and still going strong.
AN AUDIENCE WITH
IN CONCERT
RECORDS Limited AN AUDIENCE WITH JOE BROWN DVD available from www.secretrecordslimited.com DVD includes 34 tracks and exclusive Joe Brown Interview. Includes: ACOUSTIC SET: Rock My Soul Memories Are Made of This Sally Ann Henry The Eighth Home Summertime Blues Amazing Grace Man of Constant Sorrow Killing The Blues The March Hare You Were Everywhere Well... All Right The Midnight Special The Rock Island Line ELECTRIC SET: Somethin’ Else That’s What Love Will Do Bird Dog Lonely Weekends Nobody Wants You When You’re Down And Out The Next Time I’m In Town Honky Tonk Night Time Man She Moves Through The Fair Souvenir D’Alvito Sea Of Heartbreak Tenpenny Piece A Picture of You I Wonder In Whose Arms You Are Tonight Rocking Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu Forty Days I’ll See You In My Dreams
www.secretrecordslimited.com
www.secretrecordslimited.com
ROTHERS M B L
OP
S
P
R
TD IC L US
HORN AL
Congratulations Joe From all of us at Hornall Brothers
G N ER SO
We are proud to represent you.
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ument of his love of traditional roots styles which deserved to – and to some extent did – reach beyond his traditional fanbase. A new album, More Of The Truth, aims to build on that success, and caps a remarkable creative renaissance for an artist who first made his name in the Fifties and has made it all over again in the past few years. “We go and do these shows now and it’s great,” says Brown. “I can’t tell you what it’s like now. I’m really knocked out with this new album, too. I wouldn’t have dreamed of saying this a few years ago, but I’m really proud of what we do.” It is not a coincidence that what Joe Brown does today has much in common with what he started out doing 50 years ago. With The Spacemen, he was a leading light of the skiffle craze, and then he was a prominent rock and roll session guitarist. “The skiffle thing was crazy for about two years,” he says. “And then rock and roll came and just smashed it off the pedestal, quite literally overnight. And then The Beatles came out, whose grounding was in the early Sixties stuff and all that rock and roll – and all they did was repackage the bloody stuff.” To British audiences, Brown was a significant supporting player in the late Fifties rock-and-roll scene. From 1959 he supplemented his job as guitarist on Jack Good’s Boy Meets Girls show with a gig as the lead guitarist on Larry Parnes’s touring revue of visiting US stars. “My first TV show was with Johnny Cash, and then Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Brenda Lee, all these guys,” says Brown. “A lot of them went on tour in this country and because of the Musicians’ Union rules, they weren’t allowed to bring their own musicians from America, except maybe one or two.” In his autobiography, Brown Sauce, Brown reflects that it was Cochran who really taught him to play the guitar, the pair sitting up picking late into the night on the road. The mercurial Vincent, he recalls, gave him his education in the true meaning of rock and roll. Brown, it is said, was the only person who was able to take Vincent’s gun off him. There were other memorable lessons too, in those days; recording one TV appearance, Cash stopped the band in mid-flow when Brown played an uncalledfor guitar fill, getting him sacked from the show and then, Brown suspects, getting him reinstated afterwards. Soon, Brown had a band of his own – christened the Bruvvers by Jack Good. Hits followed – Crazy Mixed Up Kid, I’m Henry The Eighth, A Picture Of You, That’s What Love Will Do – and Brown flourished in the charts throughout the early Sixties. Anecdotes cling to him from these years. He gave an echo unit to The Shadows’ Hank Marvin that Marvin subsequently used to record Apache. Ian Grant, whose revived Track Records label has powered Brown’s record-
ing comeback, believes Jimi Hendrix stole Brown’s trick of playing the guitar behind his head, Hendrix having seen Brown do it on a chance trip to a gig in Folkestone, where Noel Redding’s mum lived. Much is also made of Brown’s connection with The Beatles and good friend George Harrison in particular. When the two first met, Brown was the pop star and The Beatles were the local sensation looking for a nationwide break. The first time the two acts shared a bill, legend has it that young Harrison snuck into Brown’s dressing room to have his picture taken with Joe’s guitar.
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“They had been playing around the Liverpool club scene for ages,” says Brown. “Brian Epstein wanted to put them on in the bigger venues but they couldn’t pull them in, so they got a name for them to support and it happened to be me. And they were bloody brilliant,” he allows. “They were great – all that grounding they had in Germany.” Shortly after that, The Beatles soared skyward while, in late 1965, Brown took up the lead role in the West End musical Charlie Girl and his career as an entertainer began in earnest.
“The skiffle thing was crazy for about two years. Then rock and roll came and smashed it off the pedestal, quite literally overnight...” Joe Brown
Congratulations on
50 Years Track Records are privileged to be associated with you Joe. A National Treasure & an all time British Music legend.
PICTURE ABOVE Tour of duty: Brown’s 2004 tour with Marty Wilde broke Box Office records PICTURE ABOVE LEFT Teenage kicks: Joe Brown with Gene Vincent, Billy Fury and Eddie Cochran
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JOE BROWN LOYAL SUPPORTER TRUE FRIEND FIFTY YEARS SHOULD BE JUST THE BEGINNING....! CONGRATULATIONS FROM PPL ON BEHALF OF ALL OUR PERFORMER AND RECORD COMPANY MEMBERS.
STANDING UP FOR MUSIC RIGHTS.
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JOE BROWN ALBUMS DISCOGRAPHY YEAR 2008 2008 2006 2004 2004 2001 1999 1997 1995 1994 1993 1993 1991 1990 1988 1987 1977 1974 1974 1972 1968 1966 1965 1964 1963 1963 1963 1962 1962
TITLE More Of The Truth Very Best Of Down To Earth Hittin The High Spots Jiggery Pokery A Showbusiness Lifetime On A Day Like This 56 & Taller Than You Think A Picture Of You Live & In The Studio Come On Joe The Joe Brown Story Onstage A Golden Hour Of Hits ‘N’ Pieces Here Comes Joe Joe Brown Live Together (BH Brew) The John Brown Collection Brown’s Home Brew Joe Brown Bits Of Joe Brown What A Crazy World Charlie Girl (OST) Joe Brown – Live Joe Brown / Mark Wynter Here Comes Joe A Picture Of You A Picture Of Joe Brown
LABEL Track Records UMTV Track Records Track Records Joe Brown Prods. Joe Brown Prods. Round Tower Music Joe Brown Prods. Entertainment Today See For Miles Joe Brown Prods. Sequel Jet Knight PRT Diamond Power Exchange Vertigo Golden Hour Bell MCA Marble Arch Golden Guinea CBS Piccadilly Golden Guinea Golden Guinea Golden Guinea Decca/Ace Of Clubs
But that is exactly what Brown does, and it is on the road that he has set rebuilding his musical reputation over the past 20 years. He had attempted to restore his musical focus in the early Seventies with Brown’s Home Brew, a serious country-rock act which frustrated audiences who were there to hear the hits. “As it was a new band, the promoters weren’t paying us as much money,” says Brown. “They could get Joe Brown and the Bruvvers for £500 or they could get Brown’s “People have offered me films and pantomimes and Home Brew for £200, and obviously they said, ‘We’ll have plays over the years and I have said, ‘Yeah, I’ll have a go at the cheap one.’ And then we’d get to these working men’s that’,” says Brown now. “It was great for me because I got clubs and the poster would say Joe Brown and the to work with some great people – Sid James, Kenneth Bruvvers.” Williams, Bud Flanagan, the real show-business people.” That band fizzled out, but Brown’s desire to be known The unfortunate consefor his music never died and quence of Charlie Girl, one in the mid-Eighties he of Brown’s first such resolved to find a middle escapades, was that it took ground – a fan-pleasing him out of circulation durtouring show that did jusing the key musical years of tice to his musical talents. the Sixties. He is vaguely “It was about 20 years rueful, though as a touring ago we decided: no more artist 40 years on, he can see nightclubs, no more worka silver lining. ing men’s clubs – let’s just Joe Brown “I thank God I never do theatres from now on,” had that many hit records,” he says. “I said to my managhe says. “If I had had 10 number ones, I wouldn’t be doing er, ‘This is going to come as a bit of a shock to you, but I what I am now. We still play Henry The Eighth and A don’t want to do it anymore, I’d sooner sell my house.’ Picture Of You and some of the old rockers, but I’m not And he said, well, there are a few small theatres around the someone who has to play the same songs every time. country, so we started doing them.” “I went to see Paul McCartney in Liverpool and there Over the years, word has spread and after years of conare songs he just has to play. Then again, it’s alright for solidation, 2008 finds Brown and his band at an all-time him, because he doesn’t go out and do it every night.” high point, aided in recent years by a new signature tune,
“I thank God I never had that many hit records. If I had 10 number ones, I wouldn’t be doing what I am now...”
PICTURE ABOVE Bruvvers in arms: Brown’s touring band the Bruvvers – from left: Neil Gauntlett (guitar), Rico Nilo (bass), Joe Brown and Phil Capaldi (drums) PICTURE LEFT Brown and the late George Harrison worked together before The Beatles became an international phenomenon PICTURE LEFT Knees up father Brown: Joe with his musicallytalented offspring Sam and Pete
Hey Joe! Great music, great band, great bloke Congrats on your 50th Anniversary Cheers from David Stark
SongLink What A Crazy World indeed...
Celebrating 15 years of great leads for songwriters & publishers Tel: 020 7794 2540 • david@songlink.com • www.songlink.com
With Jack Good at the RAH
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CONGRATULATIONS TO A GREAT ARTIST
It has been a pleasure working with you all these years from New Years day 1960 (sorry we missed the first few) through to the current UK tour Looking forward to many more From Derek Nicol and Paul Walden and all at The Flying Music Company
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HIGH FIVE Landmark Joe Brown songs Darktown Strutters Ball Still in his rocker mode, Darktown Strutters Ball was one of Brown’s first stabs at solo glory, having served his apprenticeship as a guitarist with Vincent, Cochran and others. I’m Henry The Eighth, I Am Brown’s Cockney persona by now firmly to the fore, I’m Henry The Eighth I Am, a single in 1961, remains a staple of the live set. Surprisingly, the song didn’t find a new lease of life after the ghostly Patrick Swayze tortured Whoopi Goldberg with it in Ghost. A musical song written in 1910 by Fred Murray and R P Weston, it was also a hit for Herman’s Hermits in 1965. A Picture Of You Reputedly a favourite of the young Paul McCartney – and you can easily see how it might have been. A Picture Of You is a genuine golden great and Brown’s first major hit, from 1962. With its crooning, Buddy Holly-ish vocal, it demonstrates that there
Purple haze: Brown in traditional pose doing what he loves best
Gus Kahn and Isham Jones’ Twenties-standard I’ll See You In My Dreams. Brown and Harrison had lost touch for years after their early encounters on the road. Their paths did not cross again, in fact, until 20 years later, when Brown moved to Henley-on-Thames, close to Harrison’s Friar Park home.
was always more to Brown than Cockney novelty songs and it peaked at number two in the singles chart. That’s What Love Will Do Banished from the live set these days for being “too teenage”, That’s What Love Will Do nevertheless remains a fan favourite in the vein of A Picture Of You. Commendably, UMTV’s Very Best Of Joe Brown compilation drew heavily on recent material and reworked versions of older songs, but That’s What Love Will Do was among the core of untouched originals. Back in 1963 the single spent 14 weeks on the chart, peaking at number three. I’ll See You In My Dreams This 1920s standard has acquired a particular significance since its performance at the Concert For George in 2002, but it also reflects Brown’s attempt, particularly live, to run the gamut of popular song, including material from way back into pre-rock and roll times.
“The phone rang one day,” says Brown, with amusement, “and this voice said [adopts sonorous Liverpudlian drawl], ‘Is that Joe Brown?’ He said, ‘I don’t know if you remember me, but this is George – we’re neighbours’.” In 2000, Harrison would be best man at Brown’s second wedding, and it was Brown who closed the tribute concert to George at the Royal Albert Hall two years later, with a moving ukulele version of I’ll See You In My Dreams, taught to him by his friend. That Albert Hall show would prove to be the jumpingoff point for Joe’s creative rebirth. “He stole the show at that concert, which I think George would have been very happy about,” says Ian Grant. “That was really what got [manager] John Taylor to come to me, because there was this concert that millions of people had seen, and they wanted to be able to expose Joe to a wider audience.” A packed Albert Hall last week testified to the fact that a “wider” audience has indeed embraced Brown’s music, and there will be more to come. One of Brown’s favourite anecdotes – and the one that demonstrated to him that he had completed his reversion from personality to musician – involves a night in Hamburg last year. “They really don’t know me there,” he says. “The last time I was in Germany was the Star Club in Hamburg in 1960-whatever. But we played this downtown blues club and I couldn’t believe it, man, we just tore them up. I was so surprised. It was a real eye-opener, after 50 years in this game – they hadn’t come to see the cheeky chappie singing up-yer-bum songs.”
PICTURES ABOVE AND LEFT Brown has worked with many other “bruvvers” in his 50 years including (from top) Lonnie Donegan, Jools Holland, Dave Edmunds, Henry Gross, Roger Glover, John Lord, Alvin Lee, Jim Marshall, George Harrison and Mark Knopfler
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GOLDEN BROWN Joe Brown’s recent Very Best Of album – released to coincide with his 50th anniversary – has been his most successful record yet. Adam Woods discovers how relentless reinvention and touring have sold the Joe Brown experience to old and new fans alike JOE BROWN’S MANAGER John Taylor was a soundman for Brown in the early Seventies and he is programming the sound desk for his artist’s show at the Royal Albert Hall as he reflects on the long road back. “I have been Joe’s manager for 19 years now, close on, and it has been a story of repositioning and rebranding,” he says. “The thing with Joe is, he is a household name, everybody knows him when they walk past him in the street, but it is very hard to dispel old ideas about someone. We have worked hard at it for a long time to bring it round to where it is.” This year’s Very Best Of, issued by Universal Music TV and inspired by a similar disc which did well for Joe’s friend and contemporary Marty Wilde on his 50th anniversary in the business, demonstrated the demand for Brown’s golden greats, selling more than 100,000 copies. “It is the biggest album he has ever had,” says Universal Music TV managing director Brian Berg. “He fits perfectly into that huge 50-plus market who don’t want to download – they are happy to buy a physical product of the stuff they have grown up with.” Those who have seen Brown on tour in recent years will already know about the demand for his music, and not just the old stuff. “We started out touring theatres Taylor, manager 20 years ago and we’d be drawing 200 people,” says Brown. “Now, we are playing the same theatres and doing three nights, and you can’t get a seat. That, to me, is a wonderful tribute to the fact that people really like the show. It’s not because I’ve been on the telly; it is just that they like the show and they bring their friends back to see it. I tell you, man, I’m very humbled.”
PICTURE RIGHT Joe Brown is presented with a gold disc for his successful Very Best Of album by Universal Music TV’s Brian Berg
“I have been Joe’s manager for 19 years and it has been a story of repositioning and rebranding” John
The demand now is enough to sustain an annual circuit of more than 100 gigs – a remarkable work rate for a musician half Brown’s age. “We do two tours every year – autumn and spring, usually 40 to 60 gigs on each tour, with charity things and festivals in the summer,” he says. “We’ve done Glastonbury; we did Cropredy this year – that was great.” These days, the Joe Brown experience is a mixture of hits, standards and personal favourites from the annals of rock and roll and neighbouring genres, giving the fans what they want in a way Joe wants to give it to them. “I can do what the bloody hell I like, but I learnt the lesson years ago that you don’t go out there and try to educate them. We do a bit of bluegrass, a lot of rock and roll, some very old songs,” he says. “And they are all good songs – songs that a 67-year-old man can sing with impunity and that people know.” That covers many of the hits, though some, such as 1963’s number-three hit That’s What Love Will Do, Brown rejects as “too teenage”. Every tour, the band add at least 10 new songs to the setlist, including new material which, before the deal with Track Records in 2004, Brown was busily selling at gigs.
“We had a very, very solid set-up which had grown over the years and we were selling CDs and DVDs quite heavily ourselves,” says Taylor. “A lot of people from Joe’s era bung together a load of whatever they have got left to sell at shows, but we always made real records and we were selling a lot of them, through mail order and on the road. Retail was the last piece we needed.” Taylor approached relaunched Sixties independent Track Records which, with the blessing of original founder Chris Stamp, had built a business out of reviving the recording careers of fanbase artists of the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties including Arthur Brown, Big Country, Hugh Cornwell and Dennis Locorriere. “I was introduced to Joe by John Taylor some four years ago and my first reaction was: ‘Joe Brown?’,” says Track Records manager Ian Grant. “I didn’t get it, really. I missed the Fifties bit when he was Cochran and Vincent’s guitar player – I didn’t know all this. But I went to a gig and it changed everything. He is a master musician and he understands the music, which is why Cochran and Cash and Gene Vincent accepted him in the first place.” The deal has so far yielded three albums – 2004’s Hittin’ The Hi Spots, 2006’s Down To Earth and the forthcoming More Of The Truth, for which Grant has high hopes, while never underestimating the challenge of getting an album of new material by a 67-year-old into the shops. “He is making a better album each time,” says Grant. “If we get lucky, if we get a good telly coming in, that will trigger retail and we could get in a good position. And if it doesn’t work out in the first month, we’ll stick with it and get it to where it ought to go.” Taylor surmises, “Joe is unique, plain and simple – and not only among his peers. There’s nobody else who can do all the things that Joe can, and what’s more, there’s no-one waiting in the wings who could fill his shoes, either.”