Gabriel Brown
Gabriel Brown (* 1910 in Florida ; † 1972 there ) was an American piedmont blue singer and guitarist.
Life
Brown was born in Florida. His biographical background was very different from other blues musicians, as he graduated from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College. He started playing Hawaiian guitar and sang in a group. His musical talents were discovered by Zora Neale Hurston, a folklorist. She persuaded Alan Lomax to take a recording tour to Georgia and record Brown in Florida. At that time he had already switched to the conventional acoustic guitar, which he played in the slide style, although he rarely sounded like other blues musicians. This is how Brown's first recordings for the Library of Congress were made .
Like many other Piedmont musicians, he moved to New York , where his discoverer Zora Hurston gave him a role in her play Polk County. In 1935 he was employed for four years at the Federal Arts Theater, which was initially directed by Orson Welles . In the late 1930s he worked as a singer and actor. He made his first recording session in 1943 under producer Joe Davis. When Davis joined MGM as an A & R man, he took Brown with him. MGM tried to promote him as a pop singer. The collaboration with Davis lasted until his last session in 1952.
Shortly before his death, Brown had to take action against the illegal publication of his recordings. Legal scrapbooks of his songs were released by Flyright and Krazy Kat. In 1972, Gabriel Brown drowned in a boat accident in Florida.
Discography (selection)
- Mean Old Blues 1943-1949 (1996) Flyright
- Gabriel Brown (2001) Catfish Records
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b All Music Guide Gabriel Brown biography of Eugene Chadbourne
- ↑ Bastin, Bruce (1995). Red River Blues. Illinois: University of Illinois Press. 58. ISBN 0-252-01213-5 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Brown, Gabriel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American Piedmont Blues singer and guitarist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1910 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Florida , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1972 |
| Place of death | Florida , USA |