Nappy Brown

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Nappy Brown, 1996

Napoleon Brown Goodson "Nappy" Culp (* 12. October 1929 in Charlotte , North Carolina ; † 20th September 2008 in Charlotte , North Carolina ') was a popular mainly in the 1950s blues - singer . Brown was known for rolling the consonants in a special way. Allegedly , when Herman Lubinsky , the director of Savoy Records , first heard it, believed Brown was singing in Yiddish .

Life

Brown grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he began singing gospel early on . He later became the lead singer of Heavenly Lights, a religious band that eventually moved to Newark, New Jersey , to sign with the local record label Savoy Records. In 1954, Brown split from Heavenly Lights to embark on a blues and R&B oriented solo career.

Immediately after the release of his not very successful debut single Is It True , in the same year, 1955, his breakthrough came with Don't Be Angry (Savoy 1155), which reached number 2 on the R&B best seller charts. In the same year he had another top ten hit with Pitter Patter (Savoy 1162). A number of other singles appeared by the late 1950s, including Open Up That Door , Little by Little and The Right Time . He had his third and last R&B top ten hit in 1958 with the title It Don't Hurt No More (Savoy 1551), which reached number 8 on the R&B charts and number 89 in the pop charts. One last, rather Brown had a modest hit parade that made it to number 22 in 1959 with the title I Cried Like A Baby (Savoy 1575). It was a reissue of a recording from 1956 in which he was accompanied by the Kelly Owens Orchestra. Many of Brown's songs featured distinctive saxophone solos by the likes of Sam "The Man" Taylor , Budd Johnson and Al Sears . But the end of the decade also marked the end of Brown's music career.

In the mid-1980s, Brown made a comeback when he released the blues album Tore Up in 1984 with the Heartfixers as a backing band . He released albums regularly until the 1990s.

Brown died on September 20, 2008 in his hometown of Charlotte.

Discography (albums)

  • Don't Be Angry (1954 on Savoy Jazz)
  • That Man (1954 on Swift)
  • Nappy Brown Sings (1955 on Savoy)
  • The Right Time (1958 on Savoy)
  • I Done Got Over (1983 in Stockholm)
  • Tore Up (1984 on Alligator)
  • Something Gonna Jump out the Bushes (1987 on Black Top Records )
  • Just for Me (1988 on JSP)
  • Deep Sea Diver (1989 on Meltone; live)
  • Apples & Lemons (1990 on Ichiban)
  • Aw! Shucks (1991 on Ichiban)
  • I'm a Wild Man (1995 on New Moon)
  • Who's Been Foolin 'You (1997 on New Moon)

Remarks

  1. ↑ On both recordings he was accompanied by the Howard Biggs Orchestra.
  2. ↑ In the US pop charts the single reached number 57. Compare Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1994, p. 74
  3. ↑ With the Teacho Wiltshire Orchestra.
  4. ↑ Whitburn, Joel: Top 40 R&B And Hip-Hop Hits. 1942-2004. New York: Billboard Books, 2006, p. 70
  5. ↑ Gantdaily News  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.gantdaily.com  

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Brown, Nappy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brown Goodson Culp, Napoleon (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues singer
DATE OF BIRTH October 12, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Charlotte , North Carolina , USA
DATE OF DEATH September 20, 2008
Place of death Charlotte , North Carolina , USA