Sam Brown (singer)
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| Sam Brown | |
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| File:Sam Brown 2006.jpg
Sam Brown (with Gilson Lavis) performing in 2006 with Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Samantha Brown |
| Born | 7 October 1964 Stratford, London, England |
| Genres | Blue-eyed soul, jazz, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician |
| Instruments | Vocals, piano, bass, ukulele |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Labels | A&M, various |
| Website | www.onecandle.co.uk |
Samantha Brown (born 7 October 1964)[1] is an English female singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of musician Joe Brown and session singer Vicki Brown.[2]
Contents
Early years
Brown's first work in the music industry was in 1978 at age 14, when she sang backing vocals on the album 78 in the Shade by the Small Faces.[2] She soon had worked as vocalist with several other groups, including Spandau Ballet, and with her mother on the 1982 solo album Before I Forget with former Deep Purple keyboarder Jon Lord.[2]
Music career
Brown signed a contract with A&M Records in 1986.[1] Her most successful song with A&M was "Stop!", released as a single in 1988. She issued an album of the same name that year.[1] Other singles taken from the album included "Walking Back to Me", "This Feeling" and her cover version of "Can I Get a Witness". The album Stop! sold over two and a half million copies worldwide,[2] doing particularly well in the UK and Australia. Brown's second album, April Moon (1990), includes two hit singles, "Kissing Gate" and "With a Little Love".[1] Three further singles were released from the album: "Mindworks", "Once in Your Life", and "As One".
Brown's third album, 43 Minutes, was made around the time that her mother was dying from cancer.[2] A&M, Brown's record label at the time was not happy with the album, and wanted some potential hit singles recorded and added to the track list.[2] Brown, not willing to compromise and after a protracted legal battle, bought back the masters of the album and released it on her own label, Pod Music.[2] Few copies were initially released, although it was re-issued in 2004.
Brown provided backing vocals for Pink Floyd on their 1994 album, The Division Bell, and accompanied them on tour to promote the release.[2] Her involvement was documented on the following year's Pink Floyd release, P*U*L*S*E. In 1995 she had a minor chart hit in a duet with Fish, entitled "Just Good Friends". In 1997 Brown returned with Box, released via the independent record label Demon Records. Tracks on this album included "Embrace the Darkness", "Whisper" and "I Forgive You" which was co-written with Maria McKee. McKee's version of the song appeared on her album, You Gotta Sin to Get Saved.
The year 2000 saw the release of ReBoot via another independent label, Mud Hut Records, and the single "In Light of All That's Gone Before." In 2003 Brown formed the band Homespun with Dave Rotheray,[1] releasing three albums. Brown also released several solo recordings in this period, including an EP.[1] In 2004, Jon Lord released Beyond the Notes, for which she wrote almost all the lyrics.[3] In late 2006, she undertook an extensive UK tour as special guest of her father, Joe Brown. The shows also included appearances by her brother, Pete Brown. In 2007 Brown released Of the Moment. She also returned to the Top 10 of the UK Albums Chart in October 2007, when "Valentine Moon" was included on Jools Holland's hit album Best of Friends.
Brown is an accomplished ukulele player and runs the International Ukulele Club of Sonning Common, the North London Ukulele Collective and the People's Ukulele Brigade (PUB).[4] Brown is also a patron of Tech Music Schools in London, made up of Vocaltech, Guitar-X, Keyboardtech and Drumtech.
Backing vocalist
As well as her solo career, Brown has had a successful career as a backing vocalist and collaborator with other artists. She has worked with Barclay James Harvest (1984), David Gilmour (David Gilmour in Concert (2002)) and Pink Floyd, Deep Purple (Live at the Royal Albert Hall), Jon Lord, The Firm, Gary Moore, George Harrison and Nick Cave. She has often appeared as a member of Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, and achieved further prominence with her 2002 performance at the Concert for George, singing "Horse to the Water",[5] but this song is only included in the film of the concert, not on the CD. In 2002, she was a backing vocalist at Buckingham Palace at the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II's concert, Party at the Palace.
In 2015 Brown teaches backing vocals classes at the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford, Surrey, a school for rock and pop musicians.[6]
Personal life
Brown has two children, Vicki (1993) and Mohan (1995), with her ex-husband, producer and musician Robin Evans.[7]
Discography
Solo albums
| Year | Album | UK Albums Chart[8] | Australia[9] | Austria | Switzerland | Norway | Germany | Sweden |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Stop! | 4 ‡ | 13 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 13 | 18 |
| 1990 | April Moon | 38 ¶ | 30 | 29 | 20 | — | 34 | 21 |
| 1992 | 43 Minutes | — | 132 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1997 | Box | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2000 | ReBoot | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2005 | Ukulele and Voice (EP) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2006 | The Very Best of Sam Brown | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2007 | Of the Moment | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
‡ – Gold album ¶ – Silver album
With Homespun
- Homespun (Classic Records) (2003)
- Effortless Cool (Musicvision) (2005)
- Short Stories From East Yorkshire (2008)
With Jools Holland
- Hop the Wag (2000 – song "The Way You Look Tonight")
- Small World Big Band (2001 – song "Valentine Moon") UK No. 8
- More Friends: Small World Big Band Volume 2 (2002 – song "Together We Are Strong" with Sam Moore) UK No. 17, NZ No. 44
- Small World Big Band Friends 3 – Jack O The Green (2003 – song "Kiss of Love" with Nick Cave) UK No. 39
- Swinging the Blues Dancing the Ska (2005 – songs "Juice Head Blues", "Seven Acts of Mercy" and "Something's Going On") UK No. 36
- Moving Out to the Country (2006 – song "Feel Like Going Home") UK No. 45
- Best of Friends (2007 – song "Valentine Moon") UK No. 9
Also:
- Horse to the Water (2002 - Concert for George at the Royal Albert Hall with Jools Holland and Jim Capaldi)
Singles
| Year | Song | UK [8] |
IRE | GER | NED | BEL (FLA) |
AUS [9] |
NZ | CAN | US | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | "Walking Back to Me" | — | — | 65 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Stop! |
| "Stop!" | 52 | — | 7 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | — | ||
| "This Feeling" | 91 | — | — | 32 | 23 | — | — | 82 | — | ||
| 1989 | "Stop! (re-release)" | 4 | 4 | — | — | — | 4 | 16 | — | 65 | |
| "Can I Get a Witness" | 15 | 15 | — | — | — | 17 | 9 | — | — | ||
| 1990 | "With a Little Love" | 44 | — | 52 | — | — | 27 | — | — | — | April Moon |
| "Kissing Gate" | 23 | — | — | — | — | 89 | — | 45 | — | ||
| "Once in Your Life" | — | — | — | — | — | 125 | — | — | — | ||
| "Mindworks" | 77 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "As One" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1991 | "Fly Up to the Moon" (Black feat. Sam Brown) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Black (Black album) |
| 1993 | "Fear of Life" | — | — | — | — | — | 135 | — | — | — | 43 Minutes |
| "Standing in My Light" (duet with Tom Van Landuyt) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Ad Fundum OST | |
| 1995 | "Just Good Friends" (Fish feat. Sam Brown) | 63 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Yin (Fish album) |
| 1997 | "I Forgive You" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Box |
| 2001 | "In Light of All That's Gone Before" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Reboot |
| 2004 | "Make It Tonight" (Chris Field feat. Sam Brown) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Powis Square (Chris Field album) |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. | |||||||||||
Album titles
The titles of Brown's solo studio albums so far have partly spelt out her name:
- Stop!
- April Moon
- (43) Minutes
- Box
- ReBoot
- Of the Moment
Brown claimed she was unaware of the pattern, but once it was brought to her attention she vowed to continue the trend, asking fans to submit suggestions for the next title beginning with 'O'. Of the Moment was released in September 2007; its title was suggested by a fan via Brown's website.
See also
References
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- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Australian chart positions:
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- Top 100 (ARIA chart) peaks between 51-100: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- "This Feeling": Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- "Once In Your Life", "Fear of Life" and "43 Minutes": Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sam Brown (singer). |
- Sam Brown discography at Discogs
- Sam Brown at AllMusic. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- Sam Brown at the Internet Movie Database
- One Candle – Sam Brown fan club
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- EngvarB from August 2014
- Use dmy dates from August 2014
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- 1964 births
- Living people
- English female singers
- English female singer-songwriters
- People from Stratford, London
- Singers from London
- People associated with Pink Floyd
- A&M Records artists
- English jazz singers
- British ukulele players
- English soul singers
