Joe Brown

Joe Brown, or Joseph Roger Brown to give him his full name, was born on 13 May 1941 on his uncle's farm in Lincolnshire. When Joe was two years old his parents moved to London's East End, and it is his cheeky Cockney image, and spiky blond hair, that made him a well-known personality on radio and television in the 1960s.  

Joe began his career as a session guitarist, appearing in support of performers such as Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. He played lead guitar on Billy Fury's acclaimed 1960 album The Sound Of Fury. That same year he formed his own backing group, The Bruvvers, and they started entertaining in his aunt's public house.  

He was one of the original artists managed by Larry Parnes. It took him some time to make the charts as a solo artist.  'I was beginning to think I would never have a hit disc', he confessed in Top Stars Annual in 1963, 'but I thought if I could go on trying and trying, eventually I was bound to have a hit'.  The hits did come, beginning with The Darktown Strutters' Ball which squeezed into the top forty in early 1960.  He is best remembered for the top ten hits, A Picture of You, It Only Took A Minute and That's What Love Will Do.  He was also voted the "Top UK Vocal Performer" in 1962 by NME magazine. 'I just couldn't believe it', Joe said at the time, 'I'd always thought of the poll as being for people like Cliff, Elvis and Helen [Shapiro], and had never hoped for such success'.

The hits began to dry up by the later half on 1963 as Beatlemania hit Britain.  Brown continued his show business career, however, appearing in in films, pantomime and stage musicals, notably Charlie Girl. 

In 1972, he formed another band, "Brown's Home Brew", which played mainly country music and featured his wife, Vicki Brown, who died of cancer in 1991. Their daughter, Sam Brown, is also a singer.

He was best man at George Harrison's second marriage in 1978. He also performed at the Concert for George,  and as a guest musician on Harrison's last album, Brainwashed.

Joe has retained his popularity and played fifty-one shows in the Spring of 2006.   After forty years he remains a recognized celebrity, and continues to record albums.

See Joe singing 'It Only Took a Minute': http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=ffviHD3Hrhg

Check out Joe's official website at http://www.joebrown.co.uk/default.asp?bhcp=1