We are very sad to announce that Barbara Brown passed away in Detroit, Michigan – where she had been resident for some time – on the 3rd of February 2010. She was in her late 70s. Barbara, along with her sisters, recorded as Barbara and the Browns for both Stax and then the XL / Sounds of Memphis Group. Whilst she never achieved the level of success that was awarded to many of her Memphis contemporaries, the body of work that she left behind was as great as any from that musically fertile city. Left undisturbed for years, her recordings were finally given the setting that they deserved when Kent released the “Can’t Find Happiness” CD in early 2007 to rapturous reviews. Her reputation was further cemented when her recording of ‘If I Can’t Run To You I’ll Crawl’ was included in our award-winning musical history of Southern soul “Take Me To The River” in 2008, standing out amongst the litany of great music.

Barbara came from a large family of ten girls and two boys, and the group initially made up of three of the sisters and one brother sang gospel. They were persuaded by produdcer Chips Moman, one of the studio geniuses who would put Memphis on the map, to record one of his secular songs ‘Big Party’ and released on Stax, it provided Barbara and the Browns with their only hit. Two more Stax singles followed before they were signed by Gene Lucchesi to his fledgling XL label, which had just hit the big time with Sam The Sham’s international hit ‘Wooly Bully’. At Lucchesi’s label she recorded a series of sides produced by Charles Chalmers which were the very epitome of Memphis soul. Some of these saw release on Cadet, Tower and Atco and on XL itself whilst others remained in the can until 2007. After this she recorded two more sessions with Dan Greer for Gene’s Sound’s Of Memphis label in 1971 and 1972. These recordings reflected the changing sounds of the day but were equally brilliant.

After 1972 it appears that Barbara never recorded again. We are pleased to say that the 2007 release of her recordings saw her recognised within her own lifetime as the southern soul great that she so surely was.