Good Rockin' Tonight

Roy Brown was born in 1925 in Louisiana. His mother was an organist and choir director. An aspiring singer, his singing was done in church. By thirteen, he'd formed a spiritual quartet. Then I worked in the sugar-cane fields, he recalled, ...I'd pick the cotton, chop the cotton, do those things. There was nothing else to do. In 1940, his mother died. Three years later, he arrived in Los Angeles, where as a professional boxer, he won sixteen of eighteen fights. Behind on his rent, Roy entered a talent contest, winning first prize of $60. He entered contests wherever he could. Flat feet disqualified him from military service and he took to touring the clubs for work. He met a promoter from Shreveport who needed an MC and singer. So he got the gig - for $125 a week - good money then. He noticed that when other singers sang blues, money cascaded onto the stage. Jelly, Jelly quickly became a feature of his act. Roy moved to Galveston to sing with a group which sang Ink Spots and Frank Sinatra material, then formed his own group, the Mellodeers. His band included trumpeter Wilbert Brown who had written a jump blues called Good Rockin' Tonight which Wilbert sang. One day at a radio date, Wilbert couldn't sing. Roy did, and discovered he had a great shouter's voice. After Good Rockin' Tonight started making a noise, Deep Sea Diver backed with Bye Baby Baby was released on Houston's Gold Star label. An altercation over a woman drove Brown to New Orleans in April 1947. And so his life went on.It was a life he enjoyed to the limit. There would be good times through the early fifties - until he launched a successful claim against a record company for unpaid royalties. After that, work was sporadic - he did have an R&B hit in 1957 - until a major comeback in 1970. He died in 1981

Additional Details

Label: JSP Records

Genre: R & B

Release Date: 01/31/06

UPC: 788065775629