| Remembering Ruth Brown: "The Lady Who Built Atlantic Records" |
|
|
|
| Written by West Brown | |
 R&B and rock 'n' roll legend Ruth Brown was known as many things - most notably in her early career as “the girl with a tear in her voice.” But throughout the six decades that comprised her career, the gutsy, audacious singer became known as the lady who built Atlantic Records and also the woman for whose initials R&B could have very well stood for.Born Ruth Weston on Jan. 12, 1928, in Portsmouth, Va., she was the oldest of seven children and honed her singing skills at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church where her father was the choir director. She spent summer with her brothers and sisters picking cotton at her grandmother’s farm in North Carolina until she ran away from home at 17 with a trumpeter named Jimmy Brown, whose last name she used. Voice of America radio dj Willis Conover heard her sing at a gig and referred her to Atlantic. Ms. Brown made a name for herself as the best-selling black female performer of the early '50s where she acquired another nickname, Miss Rhythm. She recorded a string of hits, such as “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean” and “5-10-15 Hours,” for the then-fledgling Atlantic Records that became the basis of rock ‘n’ roll and helped the label rake in tons of money. Unfortunately although the label was sometimes called "the House that Ruth Built," when her hits stopped in the 60s, she would be later be forced to work as a teacher's aide and a maid in order to raise her two sons while living in Long Island. In the late '70s with the help of her friend, legendary comedian Redd Foxx, Brown made a comeback that saw her career expand to television, radio and movies. Foxx hired her to portray Mahalia Jackson in “Selma,” a civil rights musical he was producing. That led to gigs in Las Vegas and a role in the Norman Lear sitcom “Hello, Larry.” In 1982, she appeared in Off Broadway productions, which led to 1985's Paris gig in the revue “Black and Blue,” in which later she would re-join for its Broadway run. The show earned her a Tony and resurrected her recording career and in 1989 dropped the album “Blues on Broadway” which earned her a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. She made her mark in film with a memorable performance as the disc jockey Motormouth Maybelle in John Waters’s classic “Hairspray.” In addition to working as a radio host on the public-radio shows “Harlem Hit Parade” and “BluesStage,” in 1995, she released her autobiography, “Miss Rhythm” which won the Gleason Award for music journalism. Ruth Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Brown also became very vocal about the crappy and exploitative contracts many R&B performers signed in the early years and how many of them made no money at all. As a result of her advocacy, in 1988, Atlantic Records, now a major label, waived unrecouped debts Brown and 35 other musicians of her era owed due to shady contractual agreements. Atlantic also paid the 60 year-old Brown and these artists twenty years of retroactive royalties. These events led to the formation of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit dedicated to providing financial and medical assistance, as well as historical and cultural preservation of R&B. Brown continued to tour and perform in concerts and festivals up to this year when she also recorded for John Sayles' upcoming movie “Honeydripper.” She then became ill. She died November 17, 2006 of complications following a heart attack and stroke she suffered after surgery. She'd been on life support for over two weeks. Along with her two sons, Ms. Brown is also survived by three grandchildren and four siblings. While working with Brown for artists' rights, singer and fellow advocate Bonnie Raitt formed a strong friendship with the R&B icon. “She was one of the original divas,” Raitt said. “I can’t really say that I’ve heard anyone that sounds like Ruth, before or after. She was a combination of sass and innocence, and she was extremely funky. She could really put it right on the beat, and the tone of her voice was just mighty. And she had a great heart... Ruth was one of the most important and beloved figures in modern music. You can hear her influence in everyone from Little Richard to Etta (James), Aretha (Franklin), Janis (Joplin) and divas like Christina Aguilera today. She was my dear friend, and I will miss her terribly."
“What I loved about her,” Raitt added, “was her combination of vulnerability and resilience and fighting spirit. It was not arrogance, but she was just really not going to lay down and roll over for anyone.” Click for more R&B/soul and rap/hip-hop dearly departed in 2006 |
