Billy Brown (22 July 1929 – 10 January 2009) was an American Rockabilly and Country singer.
There are several reasons why Billy Brown should go down in Southern music history, but you’d have to search long and hard to find him in any of the books. You could look for him under any of these guises- as a one time rockabilly singer; as a major label singer in the formative years of post-war country; as the first man to record one of the foremost ballads of country music; as a country gospel evangelist; as a brilliant comedian and vocal mimic; or as a mainstay of the local music scene in central Florida.
William George Brown was born in Princeton, West Virginia, near the Virginia line, the son of George and Sadie Brown. When he was 8 years the family relocated to New Smyrna Beach towards the southern end of the Florida East Coast Railway. One of the things people knew the Browns for was music. Billy was quite young when he realised he had a talent for it. He later told Jim Jones of the Smyrna Observer that he sold twelve boxes of Cloverine lip salve on the streets in order to make enough money to buy his first guitar, choosing that product because he saw it advertised on the back of a comic book as 'good for anything and everything'.
His favourite singers in those days were Gene Autry, Eddy Arnold and Elton Britt and that he started performing as a teenager. He started to sing at local events and functions and even combined this with another of his interests, the rodeo, where he became proficient in the cowboy arts of gun-twirling and singing like Gene Autry. By the age of sixteen he was singing in touring shows and also at rodeos with a group known as the Indian River Boys. As a singer, he gradually worked his way up until he was invited to play in some of the nightclubs in central Florida. Then a big break came his way. But within a few months of signing up for the 'Grand Ole Opry', Billy Brown was drafted into the Army.
He served in the infantry during the Korean War. Brown was discharged from the Army in 1953 and not long afterward he headed out West, winding up recording a single for Decca --"High Heels But No Soul"/"Drunk, Drunk Again" -- in 1955. He kept working out in the West for a while then drifted back east, recording a single for Stars Inc in 1957, the rollicking "Did We Have a Party" where he eagerly jumped on the rock & roll bandwagon with the assistance of guitarist Jerry Reed and pianist Ray Stevens. Brown took the single to Troy Martin who once again finagled a contract with Columbia for the single.
The label reissued "Did We Have a Party" in the fall of 1957 and pushed it fairly hard, getting him an appearance on American Bandstand and into the studio to cut some more rock & roll, including the single "Meet Me in the Alley Sally," and putting him on a package tour that also featured Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, and the Everly Brothers. More singles followed in 1958, including "Once in a Lifetime," but hits weren't forthcoming. Nevertheless, Columbia continued to see promise in the vocally versatile Brown, and in 1959 they released the gorgeous ballad "He'll Have to Go."
This had the potential to be Brown's big breakthrough but Jim Reeves wound up recording the song six months after Brown's version was released and it soon eclipsed the original on its way to becoming a country standard. Livid at this change in fortune, the singer demanded to be released from his Columbia contract, a request that was granted. In 1960, he recorded a pair of singles for Republic -- the smooth "Be Honest with Me" and the swinging "Lost Weekend" -- neither of which made much impact; neither did 1961's Look Out Heart."
Bitter at his lack of success, Billy Brown started drinking heavily, eventually turning to religion by 1963. Over the next several years, he was part of evangelistic revues and recorded some occasional gospel sides along the way. He returned to secular music for financial reasons, playing shows and once again taking another stab at recording success when he signed with Challenge Records in 1969. Like his previous singles, "Open Arms"/"One of the Ten Most Wanted Women" didn't go anywhere, but Brown eked out a living playing Holiday Inns and other chain hotels.
During the '70s, he returned to the studio quite regularly, recording singles for nine different labels, all to little success with the exception of "Thank You Darlin'," which performed strongly in several regional country markets in 1976. He cut his last sides for a label called Citadel in 1979 and then in 1983 he suffered a stroke that left him unable to perform. After the stroke, he once again found religion and took up residence at his home in New Smyrna Beach, Florida until his death on January 10, 2009 from emphysema.
(Edited from Bear Family notes and AllMusic)