Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Hello Derek, My name is Bobby Bennett and I am the Program Director of XM's channel 60 known as Soul Street. We are the channel that brought Ann Peebles to XM, where she performed a 60 minute live concert last Wednesday April 6th. " Having seen Ann Peebles years ago when she recorded I Can't Stand The Rain for the first time, we were certainly aware of this exciting dynamic Lady of Soul, but after seeing her perform again almost 30 years later, we have become major fans " She sounds as good today as she sounded back then, maybe better, and her new project CD is awesome. Three cheers for Ann Peebles, a survivor who has gotten better with time !
- Bobby Bennett
"When he hits the stage there's this stadium packing energy that surges through him like European voltage."
- david whitehead
Living Blues
"With Paul, you ain't gonna see no white or no black... you're just gonna feel good from the time he starts playing till he lets go of those keys"
- wayne jackson
The Memphis Horns
"He's as much my brother as
he is a great player"
-bobby rush
"A blonde ball of mighty soulful
energy on keyboards"
- Mavis Staples
- From Varios Artists & Musicians
Discography
• Playing with Fire -1990 Keyboards/Co-wrote
• The Mother Station -Brand New Bag-1994- EastWest/Elektra -Keyboards
• Ann Peebles -Fill This World With Love-1996-Rounder Keyboards/Co-Produced/Co-Wrote
• Victory -1998-By Faith Records -Keyboards/Produced/Engineered/Mixed/Co-wrote
• 956 McLemore Vol. 1-1998-High Stacks Records W/Rufus Thomas -Hammond B3
• River Of Song-1999-Smithsonian w/ Ann Peebles & The Memphis Horns -Piano
• House of Blues Tribute to Eric Clapton -1999 w/Ann Peebles & Hi Rhythm Section -Fender Rhodes
• Don Covay and Friends -2000 W/Ann Peebles. Also featured Anton Figg on Drums and Jon Tiven on Guitar- Cannonball Records Hammond B3/Co-mixed
• Billie Ray Martin-18 Carat Garbage-2001 W/Ann Peebles & Carla Thomas -Engineered Ann and Carla’s Vocals
• FreeWorld Live From Memphis – 2003 SwirlDisc -Keyboards
• Bobby Rush Under Cover Lover –2003 -Co-Produced/Keys/Programmed Engineered and Mixed.
• Various Artists I Believe To My Soul - featuring Ann Peebles –2005 Warner/Rhino/Worksongs/Starbucks -Co-Wrote, Backing Vox
• Ann Peebles Brand New Classics – 2006 Track Records Keyboards/Produced/Engineered/Mixed
• Ann Peebles Live – DVD -2008 ABC Entertainment -Keyboards/Film Editing/DVD Authoring
• Stacy Mitchhart Gotta Get That Feeling Back Again –2007 Dr. Sam Records -Keyboards
• David Kurtz Long Lonesome Journey –2008 -Piano
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Born in Madison Wisconsin July 4th, 1963, Paul Brown moved to Memphis Tennessee at the age of five where he lived until the death of his mother in '75, forcing the separation of him and his three brothers and one sister. Paul Brown was eleven years old in Nashville living in a school for the homeless, searching desperately for some way to cope when he stumbled across an old upright piano that would alter his life forever.
By age thirteen Paul Brown was playing dates with country artist Louise Mandrell and Dove award winning Christian singer Don Francisco and sponging styles ranging from Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to Parlament Funkedelic and Rap pioneers Sugar Hill. "I loved everything says Paul, I was so happy to find something I could connect with, something I could use to express all these whacked out feelings I had inside me. I remember going A.W.O.L. to see a Kiss concert that turned out to be a Parlament concert instead, that was one of the most enlightening experiences of my musical career".
Soon after his seventeenth birthday, Paul Brown left Nashville to come back to Memphis armed with a trumpet, a road atlas and an arsenal determination. One night while working at an all night Exxon Paul discovered a talent that would again alter his life. It was the gift of writing lyrics. Soon after, he landed his first publishing deal writing and arranging for various Memphis artists.
In 1991 Paul Brown met Hi records artist Ann Peebles and Don Bryant (Known for their 1973 hit "I Can't Stand the Rain"). Hired as a sub to fill in for Hi Records' organist, Charles Hodges, Paul, Ann, and Don quickly realized they had a great deal to offer each other which would ultimately result in Paul becoming Ann's music director and agent. During the Sixteen years Paul Brown has been with Peebles, tours have carried him all over the world with television performances on VH-1 and The David Letterman Show.
In 1994 Paul Brown took a year off with Ann to record and tour with East/West recording artist The Mother Station, following up with an MTV video for their smash single "Put the Blame On Me" until 1995 when Ann Peebles pulled him back in to co-write and co-produce Ann's critically acclaimed release,"Fill This World With Love".
In 1998 Paul Brown joined forces world renowned rock group Survivor, featuring Jimi Jamison for a year and a half world tour. Following that tour Paul spent the better part of 2000 producing a two more Gospel projects including an epic album on Peebles' husband Don Bryant titled; It's All In The Word set for release in the spring of 2008
2001 through 2007 Paul recorded on two major tribute records; one to writing legend Don Covay and a tribute to Eric Clapton featuring Ann Peebles with Paul Brown on Fender Rhodes recording with members of The Legendary Hi Rhythm Section. He Engineered and Mixed blues legend Bobby Rush's critically acclaimed album "Undercover Lover" which Living Blues dubbed; “One of the best Blues albums of 2003”. He performed on four major PBS specials and three incredible live DVDs including Rush's award winning DVD "Live at Ground Zero" as well as the Grammy winning soundtrack for Martin Scorcese's film "The Blues” and performed on the critically acclaimed live album with Memphis' Fusion Band FreeWorld.
Now Paul Brown slams into 2008 injecting over thirty years of styles and influences into some groundbreaking recordings and electrifying performances with Stadium packing energy including producing a brand new Ann Peebles album titled; Brand New Classics on legendary UK label Track Records, a Live Ann Peebles DVD and a recent live taping of performances with Aaron Neville, Kirk Whalum and Irma Thomas..
Links
