Mel Brown

Born in Jackson, Mississippi on October 7, 1939, Mel Brown was a jazz and blues guitarist best known for being a member of Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland band for a decade. He learned to play guitar while recovering from meningitis when he was a teenager. Early in his career, he played with Sonny Boy Williamson II and Jimmy Beasley before joining Johnny Otis’ orchestra for two years and accompanying Etta James and Reuben Wilson. He signed a deal with Impulse! Records and released his first solo album, Chicken Fat, in 1967, which was arranged by Herb Ellis and Oliver Nelson. He followed that with The Wizard (1968), Blues for We (1969), I'd Rather Suck My Thumb (1970), Mel Brown's Fifth (1971) and Big Foot Country Girl (1972). While releasing albums as a leader, he also served as a sideman for artists such as John Lee Hooker, B. B. King, T-Bone Walker, Bill Cosby, Charles Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, Archie Shepp, Roy Brown, Lou Ann Barton, James Cotton, Albert Collins, and Jimmy McGriff. Mel Brown’s longest stint as a sideman was with Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, with whom he played with for a decade. He also recorded several albums with harmonica player Snooky Pryor. In 1988, he married vocalist Miss Angel and they both founded the group The Homewreckers, with whom he recorded albums such as Neck Bones & Caviar (2000), Homewreckin’ Done Live (2001) and Blues – A Beautiful Thing (2006). While not a household name in his home country, Mel Brown was nominated for two Juno Awards in Canada (2001 and 2002). He died on March 20, 2009, of pulmonary emphysema.

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