Tommy Brown

Who is Tommy Brown?

Tommy Brown is an American R&B singer, who achieved most success in the early 1950s, particularly on records with The Griffin Brothers.

Brown formed a small band with himself as the drummer in the 1940s, and worked in clubs around Atlanta. In 1949 he recorded "Atlanta Boogie" on the Regent label, a subsidiary of Savoy Records. The track contained early references to rock and roll :

Well, the whole town's rockin' just about the break of day

Well, when the bar starts jumpin' you can hear the cats all say

Well, let's rock'n'roll, well, let's rock'n'roll

Yes, let's rock'n'roll till the break of day...

In 1951 he moved on to Dot where he was teamed with the Griffin Brothers, an R&B orchestra led by brothers Jimmy Griffin and Ernest "Buddy" Griffin from Norfolk, Virginia. They had toured widely with Amos Milburn, Paul Williams and others, and recorded as the backing band for Margie Day on two R&B Top 10 hits, "Street Walkin' Daddy" and "Little Red Rooster".

In June of that same year Brown was featured singer on the R&B Top 10 hit "Tra-La-La", credited to the Griffin Brothers Orchestra, and later in the year the combination reached # 1 on the R&B chart with "Weepin' and Cryin'", credited to The Griffin Brothers Orchestra featuring Tommy Brown.