Danny Joe Brown

Who was Danny Joe Brown?

Danny Joe Brown was the original lead singer of the Southern rock group Molly Hatchet, and co-writer of the band's biggest hits from the late 1970s.

He was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1951 and graduated from Terry Parker High School in 1969. Shortly after graduating, he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard and was stationed in New York for two years. Once he left the Coast Guard, Brown's focus turned solely to music and he joined Molly Hatchet in 1974.

He is best known for writing and singing on such songs as "Flirtin' with Disaster" and "Whiskey Man." He was also the vocalist on "Dreams I'll Never See," a faster-tempoed cover of the Allman Brothers song. The band's sound was immediately recognizable by Brown's distinct voice: a deep, raspy, throaty growl.

Brown left Molly Hatchet in 1980 because of chronic diabetes and pancreatic problems, but soon started his own band, The Danny Joe Brown Band, which released a single studio album in 1981. He later rejoined Molly Hatchet in 1982, only to leave again in 1995 after suffering a stroke. He died at his mother's home in Davie, Florida in March, 2005, at the age of 53. His obituary attributed his death to renal failure, a complication of the diabetes he had since age 19.