Chuck Brown

The smoothest of bluesman, singer/pianist Charles Brown made a trademark out of his cool, jazz-inspired sound. Texas native Brown was classically trained on piano, and worked for a time as a chemistry teacher before turning to music. After Brown moved to Los Angeles in 1943, his first notable group was Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, a piano trio loosely based on the Nat King Cole Trio. With this group he cut 1945's "Driftin' Blues," a national hit powered by Brown's elegant vocals. The Blazers also cut the original version of "Merry Christmas Baby," a song Brown would revisit many times over the years. It remains one of the best-loved R&B Christmas songs, covered by Chuck Berry among many others. Brown went solo in 1948, signed with the Aladdin label and did some recording in New Orleans, sticking with his trademark style for a string of further hits ("Trouble Blues" and Black Night" among the most successful). Moving to the King label, he wrote and recorded a second Christmas hit, "Please Come Home for Christmas." This too became an oft-recorded holiday standard after the Eagles revived it in 1978. After two quiet decades Brown began a comeback in 1980, beginning with shows at the New York club Tramps. Among his supporters was Bonnie Raitt, who brought him on the road as her opening act. Brown would record prolifically through the '80s and '90s, occasionally with his younger admirers: The 1992 album Someone to Love included Raitt on several tracks plus "I Wonder How She Knows," a seven-minute song co-written by Brown and Elvis Costello. His seasonal material likewise became a trademark; he and Raitt recut "Merry Christmas Baby" for the Very Special Christmas series and Brown made a full Christmas album, Cool Christmas Blues in 1994. The final album of his lifetime, 1998's So Goes Love found him sounding as sophisticated as ever. Brown died of heart failure in 1999, the same year he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.