Edward James "Bongo" Brown (September 13, 1932 – December 28, 1984)[1] was an American percussionist known for his work with The Funk Brothers, Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 to 1972.
Biography
Brown was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi on September 13, 1932.[1] He was raised in Memphis, Tennessee.[2] He later moved to Detroit and in 1962 he joined The Funk Brothers, Motown Records' in-house session musicians. According to Jack Ashford, Brown started out as a valet for Marvin Gaye and played bongos once Gaye began performing on-stage.[2] Brown played congas, bongos, the gourd and claves. Brown became Motown's leading percussionist and for a decade was on almost every key release from the label.[3] He was known for his sense of humor and for being the "studio clown".[4] Despite being an excellent musician, he could not read music and when handed sheet music by the producers, he would replace it with an adult magazine. When Motown moved to Los Angeles in 1972, Brown came along. His credits there included Gaye's 1973 album Let's Get It On and Stevie Wonder's 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life.[3] He later toured with both Gaye and Liza Minnelli.[5] One of his musical influences was Chano Pozo.