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Maxine Brown
Maxine Brown
	Brown performing in Colne, England 2005
Background information
Birth name	Maxine Ella Brown
Born	August 18, 1939 (age 85); Kingstree, South Carolina, U.S.
Genres	Soul, R&B, gospel
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, record producer
Instrument	Vocals
Years active	1960–2019
Labels	Nomar, ABC-Paramount, Wand, Avco

Maxine Ella Brown (born August 18, 1939) is an American soul and R&B^[1] singer.

Background and career

Maxine Brown began singing as a child, performing with two New York City based gospel groups called the Angelairs and the Royaltones when she was a teenager.^[2] In 1960, she signed with the small Nomar record label, who released the deep soul ballad "All in My Mind" (which was written by Brown) late in the year.^[3] The single became a hit, climbing to number two on the US Billboard R&B chart (number 19 pop), and it was quickly followed by "Funny",^[4] which peaked at number three on the R&B chart and #25 on the Hot 100

Brown was poised to become a star and moved to the bigger ABC-Paramount in 1962. She left the label after an unsuccessful year recording several non-chart singles for the label, and signed to the New York-based uptown soul label, Wand Records, a Scepter Records subsidiary, in 1963.^[4]

Brown recorded a string of sizable hits for Wand over the next three years. Among these were the Carole King/Gerry Goffin songs "Oh No Not My Baby",^[4] which reached number 24 on the pop chart in 1964, and "It's Gonna Be Alright", which peaked at No. 26 on the R&B chart the following year. She also recorded duets with label-mate Chuck Jackson, including a reworked version of an Alvin Robinson hit, "Something You Got", which climbed to No. 10 on the R&B chart.^[4] However, the company turned its focus to other bigger-selling acts, especially Dionne Warwick.^[4]

All backing vocals for Brown's records were performed by Cissy Houston and the Sweet Inspirations (the same group that backed Elvis Presley),^{[citation needed]} plus emerging writer-producers Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Hoping to increase the line of hits for Brown and her singing partner, Chuck Jackson, Ashford and Simpson took their song catalog to Scepter Records looking for a deal. When they were turned down, the couple approached Berry Gordy at Motown Records who immediately hired them.^{[citation needed]} Songs that were penned for Brown and Jackson became blockbuster hits for Ray Charles, such as "Let's Go Get Stoned" (co-written by Jo Armstead), as well as Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".

In 1969, Brown left Wand Records for Commonwealth United,^[4] where she recorded two singles, the first "We'll Cry Together" reached No. 10 in the Billboard R&B chart and also made the lower reaches of the Hot 100. A spell with Avco Records followed, but her later recordings generally met with little commercial success.

Discography

Hit singles

Year	Single	Chart positions
Year	Single	US	US R&B
1961	"All in My Mind"	19	2
	"Funny"	25	3
	"After All We've Been Through"	102	—
1962	"I Got a Funny Kind of Feeling"	104	—
1962	"My Time for Cryin'"	98	—
1963	"Ask Me"	75	—
1964	"Coming Back to You"	99	*
1964	"Oh No Not My Baby"	24	*
1965	"It's Gonna Be Alright"	56	26
	"Something You Got" (with Chuck Jackson)	55	10
	"One Step at a Time"	55	—
	"Can't Let You Out of My Sight" (with Chuck Jackson)	91	—
	"I Need You So" (with Chuck Jackson)	98	—
	"If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody"	63	—
1966	"I'm Satisfied" (with Chuck Jackson)	112	—
1966	"I Don't Need Anything"	129	—
1967	"Hold On I'm Coming" (with Chuck Jackson)	91	20
1967	"Daddy's Home" (with Chuck Jackson)	91	46
1969	"We'll Cry Together"	73	15
1970	"I Can't Get Along Without You"	—	44
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.

Note

* no R&B charts published during these chart runs

Albums

Maxine Brown – 1961
The Fabulous Sound of Maxine Brown – 1962
Maxine Brown, Irma Thomas & Ronnie Dickerson – 1964
Spotlight on Maxine Brown – 1964
Maxine Brown's Greatest Hits [LP] – 1967
Out of Sight - 1968
We'll Cry Together – 1969
Blue Ribbon Country, Vol. 1 – 1975
One in a Million – 1984
Like Never Before – 1985
Oh No Not My Baby: The Best of Maxine Brown – 1990

^[5]^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (1st ed.). Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 181. ISBN 1-904041-96-5.
^ Interview with Maxine Brown by David Cole, In The Basement Issue 61, Spring 2011
^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Biography: Maxine Brown". AllMusic. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Larkin C, Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music, (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), ISBN 0-7535-0149-X p. 79
^ Radio Programming, New On The Charts, David Lasley "If I Had My Wish Tonight". Billboard. May 1, 1982. p. 36.
^ "Maxine Brown Albums and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved December 30, 2021.