Ruth Alston Brown (born Weston; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was sometimes called the "Queen of R&B." In the 1950s, she helped bring a pop music style to R&B songs for Atlantic Records. Some of her popular songs include "So Long," "Teardrops from My Eyes," and "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean." Because of her work, Atlantic Records became known as "the house that Ruth built," a nickname that refers to the old Yankee Stadium. Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

In the mid-1970s, Brown’s career revived and reached its peak in the 1980s. She used her influence to help musicians get fair treatment in matters like money from songs and contracts. Her efforts led to the creation of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Brown won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical Black and Blue. The original cast recording of the musical won a Grammy Award. In 2016, she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2017, she was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. In 2023, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her number 146 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Brown was an "aunt" (a close family friend) of emcee Rakim.

Early life

Ruth Brown was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. She was the oldest of seven children in her family. She went to I. C. Norcom High School. Her father worked on the docks and also led the choir at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. However, Ruth was more interested in singing at USO shows and nightclubs, which sometimes caused disagreements with her father. She was influenced by famous singers such as Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, and Dinah Washington.

In 1945, when Ruth was 17 years old, she left her home in Portsmouth with a trumpeter named Jimmy Brown. The two soon married and began performing in bars and clubs. Later, she spent one month playing music with Lucky Millinder's orchestra.

Early career

Blanche Calloway, the sister of Cab Calloway, also worked as a bandleader. She arranged a performance for Brown at the Crystal Caverns, a nightclub in Washington, D.C., and later became her manager. Willis Conover, who later became a Voice of America disc jockey, saw Brown perform with Duke Ellington and recommended her to Atlantic Records' leaders, Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Brown was unable to audition as planned because of a car accident, which caused her to stay in the hospital for nine months. From her hospital bed, she signed a contract with Atlantic Records.

In 1948, Ertegun and Abramson traveled from New York City to Washington, D.C., to listen to Brown sing. At the time, she performed mostly popular ballads, but Ertegun encouraged her to switch to rhythm and blues.

In her first audition in 1949, she sang "So Long," which became a hit. In 1950, she released "Teardrops from My Eyes," written by Rudy Toombs. This was the first upbeat major hit for Brown. Recorded in New York City in September 1950 and released in October, the song reached number one on Billboard's R&B chart for 11 weeks. This success earned her the nickname "Miss Rhythm," and within a few months, she was recognized as the queen of R&B.

She followed this hit with songs such as "I'll Wait for You" (1951), "I Know" (1951), "5-10-15 Hours" (1953), "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" (1953), "Oh What a Dream" (1954), "Mambo Baby" (1954), and "Don't Deceive Me" (1960). Some of these songs were credited to Ruth Brown and the Rhythm Makers. Between 1949 and 1955, her records remained on the R&B chart for a total of 149 weeks. She achieved 21 Top 10 hits overall, including five that reached number one. Brown ranked No. 1 on The Billboard 1954 Disk Jockey Poll for Favorite R&B Artists.

Brown performed at many racially segregated dances in the southern United States, where she was very popular. She claimed a writer once said, "In the South, Ruth Brown is better known than Coca-Cola."

She performed at the tenth Cavalcade of Jazz concert at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles on June 20, 1954. This event was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr., and featured other performers such as The Flairs, Count Basie and His Orchestra, Lamp Lighters, Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five, Christine Kittrell, and Perez Prado and His Orchestra.

Her first pop hit was "Lucky Lips," written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and recorded in 1957. The single reached number 6 on the R&B chart and number 25 on the U.S. pop chart. In 1958, she released "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'," written by Bobby Darin and Mann Curtis. This song reached number 7 on the R&B chart and number 24 on the pop chart.

She had additional hits with "I Don't Know" (1959) and "Don't Deceive Me" (1960), which were more successful on the R&B chart than on the pop chart. In 1965, she appeared as a guest on TV Gospel Time. During the 1960s, Brown became less active in the public eye and lived as a housewife and mother.

Later career

In 1975, she returned to music after being encouraged by comedian Redd Foxx. This led to many comedic acting roles, which helped start her career in television, film, and theater. She played a neighbor named Leona Wilson in the second season of the sitcom Hello, Larry. She portrayed Motormouth Maybelle Stubbs, a kind and determined record promoter and mother of Seaweed and L'il Inez, in the film Hairspray. On Broadway, she performed in Amen Corner and Black and Blue. For her role in Black and Blue, she received a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1989. A New York Times critic, Frank Rich, wrote that Ruth Brown, a rhythm-and-blues singer, used sharp humor and fast-paced timing to perform the lively lyrics of the song "If I Can't Sell It, I'll Keep Sittin' on It."

In 1987, she worked to improve rights and pay for musicians, which led to the creation of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1988. She received one of the first Pioneer Awards in 1989. In 1989, she released an album called Blues and Broadway, which won a Grammy for best jazz vocal performance by a female artist. She was added to the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

She performed with rhythm-and-blues singer Charles Brown and toured with Bonnie Raitt in the late 1990s. Her 1995 book, Miss Rhythm, won the Gleason Award for music journalism. She also sang on Bonnie Raitt’s 1995 live DVD Road Tested, performing the song "Never Make Your Move Too Soon." She was nominated for another Grammy in the Traditional Blues category for her 1997 album R + B = Ruth Brown. In the 2000 TV miniseries Little Richard, she was played by singer Tressa Thomas.

She hosted the radio show Blues Stage, which aired on over 200 NPR stations, for six years starting in 1989.

At age 78, she was still performing in concerts. She helped prepare the film Honeydripper by John Sayles but did not live to finish it. A version of her song "Things About Comin' My Way" was released after her death on the film’s soundtrack. Her final interview took place in August 2006.

Death

On November 17, 2006, Brown passed away in a hospital near Las Vegas. She was 78 years old. She had suffered a heart attack and stroke after surgery the month before. These health issues led to her death. A memorial concert was held on January 22, 2007, at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. Brown is buried at Roosevelt Memorial Park in Chesapeake City, Virginia.

Accolades

She received the following honors:

• 1989: Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Award
• 1992: Inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
• 1993: Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
• 1996: Ralph Gleason Award for Music Journalism
• 2013: Inducted into the Virginia Musical Museum's Virginia Music Hall of Fame
• 2016: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2017: Inducted into National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame

Discography

• Ruth Brown (Atlantic, 1957)
• Miss Rhythm (Atlantic, 1959)
• Late Date with Ruth Brown (Atlantic, 1959)
• Along Comes Ruth (Philips, 1962)
• Gospel Time (Philips, 1962)
• Ruth Brown '65 (Mainstream, 1965)
• Black Is Brown and Brown Is Beautiful (Skye, 1969)
• The Real Ruth Brown (Cobblestone/Buddah, 1972)
• Sugar Babe (President, 1976), released again in 1985 as Brown Sugar
• You Don't Know Me (Dobre, 1978)
• Blues on Broadway (Fantasy, 1989)
• Help a Good Girl Go Bad (MMS Classix, 1989)
• Brown, Black & Beautiful (SDEG/Ichiban, 1990)
• Fine and Mellow (Fantasy, 1991)
• The Songs of My Life (Fantasy, 1993)
• R + B = Ruth Brown (Bullseye Blues, 1997)
• A Good Day for the Blues (Bullseye Blues, 1999)

• The Soul Survives (Flair, 1982)
• Takin' Care of Business (Stockholm, 1983)
• Have a Good Time (Fantasy, 1988)
• Live in London (Jazz House, 1995)

• The Best of Ruth Brown (Atlantic, 1962)
• Miss Rhythm (Greatest Hits and More) (Atlantic, 1989)

With Thad Jones and Mel Lewis

• The Big Band Sound of Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Featuring Miss Ruth Brown (Solid State, 1968)

• Benny Carter Songbook (MusicMasters, 1996)
• Benny Carter Songbook Volume II (MusicMasters, 1997)