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Quick Facts
- NAME: Ruth Brown
- OCCUPATION: Theater Actress, Singer
- BIRTH DATE: January 12, 1928
- DEATH DATE: November 17, 2006
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Portsmouth, Virginia
- PLACE OF DEATH: Henderson, Nevada
- Maiden Name: Ruth Weston
- Nickname: "The Girl With a Tear in Her Voice"
- Nickname: "Miss Rhythm"
- AKA: Ruth Brown
Best Known For
Rhythm and blues singer Ruth Brown signed with Atlantic Records at a young age and recorded a number of hit songs throughout the 1950s.
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Play NowRuth Brown. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 12:33, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/ruth-brown-17172326.
Ruth Brown. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/ruth-brown-17172326 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Ruth Brown." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 12:33 http://www.biography.com/people/ruth-brown-17172326.
"Ruth Brown," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/ruth-brown-17172326 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Ruth Brown," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/ruth-brown-17172326 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Ruth Brown [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/ruth-brown-17172326.
Ruth Brown, http://www.biography.com/people/ruth-brown-17172326 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Ruth Brown. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/ruth-brown-17172326. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
Acting Career
Then in 1975, with the help of her friend Redd Foxx, a prominent comedian, Brown moved to Los Angeles to star in the musical Selma. The role proved the beginning of a miraculous comeback. From 1979-80, Brown starred in Norman Lear's sitcom Hello, Larry,
Contents
before returning to New York in the early 1980s to enjoy a successful run in several off-Broadway musicals. The peak of Brown's comeback came in 1989 when she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in the Broadway production of Black and Blue as well as a Grammy Award for her album Blues on Broadway.
In addition to her renewed success as a performer, during the 1980s Brown waged a relentless and ultimately successful campaign to reform the music industry's royalty system. Her efforts resulted in the creation of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in Philadelphia in 1988 to help emerging as well as aging R&B musicians. The nonprofit was financed by a settlement with Atlantic Records.
In 1993, Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She spent the rest of her life giving occasional tribute concerts and working with the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. On November 17, 2006, Brown died due to complications from a heart condition. She was 78 years old.
During the 1950s, Brown was one of America's leading R&B singers. Her name was so synonymous with the genre that many commentators quipped that R&B actually stood for Ruth and Brown. One of the first great divas of modern American popular music, her songs provided a blueprint for much of the rock 'n' roll that followed in her wake. In addition to the musical legacy she left to the artists who came after her, Brown also left future artists a more artist-friendly environment, thanks to her tireless work to reform the royalty system.
Brown's friend Bonnie Raitt summarized the traits that underpinned Brown's success: "What I loved about her was her combination of vulnerability and resilience, and fighting spirit. It was not arrogance, but she was just really not going to lay down and roll over for anyone."
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Foremothers of Rock
View groupIn the 1920s, women like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith were the first—and for a while, the only—artists to record the blues. American women of this era made great strides toward gaining equality and basic human rights for themselves and others in society, including attaining the right to vote and working toward social justice. The 20th century was a wide-open opportunity for women to embrace the modern world, outside of the traditional bounds of the home.
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Famous Actresses 654 people in this group
