Died On This Date (November 17, 2006) Ruth Brown / Early R&B Great
themusicsover Ruth Brown (Born Ruth Weston)
January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2007
Ruth Brown was an R&B singer who, like her idols, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday became one of popular music’s most important vocalists of her generation. So vital was she, that her young label at the time, Atlantic Records, would come to be known as “The House That Ruth Built.” After running away from home with trumpeter and future husband, Jimmy Brown, in 1945, Brown began singing in clubs in the Washington DC area. A local disc jockey caught her act and recommended her to Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic. She soon signed to the fledgling label and began releasing a string of R&B hits that included “Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean,” “So Long,” “Oh What a Dream” and “I’ll Wait For You.” Brown stepped away from the business to raise her family during the ’60s, but came back strong during the mid ’70s when she starred in a Broadway musical, Black and Blue, which won her an Tony and a Grammy for the soundtrack. She also had a role on the sitcom, Hello Larry and in the John Waters film, Hairspray. Brown became and advocate for musicians’ rights during the late ’80s, and in 1993, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On November 17, 2006, Ruth Brown, 78, died of complications from a stroke and heart attack she had suffered the previous month.
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