Amoeba Music

Ruth Brown was signed to Atlantic Records when they were a new independent label. Her run of R&B hits, from “So Long” in 1949 to “Don’t Deceive Me” in 1960, cemented the reputation of both Brown and Atlantic. In fact, in the 1950s, many people called Atlantic “the house that Ruth built.” Like many early African American R&B artists, she was never paid fairly for her work and by the mid-1960s, she was broke and working as a housekeeper. In the late ‘70s, she began a comeback that culminated in a Tony for her role in the musical Black and Blue and a Best Jazz Vocal Performance Grammy for her album Blues On Broadway (1989 Fantasy). Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in... Read More

City Of Origin:

Portsmouth, Virginia, United States

Genre:

Soul, Early Soul

Birthdate:

01/12/1928

Death date:

11/17/2006