Ruth Brown - Career

Career

Blanche Calloway, Cab Calloway's sister, also a bandleader, arranged a gig for Brown at a Washington, D.C. nightclub called Crystal Caverns and soon became her manager. Willis Conover, a Voice of America disc jockey, caught her act with Duke Ellington and recommended her to Atlantic Records bosses, Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson. Brown was unable to audition as planned because of a serious car accident that resulted in a nine-month hospital stay. She signed with Atlantic Records on her hospital bed. In 1948, Ertegün and Abramson drove to Washington, D.C., from New York City to hear her sing in the club. Although her repertoire was mostly popular ballads, Ertegün convinced her to switch to rhythm and blues.

In her first audition, in 1949, she sang "So Long," which ended up becoming a hit. This was followed by "Teardrops from My Eyes" in 1950. Written by Rudy Toombs, it was the first upbeat major hit for Brown. Recorded for Atlantic Records in New York City in September 1950, and released in October, it was Billboard's R&B number one for 11 weeks. The hit earned her the nickname "Miss Rhythm" and within a few months Brown became the acknowledged queen of R&B.

She followed up this hit with "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 which were credited to Ruth Brown and the Rhythm Makers. In all, between 1949 and 1955, she stayed on the R&B chart for a total 149 weeks, with sixteen Top 10 records including five number ones.

Brown played many dances that were deeply segregated in the Southern States, where she toured extensively and was extremely popular. Brown herself claimed that a writer had once summed up her popularity by saying: "In the South Ruth Brown is better known than Coca Cola."

Her first pop hit came with "Lucky Lips", a song 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 US pop chart. The 1958 follow up was "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'", written by Bobby Darin and Mann Curtis. It reached number 7 on the R&B chart and number 24 on the pop chart.

She was to have further hits with "I Don't Know" in 1959 and "Don't Deceive Me" in 1960, although these were more successful on the R&B chart than on the pop chart.