Ray Brown & The Whispers
 When Ray Brown died in August 1996, Australian rock & roll
lost one of its unsung achievers.
After bursting onto the pop
scene at Sydney's legendary premier discotheque of the day, Surf
City in 1964, Ray Brown and The Whispers became the most
successful local recording act of 1965.
The band first entered Festival's recording studios in Sydney
early in 1965.
Blessed with two outstanding guitarists, Al Jackson
and Laurie Barclay, they were able to exploit the primitive
conditions in the studio to the maximum.
What followed was an unprecedented year in Australian rock
music history. Their first four singles reached Number One, and three
hit albums were produced.
The singles 20 Miles, Pride, In the
Midnight Hour and Fool, Fool, Fool revealed a band bursting with
energy and talent. The rhythm section of John Manners and Pat
Jeffrey anchored a sound which seemed to bounce from Festival's
legendary tiled walls.
Their self-titled debut album is a perfect snapshot of post-Beatles Australian rock. The cover shows the band on the
beach in tight jeans and Beatle boots, and the album marries
American R&B and British Merseybeat perfectly.
By the end of the year, Ray Brown and The Whispers were a
national sensation - so popular that some country towns declared a
public holiday when the band hit town. Their photo's sold
magazines, and they were on every major teenage TV show in the
country.
1966 should have been the year of triumph for the hottest band
in the country, but in a depressingly familiar story, the band was
torn asunder by managerial hassles.
Brown had been under 21 when
he signed his first contract, and like many others he discovered
he had virtually no control over his career. The year it took to
establish control cost him his band and the roll he was on, but
gave him much more integrity.
Never one to give up easily, Brown set about creating a solo
career. He'd had two hits with the Whispers in 1966, including
the stunningly original Ain't It Strange?, but in 1967 he was
finally free to record under his own name alone. The result was
another smash with The Same Old Song.
The next few years were spent recording and working in the
United States, although he returned with two adventurous attempts
to create original music - Moonstone (a country rock band) and One
Ton Gypsy (an eight-piece jazz rock band) - but these bands were
simply too far ahead of their time in concept and execution. So
too was Brown's experiment with a blend of Aboriginal and rock
music in the 1970s.
Throughout the 80's, Brown reformed The Whispers (with new
line-ups) for several rock & roll revival concerts. He died of
a heart attack in August 1996.
Ray Brown never stopped innovating. He pioneered many aspects
of the Australian music industry which are now taken for granted,
although sadly he was never really recognised during his lifetime.
|
