Introduction
Wini Brown (June 17, 1927—March 15, 1978) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues singer.
After launching her singing career in Lionel Hampton's band the Hamp-Tones, she worked with Curley Hamner, and Milt Jackson.
Early life and education
Wini Brown was born Winifred Brown on June 17, 1927, in Chicago, Illinois, where she attended Englewood High School.
She had a brother, Raymond Brown.
Career
Wini Brown began her professional music career in February 1946 with vibraphonist Lionel Hampton's vocal group, the Hamp-Tones, alongside singers Madeline Greene and Sammy Jennings. Her first recording with the Hamp-Tones was a torch song titled "Gone Again" (written by Curley Hamner, Curtis Reginald Lewis, Gladys Hampton) alongside Britt Woodman (trombone); Leo Shepherd, Jimmy Nottingham, Duke Garrett, Kenny Dorham, Wendell Culley (trumpet); Joe Comfort and Charles Harris (string bass); William (Billy) Mackel (guitar); Earl "Fox" Walker (drums); Morris Lane and John Sparrow (tenor saxophone); Ben Kynard, Bobby Plater (alto saxophone); Charles Fowlkes (baritone saxophone); and Milt Buckner (piano). The song's lead vocals were performed by Hampton himself.
In March 1948, Brown recorded "Bama Lama-Lam" with Curley Hamner and Orchestra, accompanied by Bobby Plater (alto saxophone), Charles Fowlkes(baritone saxophone), Charles Mingus (bass), Billy Mackel (guitar), Earl Hines (piano), Morris Lane (tenor saxophone), Duke Garrette (trumpet), and Bill Dougherty (violin).
Also in March 1948, she played with Hampton's band at the Lincoln Auditorium in Syracuse, New York. By May of that year, they were performing at the Treasury Department's weekly radio show "Bands For Bonds".
In the summer of 1948, Brown left Hampton to marry Hampton's baritone saxophonist Charlie Fowlkes who had recently joined Arnett Cobb's band. (Hampton replaced her with Betty "Bebop" Carter.)
Fowlkes was also Brown's manager and got her a record deal with Al Green's National Records. In the following few years, she made around a dozen recordings with National, accompanied by Milt Jackson Orchestra. In her first session in October 1948, she recorded "I'll Live True To You", "I Met A Stranger", "An Ordinary Guy", and "I Only Have Eyes For You".
On Christmas Eve of 1948, Brown performed at the Renaissance Casino in New York along with the Nat King Cole Trio and the Luis Russell Orchestra. In August 1949, Brown was at the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium, along with Herb Lance, Earl Bostic, and Roy Brown. In 1950, she performed at Bop City club in New York and Philadelphia along with the R&B vocal group Ravens, Lucius "Doc" Sausage & His Mad Lads, and Amos Milburn. She was also part of larger shows at Apollo Theater in New York and Earle Theater in Philadelphia.
In late 1950, Brown recorded four singles for Columbia Records—"A Good Man Is Hard To Find" and "This Is The Last Time (I'll Cry Over You)" with Les Brown and His Orchestra; and "We're Supposed To Be Through", and "Was It Really Like That?" with Dick Vance's band.
In 1952, with her band "Wini Brown And Her Boyfriends", she released "Here In My Heart", "Your Happiness Is Mine", "Be Anything (But Be Mine)", and "Heaven Knows Why" on Mercury Records. "Be Anything (But Be Mine)", featuring the Ravens as the male chorale, was Brown's best-performing release that hit 10th place on the R&B chart.
By 1955, Brown became a vocalist with the orchestra of Cootie Williams, the former trumpet player of Duke Ellington. Around that time, she married her second husband, bassist Jimmy Lewis. However, the marriage didn't last long and they were divorced by 1957. (It is not clear when she separated from her first husband Charlie Fowlkes.)
In May 1958, Brown, as part of the Cootie Williams' band, performed at the Apollo Theater in New York again, this time along with Ruth Brown, Nipsey Russell, and the R&B group The Teenagers.
After recording "It's All In Your Mind", a duet with Larry Dale accompanied by Cootie Williams (1959), she left Williams' band in 1960.
In 1960, Brown was seen a few times at the Apollo Theater, with her last one in the week of December 2, 1960, sharing the stage with James Brown, Maurice Williams and the Gladiolas, the Olympics, Larry Williams, Pigmeat Markham, and Sam Taylor.
Brown retired from the music business and most likely spent the rest of her life in Detroit, Michigan, where she passed away in 1978.
Video: Gone Again
Personal life
Brown married saxophonist Charlie Fowlkes in 1948. The marriage ended in divorce, after which she married bassist Jimmy Lewis in the mid-1950s. Dates are unclear, but they were divorced by 1957.
Death
Brown died in Detroit, Michigan, on March 15, 1978, at age 50.