Oscar Brown Jr.
October 10, 1926 - May 29, 2005
just incase some of you dont know!
Oscar Cicero Brown, Jr. made his earthly debut on October 10, 1926 at Chicago ’s Provident Hospital as the firstborn child of school teacher, Helen Lawrence and
Oscar C. Brown, Sr., a prominent lawyer and real estate owner. Oscar was raised in
a two-church house hold: his mother attended St. Edmond’s Episcopal Church, and
his father was a member, and attorney for Pilgrim Baptist Church for over fifty years.
Oscar Jr.’s verbal skills stood out early in his academic career as evidenced by the
fact that he often took first-place in “elocution” contests. He attended Willard Elementary
and Englewood High Schools, and by age 15, he had launched his professional career
in Studs Terkel's children's radio series, called " Secret City ." His father, however, encouraged him to pursue a college career and study law, with the hope that he would
take over the family business.
As a result of two “double promotions” in elementary school, he was only sixteen
years old when enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in the fall of 1943. After
attending several colleges and universities, including Lincoln University (Pa.)
and the University of Michigan, where he excelled in English composition, but failed everything else, it became clear that creative writing was his primary interest, rather than academic study or the business world.
In his twenties, he returned to work in radio, spending five years as the “world’s first
Negro newscaster,” for a Chicago program called “Negro Newsfront,” where he also managed to include a musical menu, as well as poetic works by Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes. In addition to his media work, he continued to dabble in real estate, advertising, and public relations; but he soon turned to activism—both inside and outside electoral politics. One of his first jobs along these lines was as program director for the progressive United Packinghouse Workers union. Activism was part of his father’s legacy—Oscar Sr. had served at the helm of the Chicago NAACP, but had also been
part of a nationalist effort to develop a 49 th state for African Americans.
In 1948, Oscar ran for the Illinois legislature on the Progressive Party ticket, and for the
U.S. Congress as a Republican in 1952—a party he conveniently selected in order to get
on the ballot. Oscar was actually a member of the Communist Party from the time he was
20, to his resignation in 1956 at the age of 30, when he concluded that he was “just too
black to be red.” From 1948 to 1950, Oscar played a key role in Richard Durham’s “Destination Freedom” Black Radio Days series. He then went on to serve two years
in the Army, after which he began to pursue his hobby of composing songs by singing a
little in local nightspots.
The turning point in his career came around 1960. The Brown family were neighbors
of the award-winning playwright, Lorraine Hansberry’s family. When “A Raisin in the
Sun” debuted in Chicago before it’s New York premier, Oscar met Hansberry ’s
husband, Robert Nemiroff, who worked for a New York based music publishing
company. Nemiroff in turn introduced Oscar’s music to New York , which led to a
recording contract with Columbia records and the classic recording, “Sin and Soul,”
the debut album that made Oscar Brown Jr. a national celebrity.
The Los Angeles Times described it as “a mosaic of poetic and musical images [with]
lyrics for such popular jazz instrumentals as Nat Adderley's "Work Song," Bobby Timmons' soul jazz tune "Dat Dere" and Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue"; as well as “the socially charged "Bid 'Em In," a vivid re-creation of an auctioneer's call of a female slave sale; and
the lullaby "Brown Baby," written for his newborn son, and recorded by such giants as
Mahalia Jackson, and Lena Horne.
Oscar went on to perform at such venues as the Village Vanguard, and tour with Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley; composed the lyrics for the Davis classic, “All Blues,” and collaborated with Max Roach on the landmark civil rights composition, the “Freedom Now Suite.” His magnum opus came in 1961, with the production of “Kicks & Company,” directed by Hansberry,
and co-produced by Nemiroff. Backer s’ auditions and fundraising activity reached a new level when Oscar Brown. Jr. made an unprecedented two hour appearance on the NBC’s “Today Show,” at the invitation of host Dave Garroway and subsequently raised over $400,000. OBJ was on his way, but sudden found it necessary to stage a “comeback”
when the show “Kicks & Company” closed shortly after it previewed, in Chicago ’s McCormick Place in 1961. He didn’t ponder the circumstances but instead focused on appearances with jazz royalty earned him great critical acclaim from coast to coast.
His one man show, “Oscar Brown Jr. Entertains,” in London two years later, resulted in
his being hailed: “a musical genius,” “the high priest of hip,” and “all the great ones rolled into one.” Before leaving for England , Brown hosted a television series “Jazz Scene USA,” taped in Los Angeles, where he met singer/dancer Jean Pace
--ultimately to become his wife.
I see you like Saul Williams also. I fell in love with him after watching Slam (about 10 or 15 times)
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