Ray Brown

b. Australia. Like his contemporaries, Brown began as a soloist at Sydney's suburban dances in front of house bands, until he acquired his own band, the Whispers in 1965. National success came quickly with a series of hit singles, including, "Pride", "Fool, Fool, Fool", and "20 Miles". In 1966, after five hit singles, the Whispers disbanded and the New Whispers were formed, who failed to sustain the momentum of the earlier outfit and broke up. Brown flew to the USA and, despite gaining a recording contract with Capitol Records, did not find success. He returned to Australia in 1970 with a new, bearded, long-haired image and immediately formed Moonstone, who used exotic instruments, such as the sitar, to record their album, and were consequently seen as a hippie folk band. In late 1971 Brown formed the 11-piece One Ton Gypsy, a cumbersome but excellent country-influenced rock band. After this band broke up, Brown continued to perform sporadically, although he has ceased recording. ~ Rovi