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With a resume as the lead singer of such groups as Ray, Goodman & Brown, the Delfonics, and the Stylistics, picturing soul singer/musician Eban Brown would likely be off the mark. The world-class guitarist and composer is only 34 years old; relatively young for the groups he’s fronted.
But Brown, quite often called an “old soul”, has made a career of making old soul new again, without compromising the genre. He launched his professional career with Ray, Goodman & Brown – better known as The Moments, a group that he’d admired as a young child
“This is my fourth group. My career started professionally in 1989. My idol group brought me out – Ray, Goodman & Brown. From there I went to the Manhattans with Gerald [Alston] and ‘Blue’ [Winfred Lovett]. After that, I did the Delfonics until 1997. I stopped until I joined the Stylistics in 2000,” Brown said.
Brown’s break from soul mastering was a brief two-year hiatus, while he dabbled into other projects.
“There was a lot of adversity in the business,” he said about his time away. “I just decided to do other things. But I guess I just couldn’t get away. This is what I love to do. How many people get to do what they love to do and make a living out of it?”
And then the opportunity to become the lead singer for the Stylistics came along.
“About seven years prior [to 2000], myself and Herb Murrell, one of the original members, had a conversation about me coming in. I didn’t take it serious because I never anticipated being a part of the Stylistics. So Easter Sunday I got a phone call and that’s how it happened.”
Brown replaced lead singer Russell Thompkins who’d suffered vocal problems and left the group.
“Russell decided to leave and embark on his own career,” Brown added. “He has his own group out… another Stylistics – Russell Thompson and the New Stylistics. There’s enough room out here to work. It can cause some confusion, but it works.”
With two Stylistics groups touring, it’s appropriate that Brown would have two careers in motion, too. The singer works not only as the lead singer in a legendary contemporary soul group, but he’s also an accomplished solo jazz artist.
“I do contemporary jazz on my own. I’m an instrumentalist and vocalist on my own. I do a lot of things. I [did] three solo albums,” he said. “I’m like Gerald Levert – I have my own group, the Stylistics, I have a solo career and work with other people, and for the time being I’m doing both, until one demands all the attention. That’s it in a nutshell.”
Brown likens his style to legendary jazz guitarists George Benson and Wes Montgomery. Being a jazz guitarist himself, that is apropos. Furthermore, he added that he has been noted as “the youngest classic soul artist,” a title that he cherishes, though his years place him in the hip-hop generation.
“To me, I don’t hear a lot of things in [today's] R&B that I feel like [the music I do].”
His latest album, “Exit 15,” reflects some of the classic music that he loves. The disc features five original songs, but also five remakes that he has always wanted to do.
“’Exit 15’ has allowed me to express creativity that I am most proud of. I've had the chance to express a part of myself that a majority of people did not know of me musically. This album allowed me to bring out some of my guitar influences ... to express to the jazz world my deepest love,” he said.
For MORE on Eban Brown, check out his website: www.ebanbrown.net.
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