Clyde Brown

Vocalist Clyde Brown had a brief solo career with Atlantic in the '70s, but had the success of the Drifters to keep him from going adrift during much of his career voyage. While this vocal group was popular enough to break off into splinters and franchises, lawsuits and copyright judgments bubbling in the background, Brown was always associated with the core group of original members, which in the mid-'70s combined him with Johnny Moore, Butch Leake, and Billy Lewis. This was the same period when Brown cut a few singles for Atlantic, most successful of which was the 1974 "You Call Me Back." Songwriter Phil Hurtt was behind the hit, perhaps the most eloquent answering machine music ever recorded. Hurtt, apparently painlessly, wrote and produced many chart-toppers for Atlantic at this time including "Sweet Charlie Babe" for Jackie Moore and "Some Guys Have All the Luck" by the Persuaders and later Rod Stewart. The formula for a Brown single release, if such a thing can be judged from only a pair of sides, was to combine a "You" song with something in tune with the early-'70s far-out mentality. In 1973 this was "Ghetto Cowboy," a thematic image that continued to be relevant decades later in rap music, with the related-by-thug bands Bones Thugs-N-Harmony and Mo Thugs Family riding off into the sunset with their own "Ghetto Cowboy." Brown's version was paired with "You've Gone Too Far," a less popular concept than the following year's "You Call Me Back," which came with nothing else but "Peace and Love" on the flipside. As a concept, "Peace and Love" is obviously more popular with songwriters than politicians. Nearly 100 different songs with this name have been recorded, many by reggae bands. Brown's version, in being the single's B-side, comes up as the final line is his Atlantic recording career. He continued with the Drifters through 1985, the group welcoming in the regal Ben E. King and the straightforward Joe Blunt as new members. He continued to work in in clubs and cabarets, sometimes as a solo act. In 2001, Brown took part in an ambitious song cycle created by performer-of-all-trades Jamie DeRoy, involving a variety of cabaret and studio vocal talents. He was awarded Cincinnati's "best rhythm & blues and funk vocalist" for the year 2000. ~ Eugene Chadbourne