| The Rob Brown Biography (official) |
January 24th, 1974 saw the birth of a boy in a small hospital in Leamington, Ontario (near Detroit). When born, no one ever thought that he may one day become not just a musician, but someone who has rubbed elbows with some major celebrities, top musicians, or to even do one of the toughest things to do in the entertainment industry: make a living. But, this is what Rob Brown did. Rob started his music career when he was 9 years old, when, inspired by his mother taking guitar lessons, wanted to play the guitar himself. His parents saw his interest and enrolled him in guitar lessons. Rob took to the guitar very well and even entered competitions where he not only won first prize repeatedly, but many scholarships as well. When he entered high school, he was asked to switch over to bass in the jazz band. At this point, Rob's passion switched from the guitar to the bass. Many saw his talent for the instrument, and by the time Rob turned 16, Rob was recommended to fill-in for another bassist in a local R&B band. Here was the start to Rob's professional career. By the time Rob graduated high school he was playing bass in a rockabilly band, a metal band and an R&B band. But Rob wasn't quite finished with guitar either: he was enrolled in the honours program at the University of Windsor for classical guitar performance. But, during that time Rob discovered a problem: playing bass and classical guitar wasn't compatible. The bass strings chewed up the longer fingernails needed to play classical guitar, so Rob had to choose: guitar or bass. Rob decided that his heart was with bass, so he resigned from the University of Windsor to pursue a career as a professional bassist. During his university tenure, Rob played with many R&B acts, more notably with Aretha Franklin back-up singer Richard Knight, and with former Coaster Thomas "Buck" Nasty. But Rob was never really into playing just one style of music, as he also did fill-in work for rock bands and some country acts as well. Rob was never one to be content with just playing: he had to be the best that he could be, so he decided to attend Humber College in Toronto, Ontario to not only improve himself, but to reach that next level... At Humber, Rob studied with jazz greats such as Pat LaBarbera, and Alex Dean, while learning more about Latin and groove with both Rick Lazar (Montuno Police, Loreena McKinnett) and Will Jarvis (Tito Puente). Rob eventually received his diploma in Jazz Performance and would later complete a Bachelor of Music degree through Humber. But what of Rob since then? Well, he's gone through many changes: once 365lbs, Rob dropped nearly 100lbs (still a big man, but almost 2/3 of what he used to be) and he's gone from being the shy kid to being pretty well spoken (and master of bad jokes) He also took on a new stage persona "The Bubba" . He's performed alongside Dan Ackroyd (The Blues Brother himself), Billy Newton Davis (of the Nylons) members of the Temptations, and even has performed with the one and only Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave). Sam, who played with the greatest electric bassist who ever lived (Jaco Pastorius) even referred to Rob as "a killer bassist who can throw down." Rob presently works as a seesion player, but has four main projects: Brad Karel and 401 Run, which plays a new, aggressive style of country with elements of rock, and (a bit of a twist here folks) R&B/hip-hop!! Rob is also one of the core members of Micheline, a new soul/acid jazz act where Rob actually has co-written many of the songs. Rob also is the music director and bassist for Eclectic Soul, a live house, R&B act with Petergail Williams as the front-person that won over massive audiences in its inception... and of course Rob's own project, "The Rob Brown Jazz Project" which allows Rob to be the front person himself and let his bass do the talking for him. Rob is looking forward to performing for all of you, and looks forward to meeting you in the future. If you see that he's in town, or a venue near you, go check it out, say hi, and see what the buzz is about. |
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