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Brown, Vicki (23 August 1940 – 16 June 1991)

Revered background vocalist who also fashioned a solo career for herself in the late eighties and early nineties. Victoria May Haseman started out in the ’60s with The Vernons Girls and then The Breakaways.

She and her sister recorded as The Seashells and charted with “Maybe I Know” in 1970. Three years later, in concert with Stephanie de Sykes, she recorded “It Happened on a Sunday Morning”. Other artists and groups with whom she collaborated included Adam Ant, J.J. Barrie, Eric Burdon, Cerrone, Willy DeVille, Bryan Ferry, David Gilmour, George Harrison, Justin Hayward, Murray Head, Humble Pie, Elton John , Linda Lewis, Love De-Luxe, Manfred Mann, Nazareth, Del Newman, Olivia Newton-John, Robert Palmer, Carly Simon , Small Faces, T. Rex, Rick Wakeman and The Who. (In fact, she appears as “Nurse #2” in Tommy.)

She embarked on a solo career with the U.K.-only release From the Inside in 1977. It would be another ten years before she released an eponymous debut in the States, followed by 1989’s Lady of Time and 1990’s About Love and Life.

She wed the successful singer Joe Brown and had two children, Pete and Sam.  Sam Brown went on to become a popular recording artist in her own right. Vicki Brown’s life was cut woefully short when she died of cancer on 16th June 1991. Since then, a number of CDs have been released to commemorate her, including 1993’s The Collection, 1999’s Look at Me, and 2001’s Forever…

Here she is performing “Stay with Me ’til the Morning”…

Sources:

  1. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/vicki.html
  2. http://www.geocities.co.jp/MusicStar/1905/rock/discography/vickibrown.html
  3. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0114857/
  4. http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/links/0,,409008,00.html
  5. http://www.borntoboogie.net/marctv/pages/dvd1.htm