Gerry “The Gov.” Brown is a recording engineer, mixer and

music producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, best known for his work with artists including

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed " The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston i ...

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Eve ...

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million reco ...

, Madonna, Sting,

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

, Phil Collins, Marcus Miller,

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Dav ...

and

Victor Wooten Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group's formation in 1988 and a member of the band SMV with two other ...

. He is credited on multiple RIAA Gold and Platinum certified albums. Brown has won 2 Grammy awards, one in the Best Contemporary Jazz Album category for his work as a producer and engineer on Stanley Clarke's 2010 album The Stanley Clarke Band and another one in the

Best R&B Album The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the R&B music genre. Honors ...

category for his work as an engineer on John Legend's 2020 album

Bigger Love ''Bigger Love'' is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Legend. It was released on June 19, 2020, through Columbia Records. The album includes the singles " Conversations in the Dark", "Actions", "Bigger Love", ...

. He also won a Billboard Award for his work as a producer on the 1993 single “ Love Is” by

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, and fashion designer. She gained recognition as the first African-American woman to receive the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She resign ...

and

Brian McKnight Brian Kelly McKnight (born June 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, radio host and multi-instrumentalist. He is most recognized for his strong head voice, high belting range and melisma. McKnight is known for h ...

Early life and career

Brown's interest in recording technology started at a young age. At age 5, he received a tape recorder as a gift, which he used to record sounds around him. During his teenage years, Brown played the trombone for the

Los Angeles High School Los Angeles High School is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are royal blue and white and the teams are called the Romans. Los Angeles High School is a pub ...

band. The school band director invited Brown to work at his home studio and continued to mentor him in recording engineering after graduating high school. Brown obtained a degree at Sound Masters Recording Engineer School. In 1977, he started working at ABC Recording Studios in Los Angeles, organizing the studio's

magnetic tapes Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magne ...

. The studio was later known by the names Scott/Sundstorm Recording Studios, Concorde Recording Studios and then Lion Share Studios. Six months after he started working at Concorde, Brown was promoted to assistant engineer. There, he engineered Debra Law's album "Very Special", produced by Ronnie Laws and

Hubert Laws Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 40 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhythm- ...

. Brown later became a freelance engineer in 1982. In 1988, Ed Eckstein, who at the time was president of

Wing Records Wing Records was a record label subsidiary of Mercury Records founded in 1955, that found its greatest success during the late 1950s. In 1986, the label was revived by Mercury's parent company, PolyGram and the label had brief success with R&B ...

, hired Brown to mix the single "

Lay Your Troubles Down "Lay Your Troubles Down" is the third single for Angela Winbush Angela Lisa Winbush (born January 18, 1955) is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who rose to fame first in the 1980s R&B duo René & Angela, a ...

" by

Angela Winbush Angela Lisa Winbush (born January 18, 1955) is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who rose to fame first in the 1980s R&B duo René & Angela, also scoring hits as a solo artist. To date, Winbush has sold over ...

and

Ronald Isley Ronald Isley (; born May 21, 1941) is an American recording artist, songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor. Isley is the lead singer and founding member of the family music group The Isley Brothers. Early life Born in 1941 to Sally ...

. The song peaked at Nr. 10 on the

Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

chart. In 1991, Brown worked on Vanessa William's album " The Comfort Zone" for PolyGram. Brown continued working with Eckstein and moved to New York in 1992 when Eckstein became co-president of PolyGram. While in New York, Brown also worked on singles for Capitol Records. He returned to Los Angeles in 1996. Brown engineered and mixed tracks on Alicia Keys' 2001 album "

Songs in A Minor ''Songs in A Minor'' is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Alicia Keys, released on June 5, 2001, by J Records. Keys began writing songs for the album in 1995 at age 14 and recording the album in 1998 for Columbia Records, ...

". Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson was recording at the studio next to Brown. Questlove describes Brown's recording sessions: ''"Gerry is world famous for his all-year-round Christmas decorations during his sessions"''. Brown currently works with engineer Bobby Campbell under the name "Mixed by Humanz". They mixed John Legend's 2020 album "

", produced during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Because of the mobility limitations due to the pandemic, Brown and Campbell mixed the album in their home studios, working remotely.

Selected credits

Albums

References

External links

*
Gerry Brown at Recording Academy
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Gerry American audio engineers Living people Musicians from Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people) Engineers from California Mixing engineers