Horace Brown (born in

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

R&B singer. He is the son of an

Apostolic Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

minister.

Life and career

Brown played a variety of

instruments Instrument may refer to: Science and technology * Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft * Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific lab ...

in his school's marching band and got a break when

DeVante Swing Donald Earle DeGrate Jr. (born September 29, 1969), better known by his stage name DeVanté Swing, is an American record producer, singer, rapper and songwriter. He is the older brother of fellow Jodeci member Dalvin DeGrate. Career In his ea ...

Jodeci Jodeci ( ) is an American R&B quartet consisting of members DeVanté Swing, Mr. Dalvin, K-Ci, and JoJo. Formed in 1989 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Jodeci's members began their musical careers as two duos of brothers and, after years of limi ...

heard one of his demos. He then earned spots doing

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

for Christopher Williams and some

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

and producing (

Terri & Monica Terri & Monica was an R&B duo from the early 1990s which featured Terri Robinson (August 12, 1970) and Monica Payne (February 22, 1969), who were members of the short-lived late 1980s New Jack Swing R&B group The Gyrlz along with third member Tar ...

's ''Systa'' album). He then managed to get a recording contract with

Uptown Records Uptown Records is an American record label, based in New York City, founded in 1986 by onetime rapper Andre Harrell. From the late 1980s into the early 1990s, it was a leader in R&B and hip hop. During the 1990s, aided by its A&R worker Sean ...

after president Andre Harrell saw him in a

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

session. In 1994, while with Uptown Records he record his first album, Brown spurred controversy when his

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

"Taste Your Love" was released. The single was an ode to

oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth) and the throat. Cunnilingus is oral sex p ...

and was banned in parts of the South. Despite the press around the single, it failed to perform well on the

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tab ...

. One more single ("Let Me Know") was released as a promotional 12", but was cancelled as his Uptown Records album was shelved. When Andre Harrell of Uptown moved to Motown, he brought Brown with him. Motown promoted Brown by releasing two more singles ("One for the Money" and "Things We Do for Love") and in 1996, released his self-titled debut album. The album featured

Sean "Puffy" Combs Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent direct ...

and remixes featured Foxy Brown and Jay-Z. The album's final single was "How Can We Stop" featuring

Faith Evans Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American singer and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 for a career in the music business. After working as a backing vocalist for Al ...

, although three more songs ("Why Why Why", "I Want You Baby" and "Trippin") were released as promotional 12" singles. Since the release of his debut album, Brown has done a couple of collaborations with artists such as Naudy,

Mr. Cheeks Terrance Kelly (born March 28, 1971), known professionally as Mr. Cheeks, is an American rapper best known for his work with the musical group Lost Boyz, and as a solo artist with the single "Lights, Camera, Action!". Biography 1991–2019: L ...

, Lisha, Royal Flush and PrinZe Gabriel. In 2000, he released a single "Shake It Up" on the international label Double H Production with Cut Killer. The following year, he released another single "This Is the One" on Money Talks Entertainment with rapper

Styles P David R. Styles (born November 28, 1974), better known by his stage name Styles P (also known mononymously as Styles), is an American rapper, best known as a member of hip hop group the Lox, alongside childhood friends Sheek Louch and Jadakiss ...

. As of 2013, he toured overseas with Keith Sweat and other R&B artists. He has also joined the upcoming reality series, ''Come Back Kings'', with Ed Lover,

Calvin Richardson Calvin Richardson (born December 16, 1976) is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter. In 1999, he released his debut solo album ''Country Boy''. Career In the mid 1990s, Richardson went solo and signed with Universal Records. His debut al ...

, David "Davinch" Chance (of

Ruff Endz Ruff Endz is an American R&B duo, consisting of members David "Davinch" Chance and Dante "Chi" Jordan from Baltimore, Maryland. They are best known for their hit singles "No More" and " Someone to Love You" Originally part of a quartet, the two ...

), Jeff Sanders, Jameio,

and

Black Rob Robert Ross (June 8, 1968 – April 17, 2021), known professionally as Black Rob, was an American rapper who was signed to Bad Boy Records. He was best known for his 1999 single " Whoa!", which peaked at number 43 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ...

Discography

Albums

Singles

Collaborations

*"This Christmas" (with missjones) (1994) *"Party Naughty" (with Naudy) (1998) *"Friday Night" (with Mr. Cheeks) (2001) *"I Want That" (with Lisha) (2007) *"Never Should've" (with Royal Flush) (2008) *"Rock the Party" (with PrinZe Gabriel) (2013)

References

External links

Horace Brown bioOfficial Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Horace Living people 21st-century African-American male singers Singers from Connecticut American contemporary R&B singers Motown artists Year of birth missing (living people)