Just Brothers was the American musical duo of the brothers Jimmy and Frank Bryant and several

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

Origins

Frank Bryant became a session musician in the mid-1960s in his hometown Detroit, while Jimmy was completing military service. His early credits included the

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

Gino Washington George "Gino" Washington (born 1946?) is an American singer from Detroit, Michigan. During his recording career, Washington recorded in the genres of rhythm and blues, rock and roll and Northern soul. While attending Pershing High School, he ach ...

's "Gino Is a Coward" and vocals on J.J. Barnes' "Lonely No More" at Mickay's Records. Frank also co-wrote J.J.'s "Deeper in Love", and Steve Mancha's "Let's Party."

Music

After Jimmy's return, the Bryant Brothers were recruited into a session group for Winifred Terry of

the Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/Soul music, soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, f ...

by the group's drummer Richard Allen. The session was intended to record a song called "Honey" and a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

. The musical tracks were completed when the hired vocalist was deemed unfit to record the song. Frank took the opportunity to point out his and Jimmy's vocal talent. Convinced by Bryant, Terry agreed to give them a stab at recording the two songs. At the subsequent session Bryant Brothers sang on "Honey" and their songs "Things Will Get Better" and "She Broke His Heart." The track recorded to be the B-side was titled "Sliced Tomatoes", and released in 1965 backed with "Things Will Get Better", on the Lupine record label. Later that year a pairing of "She Broke His Heart" and "Things Will Get Better" was released on Terry's Empire Record Label. "Carlena" was released on Terry's Garrison label. None of the tracks were successful and the Bryant Brothers returned to session work. In 1969, with new member Willie Kendrick, the Just Brothers negotiated a deal at

Johnny Nash John Lester Nash Jr. (August 19, 1940October 6, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter, best known in the United States for his 1972 hit " I Can See Clearly Now". Primarily a reggae and pop singer, he was one of the first non-Jamaican artists ...

's Jomada label. They recorded one unreleased track before being dropped by the label. Terry helped out the group again organizing the re-release of "Sliced Tomatoes" on the Music Merchant label in 1972. The Just Brothers recorded two new tracks, "Tears Ago" and "You've Got The Love To Make Me Over", for the Music Merchant label originally meant for an uncompleted album. These ended up backing "Sliced Tomatoes" on its single releases. "Sliced Tomatoes" became a Northern soul staple. The song was later sampled in

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...

's 1998 single "

The Rockafeller Skank "The Rockafeller Skank", usually called "Funk Soul Brother" by fans, is a song by English big beat musician and DJ Fatboy Slim. It was released as the lead single from his second studio album, ''You've Come a Long Way, Baby'' (1998), on 8 June 19 ...

". In 2009, it was used in Welsh

public information film Public information films (PIFs) are a series of government-commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the United Kingdom. The name is sometimes also applied, ''faute de mieux'', to similar films from other countries, ...

, ''

Cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

''.

Later work

The Bryant Brothers later fronted a local group named the Firebirds. Jimmy Bryant died in 1996.

References

{{Authority control American rhythm and blues musical groups Sibling musical duos American musical duos Northern soul musicians