Kenneth Brown (born 20 August 1940 – ) was a British guitarist with

The Quarrymen The Quarrymen (also written as "the Quarry Men") are a British skiffle/rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally consisting of Lennon and several schoolfriends, the Quar ...

, a precursor to

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

Early life

Brown was born in Enfield, Middlesex in August 1940, but moved with his family to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

the following year.

Career

Ken Brown was a member of the Les Stewart Quartet with Les Stewart,

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

, and Geoff Skinner. Mona Best opened The Casbah Coffee Club on 29 August 1959, and Brown arranged for the quartet to be its resident band. When Brown missed rehearsals to help decorate The Casbah, Stewart refused to play. Brown and Harrison recruited

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

at short notice to help them fulfil the residency, and used the name of The Quarrymen. They played a series of seven Saturday night engagements in The Casbah for 15 shillings each per night, starting on 29 August to October 1959, featuring Brown, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, but without a drummer, and only one microphone connected to the club's small PA system. The opening night performance was attended by about 300 local teenagers, but as the cellar had no air-conditioning and people were dancing, the temperature rose to a level where it became hard to breathe. Brown injured his leg on 10 October and it was agreed that he could not play, so he rested upstairs while the three future Beatles, Lennon, Harrison, and McCartney played the gig. Mona Best still divided the group's £3 fee (equivalent to £ in ) equally between the four of them. An argument ensued that meant Brown lost his place in the group. Ken Brown formed the Blackjacks with

Pete Best Randolph Peter Best (né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is an English musician known as the drummer of the English rock band the Beatles who was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame. Fired from the group in 1962 ...

(the son of Mona Best) on drums and 'Chas' Newby. The group played at the Casbah until Pete Best was invited to join the Beatles just before their first 1960 trip to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in Germany. The Blackjacks disbanded and Brown moved to London. Brown never established himself as a professional musician.

Autobiography

Brown wrote an autobiography of his experiences initially called ''My Life'' and subsequently retitled ''Some Other Guy!'' The approximately 38,000-word manuscript never found a market and remains unpublished.

Death

Brown suffered from

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

and died at his home in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

aged 69. His body was discovered on 14 June 2010; police determined that he had died about five days earlier.Luke Traynor
Former Quarryman and guitarist who set Beatles on their way, Ken Brown, dies
''

Liverpool Daily Post The ''Liverpool Post'' was a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The newspaper and its website ceased publication on 19 December 2013. Until 13 January 2012 it was a daily morning newspaper, with the tit ...

'', 16 June 2010.

References

Bibliography

* } * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Ken 1940 births 2010 deaths People from Enfield, London English rock guitarists English autobiographers The Quarrymen members Musicians from Liverpool Rhythm guitarists Deaths from emphysema