Tyrone Brunson (born Calvin Tyrone Brunson; March 22, 1956 – May 25, 2013)
was an American singer and musician, who played the bass guitar. One of his most successful singles was an
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...
titled "The Smurf" (1982), which reached #14 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
R&B chart
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 ...
in 1983 and led to further dance records about
The Smurfs
''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and in ...
.
Life and career
Calvin Tyrone Brunson was born in
Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
In his early career he played in several local groups. He was the leader of the mid-1970s funk band The Family. Later he was the bassist for the late-1970s funk band Osiris. His first single, "The Smurf", released in the UK on the
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
label, entered the
UK singles chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
on December 25, 1982, and reached #52; it remained in the chart for 5 weeks.
"The Smurf" appeared on Brunson's debut studio album, ''Sticky Situation''. In 1983, the follow-up U.S. single, the album's title track, reached #25 on the R&B chart.
In 1984, Brunson released his second studio album, ''Fresh''. While the title track reached #22 on the R&B chart,
no other singles made a significant dent on the chart. In 1987, Brunson released his third studio album, ''Love Triangle'', but with no successful singles, the album fizzled on the charts. Later on, Brunson was a backing vocalist, most notably for the
R&B/
pop trio
Levert
LeVert was an American R&B vocal group from Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Formed in 1983, LeVert was composed of Sean and Gerald Levert (sons of Eddie Levert, founder and lead singer of R&B/Soul vocal group O'Jays) and Marc Gordon.Wells, Ch ...
.
After leaving the music business in the 1990s, he became an
IT instructor.
Tyrone Brunson died on May 25, 2013, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 57.
Discography
Albums
Singles
References
External links
Tyrone Brunson discography at Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunson, Tyrone
1956 births
2013 deaths
American male pop singers
Singers from Washington, D.C.
American electronic musicians
American dance musicians
American electro musicians