rip mel brown

When I was doing concert promotion and doing part-time booking for the Comfort Zone, I had a chance to see Mel Brown in action during his sound check. What a great way to spend the late afternoon. After his rehearsal, I was able to talk with him few for a few minutes about the business and being a blues performer in Toronto. He had so many stories. So much insight. So crafted and experienced, but still so humble and innocent. Mel Brown, I'm thankful for that hour we spent together that summer afternoon at the Silver Dollar. Your Sound will be missed. Rise In Power.

Legendary bluesman Mel Brown has died in Kitchener, Ont., at the age of 69.

Brown was admitted to the intensive care unit at St. Mary’s Hospital on March 1 with a collapsed lung and never made it home.

Miss Angel, Brown’s longtime wife and partner, was at his side when he died Friday afternoon of complications from emphysema.

Soft-spoken and humble in life, Brown will be celebrated and remembered in death as one of the most talented blues guitarists to come out of the Mississippi Delta.

Born in Jackson, Miss., the cradle of the Delta Blues, on Oct. 7, 1939, Brown lived in the music centres of Los Angeles, Nashville and Austin before settling in Kitchener in 1989.

Brown played and recorded with a long roster of famed musicians, including B.B. King, T-bone Walker, Stevie Ray Vaughn, John Lee Hooker, David Bowie, Sonny and Cher, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.