Gerry Brown - born 9 November 1951, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
USA.
He began playing the drums at the age of five.
He played with soul groups and played in high school with bassist John Lee, with whom he
attended music academy in 1970. In 1971, he moved to New York, where he played for Lionel
Hampton. In 1972 he moved to the Netherlands with Lee to join Chris Hinze's rock jazz group.
With bassist John Lee as co-leader, he recorded a series of albums in the 1970s. Alongside Lee,
he also worked for Jasper van't Hof, Toto Blanke [de], Charlie Mariano, Eef Albers and Gary
Bartz in the mid-1970s. Subsequently, they were members of Larry Coryell's The Eleventh House
for two years; Brown also played for Stanley Clarke and Chick Corea. In 1979, he accompanied
Didier Lockwood at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Brown settled in Berlin for some time in 1982 and worked with George Gruntz, with Joachim Kühn,
and with Chris Beckers [de], but also with Herb Geller, Anne Haigis and with Kraan until he
returned to the United States.
In 1986, he succeeded Billy Cobham in Consortium. For 14 years, he performed with Stevie Wonder
(1992-2004). Since 2000, he has been the drummer for Diana Ross.
Gerry
Brown also worked as a sideman on stage and on recordings, including ones with George Benson,
Michal Urbaniak, Urszula Dudziak, Marcus Miller, Lionel Richie, Sonny Fortune, Alphonso Johnson,
Roberta Flack, Joe Sample, Tom Harrell, Dave Samuels, Chuck Loeb, The George Gruntz Concert Jazz
Band [de], the NDR Bigband [de] (The Spirit of Jimi Hendrix) and Phil Collins. With bassist
Nathan Watts, he recorded the instructional video "R&B Drumming" - Featuring Gerry
Brown and his Motown Sound.
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