# Cleo Brown

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{{short description|American blues and jazz vocalist and pianist (1909–1995)}}{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name              = Cleo Brown
| background        = 
| image             = 
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1909|12|8}}
| birth_place       = [Meridian, Mississippi](/source/Meridian%2C_Mississippi), U.S.
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1995|4|15|1909|12|8}}
| death_place       = [Denver](/source/Denver), Colorado, U.S.
| genre             = {{hlist|[Jazz](/source/Jazz)|[blues](/source/blues)|[boogie-woogie](/source/boogie-woogie)}}
| occupation        = Musician
| instrument        = {{hlist|[Piano](/source/Piano)|[Vocals](/source/Singing)}}
| years_active      = 1923–1980s
| label             = {{hlist|[Decca](/source/Decca_Records)|[Capitol](/source/Capitol_Records)}}
}}

'''Cleopatra Brown''' (December 8, 1909<ref name="bare">{{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues - A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger Publishers| location= Santa Barbara| pages=113 | isbn= 978-0313344237}}</ref> – April 15, 1995),<ref name="Dead">{{cite web|author=Doc Rock |url=http://www.thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1995.html |title=The Dead Rock Stars Club 1994 - 1995 |publisher=Thedeadrockstarsclub.com |date= |accessdate=2014-07-12}}</ref> known as '''Cleo Brown''', '''C. Patra Brown''' or '''Cleo Patra Brown''',  was an American [blues](/source/blues) and [jazz](/source/jazz) vocalist and pianist. She was the first woman instrumentalist to receive the [NEA](/source/National_Endowment_for_the_Arts) Jazz Masters Fellowship.<ref name="NEA">{{cite web |title =NEA Jazz Masters: Cleo Brown |publisher =NEA |url =https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/cleo-brown |accessdate =2017-09-06 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20190410102806/https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/cleo-brown |archive-date =2019-04-10 |url-status =dead }}</ref>

==Life==
While Brown's place of birth has been published as [Meridian, Mississippi](/source/Meridian%2C_Mississippi), Brown told W. Balliett in a 1986 interview published in ''[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker)'' that she was born in [De Kalb, Mississippi](/source/De_Kalb%2C_Mississippi), shortly before her father took a position as a pastor in Meridian.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=W. Balliett|title=Scoop|magazine=[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker)|issue=62|date=10 November 1986|page=132}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Grove |author=Barry Kernfeld|date=2003 |title=Brown, Cleo(patra) |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J060800}}</ref> She played piano in the [Baptist church](/source/Baptists) as a child. In 1919, her family moved to [Chicago](/source/Chicago), and she began learning piano from her brother who worked with ["Pinetop" Smith](/source/Pinetop_Smith), playing [boogie-woogie](/source/boogie-woogie) for dances.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Jazz Women at the Keyboard|last=Unterbrink|first=Mary|publisher=McFarland|year=1983|isbn=0899500749|location=Jefferson, NC|pages=[https://archive.org/details/jazzwomenatkeybo00unte/page/n66 57]–60|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/jazzwomenatkeybo00unte}}</ref> From around 1923, she worked in [vaudeville](/source/vaudeville), as well as taking gigs in clubs.<ref name=":0" /> In 1935, she replaced [Fats Waller](/source/Fats_Waller) as pianist on New York radio station [WABC](/source/WHSQ).<ref name="NEA"/><ref name="AM"/>

From the 1930s to the 1950s, she toured the United States regularly, recording for [Decca Records](/source/Decca_Records) (among other labels) along the way and recording many humorous, ironic titles such as "Breakin' in a New Pair of Shoes", "[Mama Don't Want No Peas an' Rice an' Cocoanut Oil](/source/Mama_Don't_Want_No_Peas_an'_Rice_an'_Cocoanut_Oil)", "When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan", and "The Stuff Is Here and It's Mellow". Her [stride piano](/source/Stride_(music)) playing was often compared to Fats Waller,<ref name="AM">{{cite web|title =Cleo Brown |last=Chadbourne |first=Eugene |publisher=[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic) |url ={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p184661/biography|pure_url=yes}} | accessdate =2009-12-20}}</ref> and she is credited as an influence on [Dave Brubeck](/source/Dave_Brubeck), who played during the intermissions of her shows, and [Marian McPartland](/source/Marian_McPartland). She played regularly at clubs in Chicago, toured widely, and recorded for both Decca and [Capitol Records](/source/Capitol_Records).<ref name="NEA"/>

Brown began to shy away from singing bawdy blues songs because of her deepening religious beliefs, and, in 1953, she was baptized, retired from music, and became a nurse in 1959. Jazz biographies frequently listed her as deceased due to her absence from music.<ref name=":0" /> The song "Sweet Cleo Brown" was recorded by Brubeck in tribute to her.<ref>[Liner notes](/source/Liner_notes), "Dave Brubek Plays and Plays and Plays" [Fantasy Records](/source/Fantasy_Records), Catalog #3259. Recorded 1957, remastered 1992. CD catalog # OJCCD-716.</ref>

From the mid-1970s until 1981, she performed under the name of C. Patra Brown on radio shows in [Denver](/source/Denver), Colorado. She replaced boogie-woogie music with slower, inspirational music.<ref name=":0" /> She returned to record again, and performed on [National Public Radio](/source/NPR).<ref name="AM" />

She gave birth to a son, Matthew, and had four grandchildren.<ref name=":0" /> She died on April 15, 1995, in Denver, Colorado.<ref name="Dead" />

==Discography==
* ''Living in the Afterglow'' ([Audiophile](/source/Audiophile_Records), 1989)
* ''1935–1951'' ([Chronological Classics](/source/Chronological_Classics))

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Cleo}}
Category:1909 births
Category:1995 deaths
Category:American women jazz singers
Category:American jazz singers
Category:American blues singers
Category:Singers from Mississippi
Category:Singers from Chicago
Category:Musicians from Meridian, Mississippi
Category:Savoy Records artists
Category:American jazz pianists
Category:20th-century American women pianists
Category:20th-century American pianists
Category:20th-century American women singers
Category:Jazz musicians from Illinois
Category:Jazz musicians from Mississippi
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:Decca Records artists
Category:NEA Jazz Masters

{{US-jazz-singer-stub}}
{{US-jazz-pianist-stub}}
{{US-blues-musician-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cleo Brown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleo_Brown) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleo_Brown?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.