Samantha Brown was born on 7 October 1964, in Stratford, east London, England. She is the daughter of musician Joe Brown and session singer Vicki Brown.
At the age of 12, she sang backing vocals on the Small Faces’ album In The Shade. During her formative years, Sam also sang with artists such as Mark Knopfler, Spandau Ballet and Sade.
After recording a number of demos and shopping around for a deal, Sam finally got the chance to showcase her vocal brilliance on her debut A&M album Stop! (1987). After some success in Holland and Germany, the album was eventually a Top 5 hit in her native UK and reached the Top 20 Australia.
The title track – also called Stop! – was a brilliant debut and matched the album’s performance on the UK singles charts (#4), reaching #3 in Australia in early 1989. A second single – Can I Get A Witness – was much funkier and resulted in another top 20 hit.
Released in 1990, her sophomore album April Moon featured less soul/R&B flavoured tracks and more of a straight pop sound. The first two singles – With A Little Love and Kissing Gate – were both well-received, reaching the Top 50 in the UK and Australia.
Personal tragedy struck for Sam in 1991 with the death of her mother Vicki (a classical singer and pianist) from breast cancer, and Sam’s next album, 43 Minutes, took on a sombre, self-reflective tone.
Her label A&M refused to release the album, arguing that they wanted a commercial sounding single included, but Brown stuck to her convictions which resulted in a long drawn out legal battle, that eventually saw Brown win the rights to the music and finally release the album in the UK in 1992 on her own Pop Music label.
In 1994 Sam Brown took a break from her solo career to work with Pink Floyd on their album Division Bell, then joining the band on their world tour. The following year, she worked extensively with Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and in November 1996 she went on tour with her father’s newest group Subway Soopa Stringz.
Sam returned to the studio to record the 1997 album Box and continued to record at irregular intervals – from Reboot (2001) to Of The Moment (2007).
In 2007, Sam lost her singing voice and has not been able to sing since. In a 2013 interview, she explained that “I can’t get vocal cord closure and achieve the proper pitch simultaneously. It feels like there are some muscles that aren’t working.” A cyst was found on her vocal cords and successfully removed, but problems with her voice persisted, leaving her unable to hold a note.
