Jim Ed Brown - Biography
Jim Ed Brown is one of country music's major figures, having started his career in the mid 1950s with his two sisters, as a trio called The Browns. Their biggest hit came in 1959 with "The Three Bells"- a folk styled pop song that reached number one on the Billboard charts, creating a career for the then 25 year old that continues to this day. Over the next 8 years The Browns would chart singles such as "Scarlet Ribbons" and "The Old Lamplighter." They joined the Grand Old Opry in 1963. In 1967, Jim Ed's two sisters wanted to retire from the music business and raise families, so Jim Ed struck out on his own as a solo artist, having a Top Ten hit almost instantly with "Pop A Top," a song detailing the woes of a man sitting at a bar, ruminating about the woman who had left him. This song was to become Jim Ed's signature hit, a drinking game born from it's existence as well. From 1967 to 1975 JIm Ed regularly placed songs in the Top 40 Country charts, many of these- such as "Morning," "Angel's Sunday," "Sometime Sunshine," and "Southern Loving" becoming staples of 1970s Country and A.M. pop radio- much cross over airtime, without necessarily charting.
In 1976 Jim Ed teamed up with country singer Helen Cornelius in what would become one of the biggest hit duos of the decade, producing a monster number one hit with "I Don't Want To Have To Marry You," from the LP of the same name, which also produced the #2 hit "Saying Hello, saying I Love You, Saying Goodbye." The duo would have many more hits before disbanding in 1981. Jim Ed Brown died June 11, 2015 from lung cancer. He was 81.
