John Baxter Browning Bryant (January 24, 1957 – November 16, 2019) was an American singer-songwriter, whose greatest commercial popularity was before and during his early teens.
Background
Known professionally as Browning Bryant, he was the only child of Maud and Ray Bryant, and a long-time resident of
Pickens, South Carolina
Pickens, formerly called Pickens Courthouse, is a city in Pickens County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,126 at the 2010 census. Pickens changed its classification from a town to a city in 1998, but it was not reported to the ...
. He attained success singing folk-pop that was uncharacteristically mature and introspective for a pre-teen heartthrob. In 1969, the first of his several songs to generate international sales was ''Games that Grown Up Children Play,'' leading to televised appearances on
The Merv Griffin Show
''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, May 10, 1965 to July 4, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 197 ...
,
The Mike Douglas Show
''The Mike Douglas Show'' was an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went into natio ...
,
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...
,
The Kraft Music Hall
''The Kraft Music Hall'' was a popular old-time radio variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired first on NBC radio from 1933 to 1949.
Radio
''The Kraft Program'' debuted June 26, 1933, as a musical-variety program ...
(10 times),
The Tonight Show
''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 2010� ...
(December 24, 1970), and a brief
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...
career. He was nominated "Best Boy Singer" in a reader poll by ''16 Magazine'', then a favorite with
teenagers
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the t ...
.
In 1974, Bryant's last commercial album was released.
Allen Toussaint
Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, describ ...
produced the album and wrote most of its songs. It featured backing by members of the R&B group The Meters. Though he was 15 and then 16 years old when the album was recorded, his mellifluous vocals are remarkably mature. His three self-penned songs also belied his age, with one, "Cure My Blues", being covered by blues singer
Ellen McIlwaine
Ellen McIlwaine (October 1, 1945 – June 23, 2021) was an American-born singer-songwriter and musician best known for her career as a solo singer, songwriter and slide guitarist.
Biography
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, McIlwai ...
. (
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
calls her version "majestic".) Despite recording in a style drastically different than his earlier work, it turned out that Bryant was well-paired with Toussaint's trademark
syncopated
In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "plac ...
funk.
In the 1970s Bryant briefly ventured into theater with the lead role in a musical road show production of
Tom Sawyer
Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel '' The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), '' Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and '' Tom Sawyer, ...
.
After his career waned, Bryant graduated from
Clemson University
Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...
with a political science degree, and then worked for many years in management for the
Belk
Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, with nearly 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk.com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, ...
department store chain. He continued to write songs and record privately.
Bryant died at home, survived by his parents.
Discography
Commercial albums
;''Patches'' (1969, DOT DLP 25968)
# Patches
# You Mean All the World to Me
# Hey Little Girl
# Running Bear
# Moods of Mary
# What is a Youth
# Tower of Strength
# Games that Grown Up Children Play
# It's a Beautiful Day
# Poppa Says (Dawn Holds Another Day)
# She Thinks I Still Care
# As Usual
;''One Time in a Million'' (1970, RCA LSP 4356)
# One Time in a Million
# Yesterday
# Sweet Caroline
# Don't Wait Till Mornin' Comes
# Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
# For Once in My Life
# Happy Man
# Today
# What the World Needs Now
# Jean
# La la la (If I Had You)
; ''Browning Bryant'' (1974, Reprise MS 2191)
# You Might Say (Toussaint)
# Say You Will (Toussaint)
# Leave the Rest to Molly
# This is My Day (Toussaint)
# Cure My Blues (Bryant)
# Liverpool Fool (Toussaint)
# Blinded by Love (Toussaint)
# Cover Girl (Toussaint)
# Losing (Bryant)
# Performance (Toussaint)
# Home (Bryant)
* Produced by Allen Toussaint
In 2013, "Browning Bryant" was remastered and rereleased as a cd with original art as mini-sleeve by WEA Japan. It is available as a digital download and through major streaming services.
Private recordings
; ''Some Favorites of Mine''
#
The Girl from Ipanema
"Garota de Ipanema" ("The Girl from Ipanema") is a Brazilian bossa nova and jazz song. It was a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s and won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. It was written in 1962, with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Po ...
(DeMorales/Jobim)
# Suddenly (Diamond/Ocean)
# And I Love You So (McLean)
#
The Christmas Song
"The Christmas Song" (commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting by an Open Fire" or, as it was originally subtitled, "Merry Christmas to You") is a classic Christmas song written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé.
The Nat King Cole Trio ...
(Torme)
# The Summer Wind (Mercer/Mancini)
#
The Nearness of You
"The Nearness of You" is a popular song written in 1938 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Ned Washington. The song debuted in the 1938 movie Romance in the Dark.
It is also heard in the 1940 recording In the Mood by Glenn Miller and His Orches ...
(Washington/Carmichael)
# Here's that Rainy Day (Burke/Huesen)
#
Smile
A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile.
Among humans, a smile expresses d ...
(Parsons/Turner/Chaplin)
* Recorded February 9, 1992, at Reflection Sound Studios, Charlotte, North Carolina
* Digitally remixed at Workhorse Studio, Easley, South Carolina
; ''Frankandsince''
# "I Could Write a Book" (
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American ...
,
Lorenz Hart
Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include " Blue Moon", " The Lady Is a Tramp", "Manhattan", " Bewitched, ...
)
# "
Fly Me to the Moon
"Fly Me to the Moon", originally titled "In Other Words", is a song written in 1954 by Bart Howard. The first recording of the song was made in 1954 by Kaye Ballard. Frank Sinatra's 1964 version was closely associated with the Apollo mission ...
" (
Bart Howard
Bart Howard (born Howard Joseph Gustafson, June 1, 1915 – February 21, 2004) was an American composer and songwriter, most notably of the jazz standard "Fly Me to the Moon", which has been performed by Kaye Ballard, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, ...
)
# "I've Got a Crush on You (
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
,
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the ...
)
# "
I've Got You Under My Skin
"I've Got You Under My Skin" is a song written by American composer Cole Porter in 1936. It was introduced that year in the Eleanor Powell musical film ''Born to Dance'' in which it was performed by Virginia Bruce. It was nominated for the A ...
" (
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
)
# "It Had to be You" (
Isham Jones
Isham Edgar Jones (January 31, 1894 – October 19, 1956) was an American bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter.
Career
Jones was born in Coalton, Ohio, United States, to a musical and mining family. His father, Richard Isham Jone ...
,
Gus Kahn
Gustav Gerson Kahn (November 6, 1886October 8, 1941) was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including "Pretty Baby", " Ain't We Got Fun?", " Carolina in the Morning", " Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Go ...
)
# "
Witchcraft
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have u ...
" (
Cy Coleman
Cy Coleman (born Seymour Kaufman; June 14, 1929 – November 18, 2004) was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.
Life and career
Coleman was born Seymour Kaufman in New York City, United States, to Eastern European Jewish parents, ...
,
Carolyn Leigh
Carolyn Leigh (August 21, 1926 – November 19, 1983) was an American lyricist for Broadway, film, and popular songs. She is best known as the writer with partner Cy Coleman of the pop standards "Witchcraft" and " The Best Is Yet to Come". Wi ...
)
# "
Our Love is Here to Stay
"Love Is Here to Stay" is a popular song and jazz standard composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin for the movie ''The Goldwyn Follies'' (1938).
History
"Love Is Here to Stay" was first performed by Kenny Baker in ''The Goldwy ...
" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
# " But Not for Me" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
# "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" (
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was ba ...
, Bob Russell)
* Recorded July 9, 1995, at Reflection Sound Studios, Charlotte, North Carolina
* Digitally remixed at Workhorse Studio, Easley, South Carolina
; ''Merry Christmas From Browning Bryant''
# This Christmas
#
The Christmas Song
"The Christmas Song" (commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting by an Open Fire" or, as it was originally subtitled, "Merry Christmas to You") is a classic Christmas song written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé.
The Nat King Cole Trio ...
# Silver Bells
# Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
# The Little Drummer Boy
# Mary's Little Boy Child
# Do You Hear What I Hear
# What Child is This
#
The First Noel
"The First Nowell", also known as "The First Noel (or Noël)", is a traditional English Christmas carol with Cornish origins, most likely from the early modern period, although possibly earlier.Let it Snow
"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", also known as simply "Let It Snow", is a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in July 1945 in Hollywood, California, during a heat wave as Cahn and Styne imagined cooler conditions ...
# Happy Holidays
* Produced, arranged, all vocals and instruments by Browning Bryant, except Wade Powell, rhythm guitar and Maud Bryant, harmony vocal on ''Silver Bells''.
* Recorded November 2003 at Workhorse Studio, Easley, South Carolina
Various artist compilation albums
* ''Deep Ear'' (1974, Warner Bros. PRO 591); "This is My Day" from the album ''Browning Bryant''.
Singles
* "Games that Grown Up Children Play" / "Hey Little Girl" (1969, Dot 17193)
* "She Thinks I Still Care" / "Poppa Says" (Dot 17236)
* "New Way to Live" / " Patches" (1969, Dot 17311)
* "Little Altar Boy" / "They Stood in Silent Prayer" (1969, Dot 17328)
* "One Time in a Million" / "Tina" (1970, RCA 9825)
* "Liverpool Fool" / "Cover Girl" (1974, Reprise REP 1201)