Dee Brown was born in Detroit, Michigan. His full name is Demitris Edwards Brown and he is the youngest of three children. His parents George and Roceal Brown exposed him to music at a young age. As a child, Brown can remember hearing Jazz from his father’s favorite artists: Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus, Les McCann, Cannonball Adderly, King Pleasure and Charles Christian. His mother, on the other hand, was into the Motown Sound. She would play music by the Four Tops, The Miracles, The Jackson 5 and James Brown. This started dee on his way to learn elements of several different forms and styles of music.
Brown first became interested in guitar while in elementary school. One of his classmates could listen to a song on the radio and play it back on his guitar. Watching his classmate play fascinated dee and he wanted to emulate his classmate. He received his first guitar as a Christmas present from his Grandmother. Immediately started taking lessons with the hopes of one day being able to play like B.B. King.
Brown continued to advance with his playing skills and while still in high school, he decided to form his own group named ’Foreplay’. The group played all over Detroit and attracted the attention of producer Quincy Jones who offered them a record deal. Brown declined to be a part of the deal due to a conflict with the group’s image.
After college, Brown decided to form an R&B group called ’One Wish’ - similar to ’Boyz II Men’ and ’Silk’. The group released an album called ’I Feel Like Getting Romantic’ on the TRC record label. The album gave the group a top 100 single called ’Tell Me Why’ in both the country and rhythm and blues categories. ’One Wish’ was also nominated for a Nashville music award and won the best single by a local artist Metro Times Detroit Music Award.
For his next project, Dee wanted to create an album featuring him on guitar. With this concept in mind he put together a few songs, and began collaborating with a saxophonist Gentry Shelby to form ’Shelby Brown’. Together they put out an album on TEG Records called Miracle. The song, ’Come Into My Heart’ rose to 1 on the DMX Smooth Jazz music chart and was written and produced by Dee Brown.
Brown’s solo project ’No Time to Waste’ was released on nuGroove/Sony/BMG/ Records on October 14Th 2007 where his skills as a guitarist, composer, producer and arranger were showcased, for the first time. Brown’s long-time friend & producer Gerald Mitchell of Los Hermanos helped him achieve a sound targeted for Smooth Jazz listeners as guitar and saxophone leads were equally balanced. Brown’s ’No Time to Waste’ is currently available on CD or download. Pick up your copy today!!!
