Dennis Emmanuel Brown was born on 1 February 1957 in Kingston, Jamaica, the son of actor Arthur Brown, and grew up surrounded by music in the Waterhouse district, where his father's record store and sound system gave him early exposure to reggae, rocksteady and ska.
Brown was discovered as a child prodigy by promoter Byron Lee, and at age 12 he recorded 'No Man Is an Island' at Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd's legendary Studio One, a song that established him as a singing sensation and earned him the nickname 'Boy Wonder of Jamaica'.
Before he was 16, Brown had already worked with many of Jamaica's leading recording artists and producers, and throughout the 1970s he became a central figure in reggae and the burgeoning lovers rock subgenre, releasing a prolific string of albums over his career.
Bob Marley repeatedly named Brown as his favourite singer, dubbing him 'The Crown Prince of Reggae', a title that stuck for the rest of Brown's career and reflected the deep respect he commanded among his fellow reggae artists.
Across more than three decades, Brown recorded over 75 albums and received two Grammy nominations for Best Reggae Album; he died of complications related to pneumonia in 1999 at age 42, and was posthumously inducted into the International Reggae and World Music Awards Hall of Fame.
- Dubbed 'The Crown Prince of Reggae' by Bob Marley
- Recorded over 75 albums across a 30-year career
- Two Grammy Award nominations for Best Reggae Album
- Named one of NPR's 50 Great Voices of all time
- Posthumously inducted into the International Reggae and World Music Awards Hall of Fame
- Talent recognised early can define an entire career. Brown's childhood recording at Studio One at age 12 set the trajectory for over 75 subsequent albums.
- Peer recognition can become a lasting legacy. Bob Marley's praise and nickname for Brown became the title by which he is remembered worldwide.