Music
Eddie "Bongo" Brown
1932–1984 · percussionist
Funk Brothers conga and bongo player, Motown's leading hand percussionist, heard on "I Second That Emotion" and "What's Going On".
- Born
Clarksdale, Mississippi- Died
Los Angeles, California
aged 52- Birth name
- Edward James Brown
- Also known as
- Bongo Brown
- Detroit years
- c. 1960–1972
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Born in Mississippi and raised in Memphis, Brown moved to Detroit and joined Motown's studio band in 1962. Jack Ashford recalled that he started as Marvin Gaye's valet and took up bongos when Gaye began performing live. Brown played congas, bongos, gourd and claves and for a decade was on nearly every important Motown release, including the Temptations' "(I Know) I'm Losing You", the Miracles' "I Second That Emotion", Gladys Knight & the Pips' "If I Were Your Woman" and Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On", where his congas help set the song's relaxed groove. Known as the studio joker, he never learned to read music. Unlike most Funk Brothers he followed Motown to Los Angeles in 1972, playing on Let's Get It On and Songs in the Key of Life. He died there in 1984.
Highlights
- Joined the Funk Brothers in 1962
- Congas and bongos on "What's Going On" and "I Second That Emotion"
- Followed Motown to Los Angeles in 1972
- Played on Songs in the Key of Life (1976)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Recorded here · 1962–1972
Motown Museum
Played on Motown sessions in Studio A, the basement room the musicians nicknamed the "Snake Pit".