b. 25th November 1950, Kinston, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Jocelyn Brown comes from a musical family.
Her aunt, Barbara Roy, sung in the female group Ecstasy, Passion and Pain (EPP).
Her grandmother, mother, two aunts, and a cousin all sang.
Brown spent her pre-school years with her grandmother in Kinston, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Her aunt's success with Ecstasy, Passion and Pain provided the inspiration for Brown to spread her musical wings.
Beginning in church and singing with various gospel choirs out of Brooklyn, Brown built up a solid following, becoming a favored soloist at her uncle's church in Washington, D.C.
Gradually, Brown left gospel for secular music, disco in particular, singing with local bands like Machine and Kleeer.
She was a member of Monty Rock's pseudo soul group Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes, who scored with 'Get Dancing,' and Musique, who waxed 'Keep on Jumpin' and the risque 'Push Push in the Bush.'
Brown was travelling all over the world doing what she loved best, singing.
At home she worked with producer Greg Diamond on different projects, including the group Change, which featured a male vocalist by the name of Luther Vandross.
She kept busy touring with Change and doing studio and live background vocals for a lengthy list of artists, including John Lennon, Roberta Flack, Janis Joplin, Dan Hartman, Bette Midler, George Benson and Boy George.
When the members of Change disbanded, Brown started recording with other groups like Inner Life on Salsoul Records, where she solo'd on a superlative disco version of 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' and established herself on the dance club circuit.
All the while she kept her bank account afloat by doing session work throughout the late '70's and early '80's.
In 1981, Jocelyn released 'If I Can't Have Your Love' on the Spring based Posse Records.
The track has become highly collectable amongst soul fans.
Around 1982 she worked in the movie 'Divine Madness', starring Bette Midler.
Returning east, she recorded 'Caught Up in a One Night Love Affair,' a very popular number in New York's disco clubs like Studio 54, Paradise Garage, The Fever, Harlem World and Bond's International.
In the autumn of 1983, Brown teamed with her sister Annette and wrote 'Somebody Else's Guy,' her most popular recording to date.
The track reached the number two position of Billboard's Black singles chart and number 13 in the U.K.
In 1985, an acappella version of her tune 'Love Is Gonna Get You', was utilised by the U.K. band Snap with her vocals pitching in with the line 'I Got The Power'.
In 1991, Jocelyn recorded with the UK band Incognito singing a version of Side Effects 'Always There'.
She has appeared on Manu Dibango's 'Soul Makossa' LP, cut 'Ego Maniac' and 'Whatever Satisfies You' (produced by Hubert Eaves III), recorded sides as a duet with Kym Mazelle in 'No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)' and 'Love Me the Right Way,' recorded 'Riding on the Wings' with Motiv 8 and appeared in concert with Roy Ayers and Ray Gaskins (her cousin) overseas.
Another cousin, La Rita Gaskins, is a singer and musician in New York.
Ray resides in London and is a noted saxophonist, songwriter and producer.
Brown continues to write songs with her sister Annette, who also helps manage her family members' creative activities.
Like her brother, Brown lives in London (since 1990) and continues to be an in demand vocalist.
A new outing was released in 2006, entitled 'Unreleased'.
Albums:
One From The Heart (Jellybean 1987)
Somebody Else's Guy (Vinyl Dreams 1989)
Diva (Black Tiger 1996)
Unreleased (Digis Oul Records 2006)
