Her chart career may have foundered, but Sam Brown's music is still earning plaudits
In the deep, dark recesses of every major record company, there lies a
cupboard of shame. A place where a particular type of talent has been tossed. The type which spawned one big hit, decent first album sales, and a modicum of follow-up success. Then came the difficult second album - when the ''Nice Price''
section beckoned more quickly than you can say Tasmin Archer.
When they wanted to make that album that they wanted to make, the cigar-
chompers recoiled in horror, pointing at pictures of Kylie Minogue, and wondering where their next speedboat was coming from.
Most of these feisty young talents flicked a digit rapidly skywards and turned on their heels, taking their musings elsewhere.
Sam Brown could be languishing in that cupboard. Instead, she is halfway through a British tour which arrives at King Tut's in Glasgow tonight, to promote her third album since leaving A&M, ReBoot.
Following her split with A&M and the trauma of her mother's premature death, Brown moved to a village near Auchterarder ''in the middle of nowhere'', with her now-husband, studio engineer Robin Jenkins.
Their children, eight-year-old Vicki and Mohan, who is five, have been born and raised in Scotland, and much of her recording is now done here.
Brown was in her early twenties when Stop! was a hit, and she was already
touched with the double-edged sword of a ''musical background''.
The daughter of chirpy geezer Joe Brown and Vicki, who had been half of the female duo responsible for, among other vocals, the back-up on T Rex classics, she seemed to carry the scourge of Kim Wilde. However, with her brother, Pete, producing the first album, it must have seemed like a musical support system from heaven.
Family connections and years of session singing aside, nothing could prepare her
for the machinations of an international
hit-devouring company.
''I'm fairly easy-going,'' she says, ''and although there were many many things I
didn't want to do in terms of promotion, I just thought: 'Well, I'm learning. Things
will be OK. These people know what
they're doing.' The problem came when I wanted to make music and they wanted me to make records.''
Stop! the album sold 2.5 million, the
follow-up, April Moon, sold a fifth of that. The parting of the ways only came when the album 43 Minutes was presented, a darker, dare we say almost a concept album, which was written as Sam was coping with the grief of her mother's death.
The company was looking for a radio-friendly single; it wasn't there.
''That was the beginning of a sharp,
rapid, commercial decline. It was totally
self-inflicted but not at all deliberate,''
Brown reflects.
''I was somewhat naively constantly surprised that people aren't really interested in real people - it's escapism they're after.''
43 Minutes was released on Pod, a hastily conceived record label and promoted with a tour. Another album, The Box, was released on Demon in 1997 and sold around 17,000 - fairly respectable sales for an artist who had a public profile hovering somewhere below the horizon.
Her vocal experience and dexterity was a saviour in maintaining work ''and making a living''. Brown has been heavily in demand, primarily for Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Band tours where she has progressed from occasional guest artist to an almost permanent feature.
''Working with Jools is so easy and such good fun. The role I have in his shows creates a lot less pressure than when I'm out with my own band. It's usually only about three or four songs so there's scope to really let rip and let the old hair down.''
Brown admits that the work with Holland has fine-tuned how she thinks musically, and the experience of living in Scotland has changed how she thinks about most things. So much so that one dedication on ReBoot is to a long list of people ''who have shown me the Scottish way''.
''I really love the people I live around now. They're solid and straightforward. I love the fact that I open my back door and there's a burn running at the bottom of the garden, and the fact that our kids go to a school where there are only 32 pupils.''
And, like every good parent, she's become involved with the PTA - in her case headlining a show in the local village hall.
Enjoying the after-show refreshments, she was approached by someone who asked if she would like to perform for the women in Cornton Vale.
She says: ''I'm doing it in the middle of October, just after the tour finishes. It will be good to get home. I've been away for about seven months this year with recording and touring. And I'm still trying to get an engine for my bloody Rover P4.''
The first single from ReBoot, In Light Of All That's Gone Before, is perhaps the most radio-friendly release for a while and while it may not see her on Saturday morning TV with Ant and Dec, it's a good hook into the album.
''It's bloody hard at the bottom end of the business. Access to radio play can be difficult, but the regionals have been good to me.
''In some ways it's a blessing I didn't have hit after hit. I'd be telling the company: 'I'm not doing that, that, that, OR that.' In fact, I'd be a f****** nightmare now.''
n Sam Brown plays King Tut's tonight. The album ReBoot is on mustard hut records. She is guest vocalist with Jools Holland at the Clyde Auditorium on Saturday, December 16.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article