Jocelyn Brown facts for kids

Jocelyn Lorette Brown (born November 25, 1950) is an American singer known for her R&B and dance music. Sometimes she is called Jocelyn Shaw. She has had many hit songs, especially in the UK, where 23 of her singles made it onto the charts. Eight of those songs even reached the top 20! She also had a song on the famous Billboard Hot 100 chart all by herself.

About Jocelyn Brown

Early Life and Musical Start

Jocelyn Brown was born on November 25, 1950, in Kinston, North Carolina. Music was a big part of her family! Her aunt, Barbara Roy, was a singer in a group. Her mom, two other aunts, a cousin, and her grandmother were all great singers too. When she was very young, her grandmother took care of her in Kinston.

Her aunt's success in music inspired Jocelyn to become a singer herself. She started by singing in gospel choirs at church in Brooklyn. Later, she became a popular solo singer at her uncle's church in Washington, D.C.. After a while, she moved from gospel music to other types of music. She sang with local bands like 'Machine' and the funk and disco group Kleeer from New York.

Developing Her Career

Jocelyn Brown grew her music career in the late 1970s. She worked with many famous musicians and groups. Some of these included Musique, Dazzle, Cerrone, Inner Life, Change, and Salsoul Orchestra. She also worked with Luther Vandross and Incognito.

In 1980, Jocelyn sang backup for Bette Midler in her concert film Divine Madness. She was one of Midler's backup singers, called "Harlettes."

In 1984, Jocelyn Brown released her own songs as a solo artist. One of her most famous songs was "Somebody Else's Guy". She helped write this song, and it became very popular. It reached number 2 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. It also made it to number 75 on the Hot 100 chart. This song was also the title track of her first album, which came out that same year.

Two years later, she had another big dance hit called "Love's Gonna Get You". Parts of this song have been used in many other songs. Even though she had these hits, her solo career didn't fully take off. So, she kept singing on other artists' records.

Jocelyn has had more than twenty hit songs on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. Four of these songs reached number one! (This doesn't even count two other number one dance hits she had in the late 1970s with Patrick Adams' band, Musique). She still records house music and has had chart hits in the 21st century.

In 1985, she toured the world with Boy George as a backing vocalist for Culture Club. She also appeared on their 1986 album, From Luxury to Heartache. In 1987, she helped Boy George write his UK top 30 hit song, "Keep Me in Mind."

Since 1990, Jocelyn has lived in London. In 1990, the famous line "I've got the power" was taken from her 1985 song "Love's Gonna Get You." This line was used by the group Snap! in their worldwide hit, "The Power." It was also used by hip hop group Boogie Down Productions and was the basis for the UK top 3 hit "I'm Gonna Get You" by Bizarre Inc.

Jocelyn also sang on Right Said Fred's popular song "Don't Talk Just Kiss." In 1994, she released a duet with Kym Mazelle called "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)".

In 1992, George Michael used a part of her song "Somebody Else's Guy" in his dance hit "Too Funky."

Recent Years

Jocelyn Brown appeared on both seasons of BBC One's singing show Just the Two of Us. First, she sang with TV presenter Matt Allwright. Then, she sang with actor John Bardon from EastEnders. In 2006, Jocelyn released a CD called Unreleased.

In 2007, Jocelyn worked with a group called The AllStars. They performed live at music festivals in the UK and recorded songs for their album, All About the Music. She also sang the United States national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", at Wembley Stadium. This was for the first-ever regular season American football game played outside the U.S.

In 2011, she was on another British reality TV show called Popstar to Operastar. She sang an opera song from the musical Carmen but was voted off in the second week.

In June 2012 and 2013, Jocelyn performed at the 'Happy Days Festival' in Esher, Surrey.

Most recently, Jocelyn Brown was featured in Episode 3 of the 2024 PBS TV series Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution.

Music Albums

Jocelyn Brown has released several albums throughout her career. Here is a list of her albums and where they appeared on the US R&B charts:

Hit Singles

Jocelyn Brown has released many singles, both as a solo artist and by featuring on other artists' songs. This table shows some of her hit singles and their highest positions on different music charts around the world.

See also

In Spanish: Jocelyn Brown para niños

• List of Billboard number-one dance club songs
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart
• List of disco artists (F–K)
• List of house music artists