Who was/is Gene Brown ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
Gene Brown
GENE BROWN's Big Door, recorded at Hollywood's Goldstar studios in November 1957, has a chequered history, appearing first on Bill McCall's 4-STAR Artist Promotion label (Gene Brown 28) and then on 4-STAR and DOT. Wayland Chandler's Playboy (4-STAR 1716) was covered for DOT by Bob Denton and it's conceivable that McCall leased Big Door (4-STAR 1717) to Randy Wood to avoid another DOT cover version. (It's been said that Wood sometimes told cloutless producers that he'd cover them with Pat Boone unless they sold their masters to him.)
As soon as DOT issued Big Door in February 1958, 4-STAR copied the tune with Jack Tucker, another of the many hillbilly singers exploited by the unscrupulous Bill McCall. Although Gene Brown wrote Big Door, McCall added his alias, W.S. Stevenson, to the credits just in case there was money in it. In the event, none of these intriguing ploys were rewarded at the cash register.
Despite subsequent records on STARDAY, STOP, GUSTO and B&E, Brown – last heard of in Springfield, Missouri – left no clues as to his origins or destiny.
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