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This 2000 release in the Savoy Blues Legends series compiles 36 digitally-remastered tracks (some of the previously unreleased) recorded by Nappy Brown (born Napoleon Brown in Charleston, North Carolina on October 12, 1929) for Savoy Records, a label launched in Newark, New Jersey in 1942 by Herman Lubinsky specifically to record Blues, Jazz, Black Gospel and R&B artists. It also comes with detailed and informative liner notes written by one of the best in the business, Colin Escott.Like many Black artists from the Southern states, Nappy got his start in music singing Gospel with The Selah Jubilee Singers before pursuing a career in R&B in 1954. Which didn't get off to a great start as neither of his first two releases made any headway on the national listings I Wonder (What's Wrong With Me/That Man on Savoy 1129 and Is It True ... Is It True?/Two Faced Woman (And A Lyin' Man) on Savoy 1135. All but Is It True are included here.Then came the bouncy Don't Be Angry, which Nappy co-wrote with Rose Marie McCoy and Fred Mendelsohn, on Savoy 1155 in early 1955, and by late April/early May it was peaking at # 2 R&B and # 25 Billboard Pop Top 100 b/w the soulful It's Really You (erroneously listed at track 6 in Disc 1 as Is It Really You?). His royalties increased when Don't Be Angry was quickly covered by The Crew Cuts at Mercury, reaching # 14 Top 100. Later that July he had Pitter Patter, written by Rose Marie McCoy, top out at # 10 R&B on Savoy 1162 b/w There'll Come A Day. Some pressings showed the title as Piddily Patter Patter and it's worth noting that the song was featured in the 1990 John Waters film Cry-Baby starring Johnny Depp.Then came a lean stretch when nothing worked - Well, Well, Well, Baby-La/Just A Little Love on Savoy 1167 and *Dood'll, I Love You (Deedle I Do)/*Sittin' In The Dark on Savoy 1176, both in 1955, and in early 1956, Open Up That Door (And Walk Right In My Heart)/Pleasin' You on Savoy 1187 and Love Baby/Am I? on Savoy 1196 (the two sides preceded by an asterisk (*) are not included here). So Savoy reached back to a song he cut in 1955 with The Zippers quartet called Little By Little, written by McCoy and Charles Singleton, and in January 1957 it made it to # 57 Pop Top 100 b/w I'm Getting Lonesome on Savoy 1506. Inexplicably, it made no impact whatsoever on the R&B charts!Nor did his next 5 releases (or the Pop charts either) into 1958: *Pretty Girl (Yea, Yea, Yea)/I'm Gonna Get You (Savoy 1511), Bye Bye Baby/Goody-Goody-Gum Drop (Savoy 1514), and The Right Time/*Oh, You Don't Know (Savoy 1525), all in 1957, and in 1958, *If You Need Some Lovin'/I'm In The Mood (Savoy 1530) and I Cried Like A Baby/Skiddy Woe (Savoy 1547) - * = not included here.Almost all the foregoing had the backing of the Howard Biggs orchestra, but late in 1958 he was backed by the Teacho Wiltshire orchestra on It Don't Hurt No More which made both charts, going to # 8 R&B and # 89 Top 100 in December b/w My Baby on Savoy 1551. That was followed by three more failed singles: *You're Going To Need Someone/Skiddy Woe (Savoy 1555) in 1958, and in 1959, A Long Time/*All Right Now (Savoy 1562) and *This Is My Confession/*For Those Who Love (Savoy 1569). Again * = not included here.His final charter then came in December 1959 when I Cried Like A Baby - actually recorded in 1956 with the backing of the Kelly Owens orchestra - made it to # 22 R&B b/w So Deep on Savoy 1575. A string of 8 failed singles would follow into 1962 and these are listed in the Comments below, along with the contents of his two Savoy LPs. Track 7 in Disc 2 (Love Locks) is from one of them as noted.After the hits dried up Nappy would return for a while to his gospel roots with The Bell Jubilee Singers who recorded for Jewel Records. He made a comeback in the early 1980s when European fans began embracing many of the old R&B artists' music. In 1989 he cut the single Lemon Squeezin' Daddy/ Small Red Apples on Ichiban 206 (hard to find). He passed away at age 79 in Charlotte on September 20, 2008.
