Jocelyn Brown

Lore & Background

Jocelyn Brown was born in Kinston, North Carolina into a musical family; her aunt Barbara Roy sang in Ecstasy, Passion & Pain, and her mother, two aunts, cousin, and grandmother were all accomplished singers. She began singing in gospel choirs in Brooklyn and became a favorite soloist in Washington, D.C. at her uncle's church before moving to secular music with local band Machine and New York-based funk and disco group Kleeer. In the late 1970s, she worked with Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes, Musique, Dazzle, Cerrone, Inner Life, Change, Salsoul Orchestra, Luther Vandross, and others.

In 1984, Brown released 'Somebody Else's Guy,' which reached number two on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number 75 on the Hot 100. Her 1985 dance hit 'Love's Gonna Get You' was later sampled by Snap! for 'The Power' and by Boogie Down Productions. She toured with Boy George and Culture Club in 1985 and provided backing vocals on his UK top 30 hit 'Keep Me in Mind' in 1987. Since 1990, she has lived in London. She appeared on both seasons of BBC One's 'Just the Two of Us' and in 2011 on 'Popstar to Operastar.' She sang the U.S. national anthem at Wembley Stadium for an NFL International Series game, though not the first regular season game on foreign soil.

Reader's Guide

Jocelyn Brown's significance lies in her prolific career as a session and featured vocalist across R&B, disco, and house music, with more than twenty hits on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, four of which reached number one. Her solo work, while yielding only one Hot 100 entry, produced enduring songs like 'Somebody Else's Guy' and 'Love's Gonna Get You,' the latter becoming a foundational sample for 1990s dance hits. Her legacy includes collaborations with major acts such as Luther Vandross, Boy George, and Right Said Fred, and her voice appears on 23 UK singles chart hits. Brown's continued activity into the 21st century, including house music releases and television appearances, underscores her lasting influence in dance music. She is featured in the 2024 PBS series 'Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution.'

Did You Know?

• Brown's aunt Barbara Roy was a singer in the female group Ecstasy, Passion & Pain.
• Her 1985 dance hit 'Love's Gonna Get You' was sampled by Snap! for their worldwide hit 'The Power.'

Roots in Gospel and the Road to Secular Music

Jocelyn Lorette Brown entered the world on November 25, 1950, in Kinston, North Carolina, into a household where singing was practically a family inheritance. Her mother, two aunts, a cousin, and her grandmother were all accomplished vocalists, and her aunt Barbara Roy performed with the female group Ecstasy, Passion & Pain. Growing up of Black heritage, Brown first found her voice in gospel choirs in Brooklyn, where she became a beloved soloist at her uncle's church in Washington, D.C. That deep-rooted church training would later inform the power and emotion of her secular recordings. After years of gospel, she made the deliberate shift toward a more worldly sound, singing with a local band called Machine and then with the New York-based funk and disco collective Kleeer. These early collaborations marked her transition from the sanctuary to the dance floor, laying the groundwork for a career that would span decades and continents.

A Prolific Session and Collaborative Career

Throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s and beyond, Brown built a remarkable reputation as one of the most sought-after vocalists in the R&B and dance world. Her credits read like a who's who of the era: Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes, Musique on Prelude Records, Dazzle, Cerrone, Inner Life, Change, the Salsoul Orchestra, Luther Vandross, Brown & Brown, Hope Collective, Revanche, and Incognito. In 1980, she stepped in front of the camera in Bette Midler's concert film Divine Madness, singing backup as a Harlette alongside Ula Hedwig and Diva Gray. In 1985, she joined Boy George and Culture Club on a worldwide tour as a backing vocalist, contributed to their 1986 album From Luxury to Heartache, and co-wrote his UK top-30 single Keep Me in Mind in 1987. She also lent her voice to Right Said Fred's smash Don't Talk Just Kiss, demonstrating a versatility that kept her in steady demand across genres and decades.

Solo Breakthroughs and Dance Chart Dominance

While Brown's name appeared on countless other artists' records, her own solo output delivered some of the era's most memorable dance anthems. In 1984, she released Somebody Else's Guy, a track she co-wrote, which climbed to number two on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number 75 on the Hot 100, and gave her name to her first compilation album. Two years later, Love's Gonna Get You became another major dance hit and a minor R&B success, and it would later be widely sampled. Across her career, Brown accumulated more than twenty hits on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, including four number-one singles, and also scored two number-one dance hits in the late 1970s as a guest vocalist with Patrick Adams' studio band Musique. In the UK, she charted twenty-three hit singles, eight of which reached the top twenty. Remarkably, she continued recording house music and scoring chart hits well into the 21st century, proving her vocal relevance never faded.

Sampling, Legacy, and Life Beyond the Studio

Brown's recordings have left an indelible mark on popular music through sampling. The line I've got the power from her 1985 hit Love's Gonna Get You became the foundation for Snap!'s worldwide smash The Power, Boogie Down Productions' Love's Gonna Get'cha (Material Love), and Bizarre Inc.'s UK top-3 single I'm Gonna Get You featuring Angie Brown. In 1992, George Michael sampled Somebody Else's Guy for his dance hit Too Funky, and in 1997 CeCe Peniston re-recorded the original. Since 1990, Brown has called London home, where she has remained active in British music and television. She appeared on both seasons of BBC One's Just the Two of Us, sang at the funeral of gangster Joey Pyle, and performed the American national anthem at Wembley Stadium for the first regular-season NFL game played on foreign soil. In 2011 she competed on Popstar to Operastar, and in 2024 she was featured in the PBS series Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution.