Maxine Brown

Although her commercial breakthroughs stayed few and far between, Maxine Brown ranked among the most overlooked soul and R&B singers of the 1960s. Across that decade she issued a steady stream of singles on Nomar and Wand, yet only four tracks—“All in My Mind,” “Funny,” “Something You Got,” and “Oh No Not My Baby”—crossed over to register on either the pop or R&B listings. Observers nonetheless regard her as one of the decade’s most accomplished R&B voices, equally assured whether the material called for soul, jazz, or pop styling.

A native of Kingstree, South Carolina, she began performing in childhood and later sang with two gospel ensembles based in New York while still a teenager. In 1960 she joined the small Nomar roster, which placed the polished soul ballad “All in My Mind” into circulation late that year. The single climbed to number two on the R&B charts and number nineteen pop; its swift successor, “Funny,” reached number three. Expectations of stardom prompted a move to ABC-Paramount in 1962, but she left the label inside a year without further hits and signed instead with Wand, the New York-based uptown soul imprint, in 1963.

Her strongest recordings emerged at Wand, where she collected several moderate successes over the next three years. Among them were the Carole King/Gerry Goffin song “Oh No Not My Baby,” which peaked at number twenty-four on the pop charts, “It’s Gonna Be Alright,” and the Chuck Jackson duets “Something You Got,” “Hold On I’m Coming,” and “Daddy’s Home.” Because the company devoted most of its promotional resources to Dionne Warwick, Maxine Brown remained largely in the background. After departing Wand in 1969 she moved to Commonwealth United and scored minor hits with “We’ll Cry Together” and “I Can’t Get Along Without You.” A 1971 shift to Avco Records brought no further notice, and her profile faded steadily through the remainder of the decade.