Shirley Brown

She entered the world on January 6, 1947, in West Memphis. The family relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, during her early childhood. Her first experiences came inside church walls, and by age ten she had already earned notice across local gospel circles for her commanding solo work. During her late teens she shifted focus to secular material and performed alongside numerous soul artists active in the city. Initial sides cut under Oliver Sain’s supervision stirred interest only in hometown circles rather than nationally. “I Ain’t Gonna Tell” and “Love Is Built On a Strong Foundation” reached Memphis R&B outlets, which prompted her, aided by manager Albert King, to audition successfully for Stax Records. Her “Woman to Woman” became the label’s final hit before its collapse, reaching the top of the R&B chart on November 14, 1974, and holding that position for two weeks.

Circumstance placed the song in her hands. Writers James Banks, Eddie Marion, and Henderson Thigpen had originally targeted newly signed Inez Foxx (“Mockingbird”) for the trend-setting love-triangle narrative, yet Foxx declined, noting that the extended spoken introduction suited Issac Hayes better. After that success she issued two further singles on Stax’s Truth imprint—“It Ain’t No Fun” and “It’s Worth a Whippin’”—but the company was failing and permanently shut the doors of its theater at 926 East McLemore in 1975. She moved to Arista Records in 1977; the debut single “Blessed Is the Woman (With a Man Like Mine)” failed to register on the charts, as did the follow-ups “Givin’ Up” and “I Can’t Move No Mountains.” An Arista album bearing her name met the same lack of response. In 1980 20th Century Records put out “You Got to Like What I Do,” which likewise failed to sell and prompted the label to drop interest. The year before, Stax/Fantasy had issued a collection of previously unreleased material titled The Real Feeling. A later agreement with Sound Town yielded the album Intimate Storm along with the single “Leave the Bridges Standing” in 1984. Two years afterward “Shootin’ a Blank,” released on Chelsea Avenue, also flopped, and another effort on Black Diamond Records, “If This Is Goodbye,” fared no better.

By then commercial breakthroughs had become elusive. Discouragement never halted her work, however. Although she has scored only one genuine hit across her entire career, Shirley Brown has continued to record for Malaco Records since joining the roster in 1989. Six albums have appeared under that arrangement, one of them a compilation. She maintains a schedule of club dates throughout the South, where “Woman to Woman” continues to rank among the songs audiences request most often.