Talking with Maxine Brown - Video Interview - 2hrs

2 hours of interview

By Mike in Articles
Updated on 28 Jun 2024 · Published 18 May 2011

Talking with Maxine Brown - Video Interview - 2hrs magazine cover

James Power has been in touch and passed on word of a great online video interview he carried out with Maxine Brown.

Featuring a total of almost two hours in all, this lengthy interview is split into 4 equal parts (each one approx 25 mins in length) and can view below via the embedded links from the Vimeo site (so all in hd as well)

Talking With Maxine Brown by James Power

My interview with Soul Music legend Maxine Brown recorded April 9, 2011.

In Part 1, Maxine discusses her early years, coming to New York from Kingstree, South Carolina, her violent father, her beginnings in Gospel, Professor Charles Taylor, playing the Apollo, switching to secular Soul music, writing & recording 'All In My Mind' which went to #2 on the R&B charts.

In Part 2, Maxine discusses working as a medical stenographer when 'All In My Mind' hit the top 10, working with Sam Taylor, Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions, her follow-up hit 'Funny', teaching Sam Cooke to do The Twist, signing with Scepter/Wand Records, Florence Greenberg, filling in for Tammi Terrell & singing with Marvin Gaye, Motown, British appreciation, Carole King, 'Oh No, Not My Baby', Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Bacharach & David's 'I'll Cry Alone', and Big Maybelle.

In Part 3, Maxine discusses Racism, Civil Rights era, Working with Otis Redding, Ashford & Simpson, Cissy Houston & The Sweet Inspirations, Central Park Music Festival with Lou Rawls in 1967, leaving Scepter/Wand, British Invasion, Producer/Arranger Mike Terry, Norman Whitfield, Changes in the music world, "We'll Cry Together", and Van McCoy.

In Part 4, Maxine discusses meeting Jimi Hendrix, songs released in the UK only (I Want A Guarantee, It's Torture), working with Van McCoy, Luther Vandross, Avco Records, 'Picked Up, Packed, and Put Away', Broadway musical 'Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (in New York City)', Learning acting and dancing, Ruth Brown, Ben E King, releasing first album in 35 years 'From the Heart', working with Beverly Crosby & Ella Garrett (AKA The Wild Women), Maxine sings in Spanish (Do That To Me One More Time, Yesterday I Heard the Rain), the name 'Ella Brown', receiving the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation.