As of Sept 09, A new single titled "NO ONE EVER TOLD ME" Recorded by the King of Romantic Music Englebert Humperdink- Has been released in the U.K. In it's first two weeks of release, This outstanding Ballad-arranged and produced by The masterful Charles Calello- Has been receiving great reviews and instant radio play. This destined to be classic was co-written with Lisa Hayward- Who also co-wrote the Johnny Mathis hit "Gone Gone Gone" With L.Russell. Also include the following update with regard to the Broadway musical Jersey Boys which Includes L.Russell Browns very first hit song "C'mon Marianne" Jersey Boys has become the highest grossing Show in the history of Broadway with 7 shows running from London to Australia to Toronto!

In 1964 Larry Brown got his first big break into the music business when the red hot writer/record producer Bob Crewe heard a recording Brown had made as part of a duet called The Distant Cousins. Larry’s partner at the time was Raymond Bloodworth, a talented fellow he had met in the U S Army. Brown and Bloodworth won every USO contest they had entered and toured European military bases, entertaining the troops until they were discharged in New York. After knocking around New York City for a couple of years, playing the folk scene in Greenwich Village, and writing countless songs, they finally caught the ear of Bob Crewe.

Brown had been writing songs ever since he was 16 years old. His first recording was for the famous R&B label Fury Records, based in Harlem. After being turned down by just about every record company and publisher in Tin Pan Alley, Brown along with his teenage partner from the housing projects of Newark NJ, heard about a record company in Harlem on 125th street. They went to the little store owned by Bobby Robinson and played and sang for Mr. Robinson, the co-owner of Fury. Robinson signed the two teenaged Everly Brothers sound a likes to a record deal and shortly, the boys found themselves in a real live recording studio.

The experience was all that Brown needed to realize that this was going to be his life’s endeavor. Brown’s first real recording session with the finest players in the business, was done under the name of the Duals, and the song called ‘Wait Up Baby’ made all the noise of a flea landing on Jello. That didn’t stop Brown from pursuing his dream.

After two years of knocking around New York City with no success Brown decided that he needed to see more of the world and he joined the U S Army. After boot camp and code school training he had the amazing luck to be given orders to be stationed downtown Paris, in the communications nerve center for NATO, where he found his first hit singing and songwriting partner Raymond Bloodworth. Four years later, Brown and Bloodworth were discharged, in New York City. Using all his powers of persuasion, Brown convinced a man named Richard Wegrzn, the inventor of the stay down zipper, to put up $2500 to bankroll a recording session with Bob Halley producing. Brown and Bloodworth now called the Distant Cousins first recording, “To Have And To Hold,” was placed in the horror movie, Frankenstein Meets The Space Monster, a film so bad it is ranked as one of the worst horror movies of all time.

Conversely, The Distant Cousins “To Have And To Hold” can be found on youtube with rave reviews.

Bob Crewe, producer of the Four Seasons heard this recording and was responsible for getting it in the film. Upon meeting Brown and Bloodworth and listening to them play three hours of original music, signed them as writer/artists. Crewe also made an appointment for Larry to join BMI, where he met with the company’s vice president, a wonderfully uplifting woman named Thea Zavin.

Mrs. Zavin told Brown they already had a Larry Brown and a Lawrence Brown, so she asked Larry his middle name, which was Russell. Zavin than asked Brown if it would be allright if BMI could use his first initial, middle name and last name for logging purposes. Mrs. Zavin said it had a nice ring to it.

L. Russell Brown was born. Browns first writing production for the Bob Crewe organization was for a group he had discovered at a Pizzeria on Lyons avenue in his home town of Newark, New Jersey. He named them Richard & the Young Lions, and wrote and produced their first recordings. The first, “Open Up Your Door,” although barely making the Billboard charts, has become a legendary garage band cult record. This was also Brown’s first entry on the Billboard charts----a strangely appropriate and prophetic title.

Bob Crewe and L. Russell wrote Mitch Ryder’s million selling smash, “Sock It To Me Baby,”2 years later.

Three months after that, Brown and Bloodworth wrote ‘C’mon Marianne ’ which became one of the FOUR SEASONS greatest hits, and is a critical part of the highest grossing Broadway show of all time, Jersey Boys the life story of the Four Seasons.

Four years and several top 20 records later, Brown wrote his first song with Irwin Levine, “Knock Three Times,” recorded by Tony Orlando & Dawn. This record was the second biggest seller of that year and sold more than 10 million records in three months in the United States alone.

Not only was it #1 in America for a month, it was number one in over thirty countries as well. “Knock Three Times” is also included in several classic movies including Now And Then. The year 1971 also found Levine & Brown with another multi-million seller. This time it was for David Cassidy and the Partridge family.

“I Woke Up In Love This Morning” sold well over two million records, and became one of their greatest hits and is included in the made-for-TV biopic, The Partridge Family, as well as The David Cassidy Story. “I Woke Up In Love This Morning” is also included in the soundtrack for the motion picture Crooklyn. During the next two years Levine & Brown found their songs all over the Billboard charts.

Just when L. Russell thought that things couldn’t get better, along came “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree,” the song for which Levine & Brown will always be remembered.

The song has been recorded well over 1000 times, making it one of the most recorded songs in the history of popular music.

Tony Orlando had the first hit with “Yellow Ribbon,” and the following are just a sample of the artists that have recorded this song.

• Frank Sinatra
• Bing Crosby
• Mantovani
• Dean Martin
• Perry Como
• Al Hirt
• Roger Williams
• Dominico Modungno
• Harry Connick, Jr 

and scores of other great recording artists. The last person to record “Yellow Ribbon” as of 2008, is one of L. Russell Brown’s all time favorites, the brilliantly talented and beautiful Dolly Parton. Brown says, “She put chills up and down my spine with her touching rendition.”

“Tie A Yellow Ribbon” was written in 1973 and was followed by yet another Levine & Brown standard, “Say Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose.”

This song gave Tony Orlando, back to back multi-million sellers and consolidated his career giving him, and Thelma and Joyce of Dawn, their very own TV show, one of the top rated shows of its time.

“Gypsy Rose” was followed by two more Orlando hits. Levine & Brown were on a roll.
“Who’s In The Strawberry Patch With Sally” and “Steppin’ Out Gonna Boogie Tonight,” both of these tunes made the Billboard’s top ten in 1975.

With the advent of Disco, Brown and his wife Lisa Hayward, wrote Johnny Mathis’s one an only up tempo hit of his amazing career. “Gone, Gone, Gone” remained on the British pop charts’ top ten for over six months.

This jazzy dance tune became a disco hit all over Europe in 1979.

The year 1980 brought another of L. Russell Brown’s greatest standards , The Theme from the motion picture Paradise, recorded by the film’s star, Phoebe Cates.

“Paradise” is as familiar a melody in Eastern Europe as “Tie A Yellow Ribbon round the Ole Oak Tree” is in the United States. “Paradise” was last recorded by the young teenage star Kaci as a dance record, selling over 2 million units in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2003.

In 1981 Brown teamed with Sandy Linzer to write a string of million selling songs starting with Odyssey’s classic calypso dance multi-platinum #1 record in the U.K., “Use It Up Wear It Out.”

Two London DJs know as Pat n Mick, recorded “Use It Up” ten years later, selling several million records of the song , making it one of England’s greatest all time dance pop hits, as well as the world’s alternative club record of that year.

The year 1982 gave Brown & Linzer the coveted award by Billboard magazine for the best new black group of the year with T.S.Monk’s recording of their song, “The Bon Bon Vie.” This R&B/Jazz classic has been sampled by a dozen rap groups, most importantly by Teddy Reilly on his multi-planinum album Blackstreet. “The Bon Bon Vie” has become a Rap anthem and R&B standard.

Brown & Linzer also wrote several #1 dance hits for Cory Daye, former lead singer of Dr Buzzard’s Savannah Band. “Pow Wow” and “Green Light,” were both #1 dance hits in the 1980s. Cory Daye also had a top ten hit with the Brown & Linzer song, “Wiggle N A Giggle All Night Long,” in Holland. This song was also recorded by Miguel Bose in Spanish. It gave Bose, who went on to become a Latin Superstar, his first #1 song in every Spanish speaking nation of the world, under the Latin title, “Don Diablo.”

Now, here we are in 2008 and L. Russell Brown is as active as ever with songs recorded by several major new acts. A New Quartet, produced by Rudy Perez is soon to be released that contains a song co-written by Brown, Grammy winning Latin lyricist Rudy Perez.

The song. “Dreams Come True,” is done in both English and Spanish giving this truly breathtaking composition an international flair.

Englebert Humperdink recorded “Until I Hold You Again,” another Brown /Perez/Diamond tune, slated to be in the soundtrack album for the forthcoming movie The Perfect Game, starring Cheech Marin.

Brown has written two dozen songs this past year and he feels they are among his finest to date  and he has high hopes for them.

Last but by far from least, L. Russell Brown, along with his late partner Irwin Levine, are being considered for entrance into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame for the coming year 2009. Just knowing this is a possibility, is the fuel that keeps this journeyman tunesmith going strong.