- The 5 Browns
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The 5 Browns 
Desirae, Deondra and Melody Brown performing at the CBC in 2006.Background information Origin Alpine, Utah Genres Classical Music Years active 2004–present Labels RCA Red Seal, Sony Masterworks, E1 Music Website www.the5browns.com Members Desirae Brown
Deondra Brown
Gregory Brown
Melody Brown
Ryan Brown
The 5 Browns brothers perform at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival Piano Gala
The 5 Browns are a classical piano musical group consisting of five siblings. Their repertoire includes mostly popular classical tunes, such as George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee and Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King.
Contents
Background
In descending order of their age, the Browns are Desirae (born 1979), Deondra (born 1980), Gregory (born 1982), Melody (born 1984), and Ryan (born 1986). All five siblings, the children of Keith and Lisa Brown, were born in Houston, Texas, where each began piano study with Yelena Kurinets at age 3. In 1991, the family moved to Utah, and the children were homeschooled and continued private study there with Irene Peery-Fox. They were the first group of five siblings to attend the musical conservatory Juilliard studying with Yoheved Kaplinsky. From 2004 to 2008 they were signed with the RCA Red Seal label (later folded into Sony BMG Masterworks), but as of their 2010 release, The 5 Browns In Hollywood, they are signed with E1 Music. The 5 Browns are Steinway Artists.[1] The Brown family are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2009, the group published an autobiography, Life Between the Keys: The (Mis)adventures of the 5 Browns.[2]
Critical reception
Tom Manoff from National Public Radio reviewed their first commercial recording and described the idiom of five people playing piano at the same time as a public relations "novelty", and the Browns' execution as "clunky", but noted that they had talent and that he was interested in following their individual development. [3]
Sexual abuse charges
Early in 2011, Keith Brown, father and former manager of the group, was charged with sexually abusing his three daughters on various occasions over a period from 1990 to 1998. Soon after the charges were filed, Brown and his wife, Lisa Brown, 54, the musicians' mother, were involved in a car accident in which Brown totaled their Porsche when he drove off a Utah canyon cliff. The couple was rescued by emergency teams and hospitalized.[4] On February 17, 2011, under a plea agreement, Keith Brown pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree felony sodomy and two counts of second-degree felony child abuse.[5] He was sentenced to 10 years to life on the count of felony sodomy of a child; and 15 years to life for each of two counts of sexual abuse of a child. The sentences will run concurrently and, under the terms of the plea agreement, Brown must serve at least 10 years.[6]
Keith Brown's three daughters decided to reveal the abuse they suffered as children when they learned that their father was exploring opportunities to represent or teach children again.[7]
Keith Brown was involved in another car accident on March 3, 2011, when he turned his BMW into the path of an on-coming vehicle in Highland, Utah. Neither Brown nor the seventeen-year-old driver of the other vehicle was seriously hurt as a result of the collision.[8]
Discography
- The 5 Browns (2005, RCA Red Seal)
- No Boundaries (2006, RCA Red Seal)
- Browns In Blue (2007, Sony BMG Masterworks)
- 5 Stars: Favorites From The 5 Browns (2008, Sony Masterworks)
- The 5 Browns in Hollywood (2010, E1 Music)
References
- ^ "5 LDS siblings sign recording deal". Deseret News. 2004-05-08. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595061430/5-LDS-siblings-sign-recording-deal.html. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
- ^ "No damper on 5 Browns". Salt Lake Tribune. 2009-03-06. http://blogs.sltrib.com/burger/2009/03/no-damper-on-5-browns.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
- ^ "The 5 Browns Debut Recording". National Public Radio. 2005-10-04. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4945329. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
- ^ "Father of Music Group Members Pleads Guilty". The New York Times. 2011-02-16. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/02/16/us/AP-US-Music-Group-Abuse.html. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
- ^ "5 Browns Patriarch Confesses to Sexually Abusing Daughters". ABC News. 2011-02-17. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/2020/browns-patriarch-confesses-sexually-abusing-daughters/story?id=12942748&page=1. Retrieved 2011-02-17.
- ^ "Keith Brown, father of 5 Browns, sentenced to 10 years in jail for sodomy, sexual abuse on daughters". New York Daily News. Associated Press (Provo, Utah). March 31, 2011. http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/03/31/2011-03-31_keith_brown_father_of_5_browns_sentenced_to_10_years_in_jail_for_sodomy_sexual_a.html. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
- ^ "Brown sisters aren't talking about relationship with parents". Deseret News. 2011-02-18. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705367069/Brown-sisters-arent-talking-about-relationship-with-parents.html. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
- ^ "Father of The 5 Browns involved in another car crash". KSL News. 2011-03-07. http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=14641179. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
External links
Categories:- Family musical groups
- Juilliard School alumni
- Musical families
- American Latter Day Saints
- Musical groups from Utah
- People from Alpine, Utah
- Living people
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