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Wednesday, 18 May 2005
Hailing from Cookeville, in the US state Tennessee, actor, singer/songwriter, producer and photographer Brown, came to Cape Town for the first time in 1999 to work with Youth With A Mission. He worked with Cape Town street children and decided to come back to South Africa full time after spending three months in India with the same organization.

Back in Cape Town, he worked as a street worker with Beautiful Gates and in 2004 moved to Kayalitsha's community Two Town.

Now only twenty four, Brown can already look back to a life rich in experiences, which included working since the age of twelve, when he cleaned offices, stocked shelves at a garage and waited in restaurants. His true calling caught up with him in 1998 when he became youth leader of his local church and began working with 'ghetto kids' in downtown Cookeville.

Brown has dedicated his life ever since to helping the 'underdogs' of society, creating his own projects based on the real needs, which he identifies while working on ground zero.

His love for the arts began as early as childhood. He claims to have been 'singing before I could' talk, he learned to play the piano, drums and guitar and started acting. His first feature role as a singer / actor was in a school play when he was only five years old. He went on to win the State of Tennessee Best Acting Award in 1994 for his role in 'Drive In'.

Back in the States he played in a rock band, but it was in 2003 during the shooting of a documentary, to which US film maker John Henion was inspired by Brown's work with Cape Town street children, that he started to write rap songs. While filming, John noticed that the kids call Brown 'Slim Shady', and because he rapped with them in the street, he suggested that Brown starts to write rap songs.

Rap proved to be the art form in which Brown first started to record his experiences of working with Cape Town's street children. He soon followed this up by writing a book on the same subject and is currently involved with preparing photos to back up his experiences visually.

Since 2004 Brown performed at various festivals in South Africa, such as the Dance for Life in Observatory, which is linked to an event in Holland and was also covered by SABC 2. The response of the audience was awesome, and concert goers demanded Brown to release his album as soon as possible.

All this activity didn't go unnoticed by talent scout and entertainment entrepreneur Alexander Gregori, who was introduced to Brown by a mutual friend, music producer Cavero. Brown met up with the founder of the artist- and event management agency Mel.Vent Communications, and they immediately 'clicked'.
The result: Mel.Vent signed Brown with an artist- and management agreement, adding this hard working, multi-talented, socially conscious youngster to its stable of unique Cape Town talent, which includes award winning Afrikaans Hip Hop trio Kallitz, and up and coming singer/songwriter Megan Brooks.

Brown is now in his third year of Social Work studies at UCT, polishing his songs for the release of his debut album, editing his book for publication and preparing his photos for a vernissage. He also plans to set up a foundation for street children, which will raise funds to tackle their challenges at the root, i.e. by setting up pro active programs in the communities, and offering children an alternative to running away and getting sucked into the abyss that is the life of Cape Town street children. His first project is already
underway: together with an amateur boxing coach Brown started a boxing school, to keep the youth busy and out of trouble, using the holistic approach of the development of mind, body and soul that is at the core of every successful box champion.

Visit Brown's web site at www.brown-records.com





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