Florence man is trying to keep the music of the 1960s alive

When Clay Brown was a young boy, he would often hide under a bed in a room where his brother and older cousins rehearsed music. They had a quartet.

Once practice was well underway, Brown would come out of his hiding place and quietly watch what his older family members were doing.

Brown knew he wanted to be a performer, too.

“And my brother heard me one day; I was out there imitating them,” Brown said. “He said, ‘You might have something.’ So he started to work with me, and it just stuck.”

A few of Brown’s high school friends knew about his love of music and tried to persuade him to join the school’s choir. He didn’t want to. And he received no music lessons.

In 1964, Brown met Sam Schepise, who was his co-worker at U.S. Steel in Pennsylvania.

“I just loved to sing while I was working,” Brown said. “So if I hadn’t sung anything, he’d say, ‘Hey man, you’re not singing today?’ I’d start up, and we’d just be singing. I’d sing basically the whole shift.”

Brown said Schepise pushed him into doing music. Brown’s music career started professionally in 1967.

The first group he performed with was named Clay Brown and the Invaders.

He moved to New York about five years later.

“I played with Al Brown’s Orchestra and during that time, playing with him, we did everything from soul, pop, classics and everything,” Brown said.

He said he had a stint with the Waldorf Astoria, which was a great experience and something new for him.

In 1978, after Brown moved back to his hometown of Florence, he recorded and released the song, “Walk with a Groove,” as a 45-rpm single. Brown said collectors are now “beating down the door” to get a copy of the 45. He even got a call from a man in Ukraine who was willing to pay $400 for one of the 45s.

“If somebody would’ve told me it would’ve generated this type of notary, this is almost 30 to 40 years later, so I guess sometimes it just pays to hold on to what you’ve got, sometimes,” Brown said.

Now, Brown has created another band, Clay Brown and The Legends Band, and they perform ’60s music at different locations across the Carolinas. They are known for their show, “An Evening of Soul ’60s.”

“We’re trying to keep the ’60s music alive, basically because it’s such good music,” Brown said.

He released a CD two years ago paying tribute to some of the era’s greatest musicians, including Sam Cooke and Jerry Butler.

Brown also has a school program in the Upstate that he wants to bring to Florence.

“We go around and we introduce this type of music to some of the younger kids,” Brown said. “Harry Turner, musical historian, he tells some stories about how the Beatles era came into play, and that changed the whole music aspect.”

Brown performs ’50s and ’60s music for the children, and Turner shares the history of it and how it has involved.

“I think the very first one, they had to call the parents and tell them that the bus was going to be late, because they couldn’t get the kids out of the auditorium, because they were just so excited about doing this,” Brown said.

He said the school program has been a highlight of his life.

If you don’t know Brown because of his music, you might not know he has a musical talent. Kathy Griffin of Florence didn’t know when she met him 15 years ago, when he coached varsity basketball at The Kings Academy.

“He didn’t let that out for a long time,” Griffin said. “I think the man just started singing one day, and I said, ‘You can sing.’ Then he shared what he does, and it was obvious.”

Griffin said she wishes she had known earlier than 15 years ago how good a singer Brown is. She said he played at her son’s wedding rehearsal dinner last May, and she hopes he’ll do the same when her youngest son gets married.

“He’s a gifted, sweet man who loves the Lord, and that just oozes out of him,” she said. “Our family loves him deeply.”

Brown said he just wants to keep performing and exposing ’50s and ’60s music to younger generations to let them know there’s something else out there that they can work with.

“That’s what Clay Brown and The Legends Band is about: the old school music,” Brown said. “Just keeping it alive.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2015 at 9:51 PM with the headline "Florence man is trying to keep the music of the 1960s alive."