Sam Brown

Best known for her work as a session backing vocalist for the likes of Pink Floyd, Spandau Ballet, Adam Ant, Gary Moore and Small Faces, Sam Brown started life destined to be in the music business. Her parents, singer Vicki and musician Joe Brown, were great influences on Sam's life and career choice, and she got her first job singing backing vocals on the album '78 in the Shade' by Small Faces. This experience led to more offers of work and she began singing regularly with Spandau Ballet and also appeared on Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord's solo album 'Before I Forget'.

Signing her first record deal with A&M in 1986, Brown released her debut album 'Stop!' in '88, with the title track becoming her biggest selling hit. Her second album 'April Moon' was to be her only other record for A&M as a legal battle over the masters for her third album '43 Minutes' prompted her to start her own label, Pod Music. She continued her session work providing backing vocals for Pink Floyd, famously lending her voice to the 'Dark Side of the Moon' track 'The Great Gig in the Sky'. She released her fourth solo album 'Box' and her fifth 'ReBoot' through independent labels Demon and Mud Hut, after which she embarked on a new project with Beautiful South guitarist Dave Rotheray. Their band, Homespun, released three albums and provided Brown with a new platform on which to promote her music.

She continued to work with other musicians and in 2004 collaborated again with Jon Lord on his album 'Beyond the Notes'; Brown wrote most of the lyrics for the album. In 2007 she performed the track 'Valentine Moon' on Jools Holland's album 'Best of Friends' and found herself in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart. Tragic struck later that year when she discovered she was no longer able to sing, revealing some six years later that "it feels like there are some muscles that aren't working". In 2015 she began teaching backing vocals classes at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, Surrey.