Ruth Brown was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Brown was the eldest of seven siblings. She attended I. C. Norcom High School. Brown’s father was a dockhand. He also directed the local church choir at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, but the young Ruth showed more interest in singing at USO shows and nightclubs, rebelling against her father. She was inspired by Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, and Dinah Washington.
In 1945, at the age of 17, Brown ran away from her home in Portsmouth along with the trumpeter Jimmy Brown, whom she soon married, to sing in bars and clubs. She then spent a month with Lucky Millinder’s orchestra.
Who inherited Ruth Brown’s money and estate?
Brown was survived by her only child name Ronnie McPhatter who also inherited Ruth Brown’s money and estate.
Brown died at the age of 78 years in a Las Vegas–area hospital on November 17, 2006, from complications following a heart attack and stroke she suffered after surgery in the previous month. She was buried at Roosevelt Memorial Park, Chesapeake City, Virginia and before her burial, a memorial concert was held on January 22, 2007, at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York for her.
Source: Ghanafuo.com
