Multi Faceted Music Man J. Aaron Brown Passes

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Longtime Nashville music executive J. Aaron Brown died on Saturday (March 14) at age 85.

The Grammy Award winner made his mark in producing, songwriting, publishing and other music ventures. Brown won two Grammys for creating a series of top-selling children’s recordings. He was also a major figure in Nashville’s gospel-music industry for more than six decades.

Born James Aaron Brown, he was raised in Nashville. He graduated from Isaac Litton High School in 1958. Brown began his music career by working with The Oak Ridge Boys in the 1960s. At the time, the group was a an award-winning gospel quartet.

When the Texas-based Word Records established its first Nashville office, Brown was tapped to spearhead the outpost. Between 1970 and 1980, he was the head of the Christian-music giant’s publishing division. During these years, he played an important role in developing, recording and marketing gospel, early CCM (Contemporary Christian Music), worship, and inspirational styles of music.

As a songwriter, he created religious numbers geared to the Southern-gospel field. These were recorded by The Talleys, The Freemans, Little Roy Lewis, Tanya Goodman and other stars of the genre. Along the way, he also produced the songbooks of country stars such as Mel Tillis and the Oaks for Hal Leonard Publishing.

In the 1980s, he became affiliated with New Haven Records, which later distributed albums he produced. In addition, he formed his own song-publishing companies under the umbrella firm J. Aaron Brown & Associates.

In 1986, Brown identified a previously underserved music market and produced A Child’s Gift of Lullabyes. Initially issued on cassette, the album was placed in a Nashville baby store and sold well. Brown gradually expanded the record’s marketing by placing it in specialty baby shops nationwide. Its success led to him writing and producing an entire series of albums geared toward mothers and newborns. They won Grammy Awards in the Best Album for Children category in 1990 (beating the Muppets) and 1996 (beating Pocahontas).

J. Aaron Brown was also a competitive water skier who won national awards and was named to the sport’s Hall of Fame in 2009. He taught water skiing on Old Hickory Lake and Center Hill Lake. Brown is recalled as a fun-loving collaborator and a genial presence in numerous music-industry organizations.

He is survived by his wife Connie McAdams; by his sons Jay Brown and Matthew Brown; by brother Bobby Brown; and by grandson Hamilton Brown. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

Robert K Oermann
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