AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Les Brown and his Orchestra

Artist:Les Brown and his Orchestra

Song:I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

Album Sentimental Journey 1937-1947 featuring Doris Day

Big band leader Les Brown was around for over sixty years. Like a lot of swing bands, he was popular in the 40s and became a nostalgia act after musical tastes changed. And he appeared a lot on TV. He topped the charts a few times but I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm was his biggest hit in 1949. He was born Mar. 14, 1912 in Reinerton, PA. Brown's father was a baker who played the trombone. Brown started playing the sax at age seven and as a teen he played in his dad's band. Brown left high school after one year to enroll in the Ithaca Conservatory of Music. He earned a scholarship to the New York Military Acdemy. Then he attended Duke University and led their official band the Duke Blue Devils. After graduating, the band continued to tour and they recorded for Decca Records. They split up when a lot of the members returned to school. Brown moved to New York and worked as an arranger for Tommy Dorsey, Isham Jones and Larry Clinton. An RCA executive got Brown a booking at Hotel Edison in New York if he could put a band together. His father loaned him the money. The band appeared regularly on the radio and signed with RCA's Bluebird label. The records did OK. Brown was never very adventurous. His big band was "sweet" as opposed to more jazz oriented bands like Benny Goodman. This was a boom period for swing so all of them were popular. Brown started to allow his musicians to play more solos. Then the turning point in Brown's career happened when he hired 17 year old Doris Day as his first singer. Brown started appearing more frequently on the radio. Doris left to have a child but returned in 1943. This led to the 1944 #1 hit Sentimental Journey featuring Doris Day. After Doris left to go solo and WWII ended, Brown moved to Los Angeles and took up a residency at the Hollywood Bowl. Brown had a total of three #1 hits. I've Got Your Love to Keep Me Warm was the biggest hit in 1948. Brown said that Columbia saw him perform the song at the Hollywood Bowl and told him to record it. But he had already recorded it in 1946. So they released it as a single and it was a big hit. This CD from the reissue label ASV/Living Era covers Brown's first ten years. So they are all original recordings. After the big band era ended, Brown kept in the spotlight by touring with Bob Hope and appearing on TV. He died on Jan. 4, 2001 at age 88. His son Les Brown Jr. took over the band until his death on Jan. 9, 2023 at age 82. Here's Les Brown and his Orchestra performing I've Got Your Love to Keep Me Warm at Brown's 60th anniversary show at the Hollywood Palladium May 10, 1996.