Lucy Brown

The Lucy Brown profiled in this bio was not a female solo artist but rather, an interracial, all-male funk-metal/funk-rock combo along the lines of Living Colour, Mother's Finest, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and 24-7 Spyz. Like those bands, Lucy Brown had one foot in bass-slapping funk and the other in crunching, guitar-powered, metallic rock. Led Zeppelin and the seminal Jimi Hendrix were influences, but so were Sly & the Family Stone, Ike & Tina Turner, James Brown and George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic. (In fact, one of the songs that LB liked to perform on stage was Funkadelic's "Super Stupid"). Unfortunately, the obscure LB (whose lyrics could be very sociopolitical) didn't have much commercial success, but those who were hip to the East Coast funk-rockers swore by them. LB's original lineup was formed in the Washington, DC area in 1987. At first, LB favored a power trio format that consisted of Scott Llewellyn on lead vocals and electric bass, Luis Peraza, Jr. on electric guitar and background vocals and Chris Neuberg on drums and background vocals. In 1988, LB's original three-man lineup recorded its self-titled debut album (which was only released as a vinyl LP) for T.O.G. Records, a small independent label based in Virginia. The record, which suffered from limited distribution, didn't do much and quickly went out of print. It was in 1990 that LB unveiled a new four-man lineup. That year, Gene Hawkins became the band's new lead vocalist. Llewellyn remained, but he was no longer the lead singer--he was strictly a guitarist/background vocalist from that point on. In 1991, LB's new Hawkins/Llewellyn/Peraza/Neuberg lineup signed with Megaforce/Atlantic and recorded a new album. Like LB's previous album on T.O.G., the band's first Megaforce/Atlantic album was...