Brown was born in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, United States. He began playing the drums at the age of five. He played with soul groups and played in high school with bassist
John Lee, with whom he attended music academy in 1970. In 1971, he moved to New York, where he played for
Lionel Hampton. In 1972 he moved to the Netherlands with Lee to join
Chris Hinze's rock jazz group. With bassist John Lee as co-leader, he recorded a series of albums in the 1970s. Alongside Lee, he also worked for
Jasper van 't Hof,
Toto Blanke,
Charlie Mariano, Eef Albers and
Gary Bartz in the mid-1970s. Subsequently, they were members of
Larry Coryell's
The Eleventh House for two years; Brown also played for
Stanley Clarke and
Chick Corea. In 1979, he accompanied
Didier Lockwood at the
Montreux Jazz Festival. Brown settled in Berlin for some time in 1982 and worked with
George Gruntz, with
Joachim Kühn, and with , but also with
Herb Geller,
Anne Haigis and with
Kraan until he returned to the United States. In 1986, he succeeded
Billy Cobham in Consortium. For 14 years, he performed with
Stevie Wonder (1992-2004). Since 2000, he has been the drummer for
Diana Ross. Brown also worked as a sideman on stage and on recordings, including ones with
George Benson,
Michał Urbaniak,
Urszula Dudziak,
Marcus Miller,
Lionel Richie,
Sonny Fortune,
Alphonso Johnson,
Roberta Flack,
Joe Sample,
Tom Harrell,
Dave Samuels,
Chuck Loeb, , the (
The Spirit of Jimi Hendrix) and
Phil Collins. With bassist
Nathan Watts, he recorded the instructional video
R&B Drumming - Featuring Gerry Brown and his Motown Sound. ==Discography==