Son of David and Anne Weisberg, brother of Jacob (b. 1895) and Herman (b. 1898), he first played in the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra, but moved to the field of popular music in the late 1910s. Between 1917 and 1919, Brown played xylophone and marimba with Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orchestra, whose recordings prominently feature his playing. At a performance with Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orchestra at the Brunswick Hotel in Lancaster, NY, he was introduced as the leading marimba soloist of the world and played four-mallet arrangements on a Deagan Marimba-Xylophone No. 4726 accompanied by the 18 piece band. This performance inspired xylophonist
Clair Omar Musser (1901-1998) so much that he took up studying the marimba with Brown's former teacher and became a marimba virtuoso himself. He was a percussionist for a time with
Julius Lenzberg's Riverside Theatre Orchestra, and his later recordings were xylophone solos with Lenzberg's band on
Edison Records in 1919 and 1920. Between 1924 and 1925, he played drums with Johnny Basilone and his Harlem Tea Garden Orchestra, which broadcast from New York's WEBJ station. On July 16th 1918 he married Sophie Inselberg in New Yok and the couple had three children: Joseph (1921-1921), Blossom (1925-1996) and Stewart (b. 1929 - deceased). He arrived in London in 1925, with Joseph C. Smith and his Orchestra. The next year he formed his own
orchestra, playing at the
Café de Paris. He went on to play in other
nightclubs both in London and Paris including the Kit Kat Club, often performing as a solo act, or playing xylophone with a piano accompaniment. ==Selected filmography==