From the Florida Times-Union:
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... 3602.shtml
Molly Hatchet lead singer loved job
Jacksonville native Danny Joe Brown was lead vocalist for the band Molly Hatchet. He died Thursday at age 53.
BRUCE LIPSKY/The Times-Union file
Mr. Brown died Thursday at his home in Davie of renal failure, a complication of his diabetes.
By JESSIE-LYNNE KERR
The Times-Union
The funeral will be this morning for the man whose gutsy, growling voice defined a band arguably second only to Lynyrd Skynyrd in epitomizing Southern rock music.
Jacksonville native Danny Joe Brown was lead vocalist for the band Molly Hatchet in 1978 when it released its self-titled album and its acclaimed followup, Flirtin' With Disaster, the following year. After leaving the band for a few years in the early 1980s because of health problems, he rejoined the group and was a part of it until suffering a serious stroke in 1998.
Mr. Brown died Thursday at his home in Davie of renal failure, a complication of the diabetes he had since age 19. He was 53.
Services will be at 11:30 a.m. today at Cooper City Church of God in Cooper City, followed by burial in Lauderdale Memorial Park cemetery in Fort Lauderdale.
Mr. Brown was born in Jacksonville in 1951. He graduated from Terry Parker High School in 1969 and enlisted in the Coast Guard. He was stationed in New York for two years. After his discharge, he devoted all his time to his music, joining Molly Hatchet in 1974.
The band had been formed in Jacksonville in 1971 by Dave Hlubek and Steve Holland, who named it after a legendary killer prostitute.
Hlubek, who recently rejoined Molly Hatchet as the only original member of the group, remembers meeting Mr. Brown at DJ's Bottle Club, an Arlington after-hours bar. Mr. Brown was a customer who approached Hlubek after completing a set.
"He introduced himself and told me, 'You're the best guitar player I've ever heard, but you can't sing a note,' When I asked him, 'And who might you be?' he said, 'I'm going to be your singer'."
Jacksonville native Danny Joe Brown was lead vocalist for the band Molly Hatchet in 1978. After leaving the band for a few years in the early 1980s, he rejoined the group until 1998.
BRUCE LIPSKY/The Times-Union
On stage, Mr. Brown was an energetic performer who was drenched in sweat even before the show started, Hlubek said.
"I saw him take brand new audiences and bring them to the Molly Hatchet table," Hlubek said. "He'd dare them to rock harder than we were. He had a real command on that stage."
In 1980, Phil Kloer, then a music writer for The Florida Times-Union, wrote in a concert review: "Nearly 12,000 rock music fans packed the Coliseum -- and thousands more were turned away at the door -- for the first local headlining date of Molly Hatchet in that arena. The members of Hatchet are Jacksonville-born and bred, and their sound -- rock at its most basic level -- was the anthem of the masses."
The band's debut album, Molly Hatchet, was released and reached multi-platinum status as the band toured across the country with groups such as Aerosmith and Bob Seger.
The second album, Flirtin' With Disaster, was released in 1979, also achieving multi-platinum status as the band gave more than 250 live shows a year.
Mr. Brown left the group in 1980 and formed the Danny Joe Brown Band and had the hit Edge of Sundown. When he was replaced by Jimmy Farrar, sales of the next two Molly Hatchet albums fell by half compared with the band's first two outings. Mr. Brown rejoined the group in 1982 and continued to play and tour until the stress of coping with his diabetes caused him to leave the group again in 1996. He suffered a stroke that ended his career in 1998.
Banner Thomas, the original bass player with the band who now plays with a group called Big Engine, said Mr. Brown's health had been in decline for some time.
"We all are just happy that he lived as long as he did," Thomas said. "The last time I saw him was in 1999, when we all got together for a reunion in Orlando. Danny was able to get up on stage and sing just one song with us."
Thomas described Mr. Brown as "a great guy with a heart of gold, so talented and a lot of fun."
One time when they were on a cross-country tour by chartered bus, it was Mr. Brown's idea at a truck stop to buy water pistols.
"It was the band against the road crew and we fired those water pistols for about 400 miles," Thomas said. "He was the instigator of a lot of hilarious things when we were out on the road."
Mr. Brown is survived by his wife of 20 years, Crystal Halsell Brown; children, Danny Joe Brown Jr., Ashley Brown, Rebecca H. Brown, Matthew Brown and Jacob Brown; a stepson, Aaron Morgan; his mother, Catherine Langley, and stepfather, Charles Langley, both of Davie; a brother, Michael Brown of Davie; a sister, Lynda Mitcham of Little Rock, Ark.; and two grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to the American Lung Association, 5526 Arlington Road, Jacksonville, FL 32211, or the American Diabetes Association, 8384-10 Baymeadows Road, Jacksonville, FL 32256.
