Lester Raymond Brown (March 14, 1912 – January 4, 2001) was an American jazz musician who for over six decades (1938-2000) led his big band, later called Les Brown and His Band of Renown
Brown was born in Reinerton, Pennsylvania. He enrolled in the Conway Military Band School in 1926, studying with famous bandleader Patrick Conway for three years before receiving a music scholarship to the New York Military Academy, where he graduated in 1932. Brown attended college at Duke University, studying saxophone and clarinet, and led the group, “Les Brown and His Blue Devils”, who performed regularly on Duke’s campus and up and down the east coast. Brown took the band on an extensive summer tour in 1936. At the end of the tour, while some of the band members returned to Duke to continue their education, others stayed on with Brown and continued to tour, becoming in 1938 the “Les Brown Orchestra.”
In 1945, the Les Brown and His Band of Renown brought Doris Day into prominence with their recording of “Sentimental Journey“. The song’s release coincided with the end of World War II in Europe and became an unofficial homecoming theme for many veterans. The band had nine other number-one hit songs, including “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” (1949).
Brown was the orchestra leader on Day’s radio program, The Doris Day Show, on CBS. Brown and the Band were also the house band for The Steve Allen Show and the Dean Martin Show. Brown and the band performed with virtually every major performer of their time, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole. The annual Les Brown Big Band Festival, started March 2006 in Les’ hometown, features area big bands preserving the songs of the big band era. At the 2012 festival celebrating the 100th birthday anniversary, the town of Reinerton renamed the street near Les’ birthplace to Les Brown Lane. In 2013 his hometown of Reinerton, PA adopted as the town’s official slogan: Reinerton: The Town of Renown in honor of Les and his band.
YouTube Link: Doris Day and Les Brown, “Sentimental Journey”