Thelma and Richard Brown had a son on February 3rd 1929 at the Tamworth Base Hospital, he was called Geoff Brown (he was one of seven Siblings).
Geoff’s early teens saw him maturing through the Second World War period than at the age of fifteen years he started work at the Tamworth Power Station removing coal dust from the station by horse and dray.
Three years later he went to work for the Tamworth Gas Company as a stoker and it was during his time here that Mick Finn influenced Geoff in guitar playing and singing. Up to now none of the Brown family had been musically inclined and Geoff had spent his leisure time on the Tennis court. Now he had conquered the guitar all his spare time had became his rehearsal time. Richard Brown (Geoff’s father) passed away when Geoff was 21 years of age.
Geoff’s first mark in entertainment came on November 10, 1951 when he won the P. and A. Association Northern Championship Rodeo Talent Quest. When on stage he was known for his smart appearance even though Tamworth clothing stores could not supply fancy western gear. He designed three shirts himself and had Mrs. Clarrie Palmer of Tamworth sew the additional trim to them. Geoff used shirts he had seen Stan Gill of the Gill Brothers Rodeo Show wearing to come up with his designs. At the same time Tamworth Tailor Jim King added some patches to the inside of his trouser legs to resemble jodhpurs.
Beryl Costelloe became Mrs. Geoff Brown in 1953. The same year that Geoff commenced work for the Lillymans Soft Drink Company in Tamworth.
emingha Hotel became his first regular gig spot when as a duo with Ivan Grills they were paid a quid to do a show once every three months.
It was during 1964 that Geoff Brown, Gloria Hickman and Arnold Mills (a drummer) got together and formed a band, their repertoire consisting of songs sung by Buddy Williams, Tex Morton, Smoky Dawson, Hank Snow and Johnny Cash. The same year that Joe Maguire of the famous Maguire’s Hotel in Tamworth hired the band. With the rise in popularity of Slim Dusty it wasn’t long before songs of Slim were also part of the bands repertoire. This band dissolved when Gloria and Arnold were married making way for Michael Cooke to join Geoff as a duo partner.
In the mid sixties “The Modern Country Music Association” that had been foundered in Brisbane held its first meeting in Tamworth. Geoff Brown was there and became an active supporter of the association for the rest of his life. By 1969 they had changed their name to the Tamworth Music Club and than in 1971 became the Country Capital Music Association which is today generally referred to as the CCMA. The MCMA held its first Jamboree in June 1968 being composed of 65 entertainers and 11 musicians the funds raised were sent to the Tasmanian bush fire appeal.
February 1968 saw Geoff record the original tracks “You Lost Your Chance”, “Jindovick”, “Lionel Rose The Champion”, “The Waltz I Wrote For You”, “Bullocks Daydream” and the Jim Wesley song “There’s A Mountain To Clime” with RCA Records.
The seventies saw him record another two EP’s and carry on doing his local pub appearances. In 1979 he was inducted into the Australasian Country Music Hands of Fame.
The Geoff Brown Show Band was formed featuring his son Gary, Margaret Carmichael (vocalist) and duo partner Michael Cooke. Rob Brown joined the band on bass and won the 1975 Golden Guitar Award for Best New Talent. Deniese Morrison and Frank Jones joined the band and a new look show wowed the Gloucester RSL Club and spent the next decade wooing audiences through New South Wales and Queensland. The band’s final performance on this scale took place at a 1981 New Year Eve show in Guyra. The band toured for this period in Geoff’s trusty 1964 Holden Station wagon. It was time for Geoff to scale down his operations to spend more quality time with the family and devote more to his favorite organization the CCMA. Over the years the band lineup altered several times, the final combination was Vicki Lawrence, Wayne Saunders, Ron Walton, Geoff and Gary Brown.
In 1992 Geoff retired from his job at the Cocoa Cola distribution centre in Tamworth where he had remained when they had taken over his original employers the Lillymans Soft Drink Company.
Geoff did become president of the CCMA for several years and was made a life member of the association.
Geoff Brown passed away peacefully on August 21, 2000. While he never considered himself to have made it to the lights of stardom “Gentleman” Geoff Brown is one of those country music identities who will always be considered an Australian Country Music Legend to many who new the man and supported him.
