Nacio Herb Brown

Ignacio Herbert Brown was born in Deming, New Mexico, United States,[1] to Ignacio and Cora Brown.[2][3][4] He had an older sister, Charlotte.[2] In 1901, his family moved to Los Angeles, where he attended Manual Arts High School.[1] His music education started with instruction from his mother, Cora Alice (Hopkins) Brown. Brown first operated a tailoring business (1916), and then became a financially successful realtor, but he always wrote and played music.[1] After his first hit "Coral Sea" (1920)[1] and a first big hit, "When Buddha Smiles" (1921), he eventually became a full-time composer. He joined The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1927.

In 1928, he was hired to work in Hollywood by MGM and write film scores for the new medium of sound film. For his film work, he often collaborated with lyricist Arthur Freed.[1] Their music is collected for the most part in Singin' in the Rain. He appeared in the MGM variety film The Hollywood Revue of 1929.[1] Brown also worked with Richard A. Whiting and Buddy De Sylva on Broadway Musicals such as Take a Chance.[1]

Along with L. Wolfe Gilbert, Brown wrote the music for the children's television western, Hopalong Cassidy, which first aired in 1949.

After an 18-month illness and a brief hospitalization at UCSF Medical Center, Brown died of cancer on September 28, 1964, in San Francisco, California, at the home of his children, Nacio Jan Brown and Candace Nacio Brown.[5]

Brown was married at least five times.

1. Ruby Porter, with whom he had one child, Nacio Herb Brown, Jr., who also became a composer. Brown and Porter divorced in 1931.[6]
2. In 1932 he married Jeanne Borlini Lockhart.[7]
3. In 1934 he married actress Anita Page.[8]
4. Beffie Kellogg
5. In 1942 he married Georgeann Morris. They divorced in 1952. The couple had two children, Nacio Jan Brown, b.1943, and Candace Brown, b. 1945.

He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, and into the New Mexico Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2012.

• "All I Do Is Dream of You"
• "Alone"
• "American Bolero"
• "Avalon Town "
• "Broadway Melody"
• "Broadway Rhythm"
• "Doll Dance"
• "Eadie Was a Lady"
• "Good Morning"
• "I've Got a Feelin’ You're Foolin"'
• "Love Is Where You Find It"
• "Lucky Star"
• "Make 'Em Laugh"
• "The Moon Is Low" (with Arthur Freed)
• "A New Moon Is Over My Shoulder"
• "Our Big Love Scene"
• "Pagan Love Song" (with Arthur Freed)
• "Paradise" (1931)
• "Should I"
• "Singin' in the Rain"
• "Sweetheart Darlin"'
• "Temptation"
• "Wedding of the Painted Doll"
• "When Buddha Smiles" (1921)
• "Would You"
• "You Are My Lucky Star"
• "You Stepped Out of a Dream"
• "You Were Meant For Me"

• Nacio Herb Brown at IMDb
• Nacio Herb Brown at the Internet Broadway Database
• SHoF page on Nacio Herb Brown
• More complete list of songs on ASCAP site
• Hopalong Cassidy Music
• Nacio Herb Brown at Find a Grave
• Nacio Herb Brown recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.