Coby Brown

“bittersweet melodies, spiraling guitars and poetic lyrics celebrate the heart's resilience.” - Time Is Now

Survivor of cancer is game for anthem duty at Fenway


When Jon Lester [stats] doffs his cap before the national anthem tomorrow at Fenway Park [map], he might not know Coby Brown, who’s going to sing it.
But the Red Sox [team stats] hurler shares one thing in common with the Brookline native: Both are recent cancer survivors.
For Brown, a singer-songwriter now based in Los Angeles, singing the anthem at Fenway is another step in his recovery from Ewing’s sarcoma, a cancer found in soft tissue, and in educating people about it. The journey continues next month, when Brown plans to ride from Wellesley to Bourne in the 84-mile Pan-Mass Challenge.
For Brown, both experiences bring him full circle in his fight against cancer and his love for the Red Sox.
“The first time I heard of the PMC was through watching Red Sox games,” said Brown, who moved to California in 2002. “I’m really excited. I grew up going to Fenway, so I’m excited to just be able to walk on the grass.”
Brown’s Hollywood life and burgeoning music career changed suddenly in late 2006, when doctors detected a tumor in the soft tissue of the sinus in his nose.
“Luckily, we caught it early and I was able to go through treatment,” Brown said. “But I was dumbfounded. I was in total shock. All the things I had on my mind that day just went away.”
That included his recent marriage to actress Ever Carradine as well as the rising success of his band, the 11:11s. Soon after learning he had cancer, Brown appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and took top prize in the John Lennon songwriting contest.
Instead of promoting his career and starting a family, his year was filled with surgical procedures removing the cancer and 13 chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Brown used his recovery time to work on “Stars & Curses,” his new album that is expected to drop in September.
“The record was pretty much all written during treatment,” Brown said. “It’s dark, but also funny. When you’re getting treatment, there really isn’t much you can do but write music. I’m pretty psyched about it.” - Michael Marotta

Back in the sing of things

In 2006, singer and Brookline native Coby Brown was on his way up, with a performance on Ellen DeGeneres's talk show, a John Lennon Songwriting Contest award, and an album in the works. Then a rare form of cancer, Ewing's sarcoma, forced him to spend a year undergoing chemo and surgery. He only performed once during treatment, he said, and "I wrote and wrote and wrote." (And watched the Red Sox at his LA home.) Now cancer-free, Brown will sing the national anthem at Fenway tonight. He'll also ride 84 miles in the upcoming Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, raising money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he was a patient. And his album's coming out this fall. In other words, he's back on his way. "It was incredible to me to be standing on the field," the singer said, after his sound check (above) yesterday. "It was surreal." - Paysha Rhone

This mellow, soulful singer/songwriter is a veteran of tons of NYC clubs. For tonight's gig, he returns to CB's Gallery with the dangerously catchy debut CD "Homesick" - permanent evidence of his commitment to meaningful lyrics and strong songwriting in tow. - -(Rothman) -The Village Voice

“ Coby Brown…possesses a remarkable voice, best compared to Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers mixed in with some Spencer Davis…. ”


- -Columbia Daily Spectator

Tuesday nights at the Hotel Cafe all January are about to become about a billion times more awakening. Enter Coby Brown: the indie/folk singer/songwriter coated his latest release, "Stars and Curses", with warm organs, tender vocals, biting lyric and often somber but poignant guitar chops that evoke "Mind Games" Lennon to the lighter side of My Morning Jacket. And, oh my, does it all stem from the most potent of experiences. Brown wrote these gems while undergoing cancer treatment, testament to the true spirit of turning ailing ashes to artistic clovers. He writes in "Rise and Fall": "*You must admit that what is happening here / Should never have occurred at all*," but, luckily, this release did. Coby Brown plays the Hotel Cafe every Tuesday at 9PM for the month of January. 21+. - Hugo Gomez

- Hugo Gomez

Building a career as an indie musician is hard enough without having to deal with serious real-world issues – like, say, being diagnosed with cancer – but those are exactly the cards that Coby Brown was dealt a few years ago. To his credit, Brown took his diagnosis in stride, releasing an EP (2007’s Time Is Now) that whetted appetites for his first full-length, Stars & Curses. Happily, Curses delivers on Time’s promise, offering up 10 pleasantly polished cuts of gently woven singer/songwriter pop goodness. Brown’s style isn’t showy – he leads off with the somber-to-a-fault “4th of July,” and on a number of tracks, he drenches his vocals in wide swaths of reverb – but the songs speak for themselves. Fans of artists like Josh Rouse and Josh Ritter will find a lot to love here; Brown’s voice is strong and slightly reedy around the edges, giving the music just enough homespun edge to keep things grounded…. Give it time – it’ll grow on you and refuse to let go. (self-released 2009)
Jeff Giles_2/3/2009

- Jeff Giles

Cancer survivor Brown rallies back on his handsomely produced new full-length with compelling pop melodies, soulful vocals and occasionally spiked lyrics. The jaunty “Drop Down Dead” rants against “Jello, blood, morphine [and] nurses,” and the dreamy “Sunday” makes you wish the weekend would get here before the last note resonates from Ollie Krauss’ cello. The music’s hopeful, but Brown remains cautious: “Good times never last/ And if you think they do/ I’ve got some things to sell to you.” Playing Hotel Café Tuesdays throughout January.
By Bliss 01/22/2009


- Bliss

“The Time I s Now EP is, without a doubt, one of the best EP’s I’ve heard in years from a singer-songwriter. Brown brings a penchant for wit and poetry to every one of the four songs featured here, and the moment I finished it I crossed my fingers that Brown would eventually put a full-length release together.

I advise anyone looking for good music—plain and simple—to pick up a copy of this one. It’s a snapshot of one of the best lyrical minds at the top of his game, musing on the best of lyrical topics. Stellar.”

June 4th, 2007

- Trent Moore

The odds of making it in the music business are tough enough these days, but battling a serious illness makes the uphill climb all the more daunting. So credit L.A. resident Coby Brown with having not only the talent but also the courage. Having spent the last two yars coping with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, he remained undeterred, and the results, as manifest in the aptly titled Stars & Curses, justify his determination.

An album produced by Will Golden (Gary Jules, Meiko), recorded between November 2007 and April 2008, and awash with atmosphere, it finds songs like “Daylight” and “Drop Down Dead” starting slowly and building toward rousing refrains. “Sunday” and “Run Like I’m a River” sound suspended, all shimmer and seduction. And when Brown finally lets loose with the rollicking “Lived to Tell the Story,” it’s as if he’s been liberated,
travails behind him and a bright future beckoning at last. —LZ - L. Zimmerman