SONGWRITER RECORD PRODUCER MUSICIAN

Errol Brown MBE was a British-Jamaican singer and songwriter, best known as the frontman of the soul and funk band Hot Chocolate. 

Brown was born in Kingston, Jamaica, but moved to the UK when he was twelve years old. His break in music came in 1969 when he recorded a version of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" with a band called "Hot Chocolate Band". Unable to change the lyrics without Lennon's permission, he sent a copy to his record label, Apple, and the song was released with Lennon's approval.

The Hot Chocolate albums were produced by Mickie Most and recorded at the Rak Records studio. They had twenty nine UK top 40 hits including a #1 with So You Win Again.

Brown left the group in 1985 to take a hiatus from music. He soon went on to have a solo career, achieving success in the clubs with the 1987 single "Body Rocking", produced by Richard James Burgess and a big commercial hit with Personal Touch the same year.

In November 1990 he recorded two songs with Stock Aitken Waterman. Send A Prayer (To Heaven) was written by the SAW team and released as a single in December 1990 where it peaked at #83. The other song he recorded with SAW featured as the B side to the single. Family Christmas Time was co-written by Brown and SAW.

In 2003, Queen Elizabeth II named Brown a Member of the Order of the British Empire for "services to popular music for the United Kingdom".

In 2004 he received an Ivor Novello Award for outstanding contributions to British music.

Brown died from liver cancer at his home in the Bahamas on 6 May 2015. He was survived by his wife Ginette and his two daughters, Colette and Leonie.​​​​