One of the original purveyors of America's big band era, Les Brown was a tireless performer, even recognized as the leader of the longest-running musical organizations in pop music history in the Guinness Book of World Records. Brown often claimed that his inspirational fathers first love was music, though he became a baker so his family could eat.
Born in March 14, 1912 and raised in Tower City, PA, young Brown was playing music almost as soon as he could walk. Taught music by his father, Brown took an early shine to the smooth sounds of the soprano sax, "like fleas to a dog." Eager to escape the bake shop where he worked early on, Brown accepted his father's offer to forego a high-school education in order to pursue his love of music at the first-rate Ithaca Conservatory of Music. There Brown refined his skills on the sax, mastered the clarinet, and purchased a second-hand bassoon in order to fill the gap in his school's orchestra and receive a full scholarship. Brown's path to eventual fame was quickly solidified in his multiple talents and early experiments with his own bands.
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