RICK BROWN
Rick Brown (born April 26, 1947) was the lead singer, harmonica player, and co-songwriter of psychedelic group The Misunderstood. The Misunderstood were a rock band originating from Riverside, California in the mid-1960s. The band moved to London early in their career, and although they recorded only a handful of songs before being forced to disband, they are considered highly influential in the then-emerging genre. Richard Brown is currently working as a gemologist and Jewelry designer in Bangkok, Thailand, for Astral Gemstone Talismans, a brand known for creating fine gems-jewelry based on the Navaratna belief in Jyotish. (More from Wikipedia)
Mike Stax’s exhaustively researched article over four issues in Ugly Things on the Misunderstood led to the publication of a book on the band called Like, Misunderstood that was co-written with the band’s lead singer Rick Brown; as quoted in the Union Tribune article, Stax says: “They came pretty close to making it in London, they got a deal with Fontana Records, had a single out and had media (coverage). Then, the [U.S. military] draft claimed the lead singer, and they were finished overnight, just as they were on the verge of success. They would have been the first psychedelic band, with an album out before before [Jimi] Hendrix and Pink Floyd. They were cheated. Their music was world-class.”
(September 2017)
