Born Ruth Alston Weston on 30th January 1928 in Portsmouth, Virginia, she attended I. C. Norcom High School, a historically black high school. Brown's father was a dockhand who directed the local church choir, but the young Ruth showed more of an interest in singing at USO shows and nightclubs. She was inspired by Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington. In 1945, Brown ran away from her home in Portsmouth along with a trumpeter, Jimmy Brown, whom she soon married, to sing in bars and clubs. She then spent a month with Lucky Millinder's orchestra, but was fired after she brought drinks to the band for free, and was left stranded in Washington, D.C.
Blanche Calloway, Cab Calloway's sister, also a bandleader, arranged a gig for Brown at a Washington nightclub called Crystal Caverns and soon became her manager. Willis Conover, a Voice of America disc jockey, caught her act and recommended her to Atlantic Records bosses, Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson. Brown was unable to audition as planned though, because of a serious car accident that resulted in a nine-month hospital stay. In 1948, however, Ertegün and Abramson drove to Washington from New York City to hear her sing in the club. Although her repertoire was mostly popular ballads, Ertegün convinced her to switch to rhythm and blues. His productions for her, however, retained her pop style, with clean, fresh arrangements and the singing spot on the beat with little of the usual blues singer's embroidery.
In her first audition, in 1949, she sang "So Long", which became a hit. This was followed by "Teardrops from My Eyes" in 1950; written by Rudy Toombs, it was the first upbeat major hit for Ruth Brown, establishing her as an important figure in R&B. Recorded for Atlantic Records in New York City in September 1950, and released in October, it was on Billboard's List of number-one R&B hits (United States) for eleven weeks. The huge hit earned her the nickname "Miss Rhythm", and within a few months Ruth Brown became the acknowledged queen of R&B.
She followed up this hit with "I'll Wait for You" (1951), "I Know" (1951), "5-10-15 Hours" (1953), "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" (1953), "Oh What a Dream" (1954), "Mambo Baby" (1954), and "Don't Deceive Me" (1960). She also became known as "Little Miss Rhythm" and "the girl with the teardrop in her voice". In all, she was on the R&B charts for 149 weeks from 1949 to 1955, with sixteen top-ten blues records including five number ones, and became Atlantic's most popular artist, earning Atlantic records the proper name of "The House that Ruth Built".
During the 1960s, Brown faded from public view to become a housewife and mother, and only returned to music in 1975 at the urging of Redd Foxx, followed by a series of comic acting gigs, including roles in the sitcom Hello, Larry and the John Waters film Hairspray as local DJ Motormouth Maybelle, as well as Broadway appearances in Amen Corner and Black and Blue, which earned her a Tony Award for her performance and a Grammy award for her album Blues on Broadway, featuring hits from the show.
Brown's fight for musicians' rights and royalties in 1987 led to the founding of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. She was inducted as a Pioneer Award recipient in its first year, 1989. In 1993, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as "The Queen Mother of the Blues".
She has become an iconic symbol to many black women for later generations, where she is also a favourite artist and inspiration for later blues artists such as Bonnie Raitt. Brown recorded and sang along with fellow rhythm and blues performer Charles Brown, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and toured with Raitt on Raitt's tour in the late 1990s, "Road Tested". Her 1995 autobiography, Miss Rhythm, won the Gleason Award for music journalism.
Brown died in a Las Vegas-area hospital on 17th November 2006, from complications following a heart attack and stroke she suffered after surgery in October 2006. A memorial concert for her was held on 22nd January 2007 at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York.
The Treasure of Love
Ruth Brown Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's waiting for you if your heart isn't blind
The treasure of love is not very far
It glows like a fire and it shines like a star
It's stronger than diamonds
Worth more than gold
This is a treasure that never grows old
To find where it is just look in your heart
It's stronger than diamonds
Worth more than gold
This is a treasure that never grows old
The treasure of love is found on no chart
To find where it is just look in your heart
In the song "The Treasure of Love" by Ruth Brown, the singer talks about the elusive nature of love and how difficult it can be to find, but it's not impossible. The song's lyrics use the metaphor of a treasure to communicate how valuable love is and how much it's worth pursuing. The treasure is not tangible, but rather an intangible feeling that resides in the heart, waiting to be discovered by those who are willing to truly see it.
The singer encourages the listener to look within themselves to find the treasure of love. The song suggests that love cannot be bought or sold; it's something that must be felt, nurtured, and appreciated. The song's message is that love is not just a fleeting emotion, but something that can last forever if we take care of it.
Overall, "The Treasure of Love" is a song about the importance of love and how it can make everything in life worth living for. It reminds us that even though love is sometimes hard to find, it's always within reach as long as we have an open heart.
Line by Line Meaning
The treasure of love is easy to find
Love is not elusive or hidden, but out in the open for all to discover, if only they seek it.
It's waiting for you if your heart isn't blind
Love is always present and available, but those who cannot see it, because they are closed off from their emotions, will never find it.
The treasure of love is not very far
Love is not something that requires a difficult journey or arduous labor to attain; it is close at hand and easily accessible to everyone.
It glows like a fire and it shines like a star
Love emits a powerful and radiant energy that can be felt and seen by all who encounter it.
It's stronger than diamonds
Love is more enduring and valuable than any material possession or riches that people may acquire.
Worth more than gold
Love holds greater value and significance than any other form of monetary wealth or possessions.
This is a treasure that never grows old
Love remains precious and timeless, never losing its luster, no matter how much time passes or how many experiences one has.
The treasure of love is found on no chart
Love cannot be located or measured by any external or objective means, such as a map or a scientific formula.
To find where it is just look in your heart
The only way to discover love is through introspection, by exploring one's own inner world and emotions, and by being open to the possibilities that exist within oneself.
Contributed by Emily O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.