Hall of Famer Bonnie Brown Dead at 77
Country Music Hall of Famer Bonnie Brown has passed away at the age of 77.
Brown was the sister of country legend Jim Ed Brown, who died after a battle with cancer in June of 2015. Just months after that, she was diagnosed with a different form of lung cancer. She passed away on Saturday (July 16) at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock, Ark., according to Nashville's Tennessean newspaper.
The news comes just weeks after Brown's family asked for prayers via Facebook, revealing the singer was in critical care after experiencing complications from a blood clot.
Along with Jim Ed Brown and her sister Maxine, Brown was a member of the Browns. The trio rose to fame in the 1950s, releasing a string of hit singles that included “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow,” “I Take the Chance,” “Just as Long as You Love Me,” “Money,” “I Heard the Bluebirds Sing,” “Would You Care” and “Beyond the Shadow,” as well as their biggest hit, 1959′s “The Three Bells,” which reached No. 1 in both country and pop. The Browns joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1963, but by 1967 Bonnie and Maxine had decided to retire, and Jim Ed Brown became a solo act.
The 78-year-old was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as a member of the trio in October of 2015, shortly after she was diagnosed with lung cancer in September.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young remembered Brown in a statement on Saturday, saying, "When Bonnie Brown joined her brother, Jim Ed, and her sister, Maxine, in song, the siblings created an incomparable harmony: the smoothest and most elegant blend in country music. Bonnie offered harmony offstage as well. She brought people together with regal grace and kindness. She lived a remarkable life, singing on grand stages, raising a beloved family, entering the Country Music Hall of Fame, and breaking up with young Elvis Presley because he was, she said, a lousy kisser. Today, she is reunited with Jim Ed, and with her husband of 56 years, Brownie Ring."
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