Ian Brown photo by Siân Court
After being mistaken for his namesake, the iconic frontman of The Stone Roses, Hampshire singer songwriter Ian Brown is to release his first single at the age of 50 under the name Ian W Brown.
Ian wrote the song, Me Too, after appearing at Purbeck Folk Festival where he met a couple of Stone Roses fans who thought they were going to see their hero.
“I’m not fooling anyone with this,” says Ian. “I always feel a bit sorry for people who think I’m going to be the Stone Roses singer. I mean, frankly I would rather see him than me!
“The song is about sharing your name with someone famous and having to deal with all the day-to-day business of living that you presume they don’t, but when you think about it they do – we’re all the same, we all get lonely and we all get sad.”
Me Too has been produced by Rupert Christie (Bellowhead, Jessie J, Fisherman’s Friends) and remixed by Grammy Award winner Brian Rawling (David Bowie, James Bay, Rod Stewart, James Morrison). Its bittersweet lyrics name check people called Bob Marley, Elton John, Norah Jones, David Gray and Deborah Harry.
Ahead of the song’s release in February, Ian is playing Bournemouth Folk Club on 6 December at the Sugar and Spice bar in Boscombe and will give a free advance copy of the single to everyone who buys a ticket.
“Everyone’s welcome whether they’ve heard of me or not – and if you share a famous name there might even be drink in it!”
Irrespective of any confusion with the Stone Roses singer, Ian Brown is an accomplished and successful songwriter under the name Tom Gilbert with a track record that includes No Hopers Jokers and Rogues for Fisherman’s Friends, Dreamboats and Petticoats (a hit for Jason Donovan) and Thanks For Turning Up, co-written with Steve Knightley from Show of Hands.
Tickets from www.wegottickets.com/event/332589
This post was edited on 12 November 2015 and updated with details of where to buy tickets.
