British-Jamaican singer-songwriter Errol Lester Brown was born on 12th November 1943 in Kingston, Jamaica and passed away on 6th May 2015. He was married and had 2 daughters and is best known as the lead vocalist of the soul and funk band ‘Hot Chocolate’.
Errol moved to the UK with his family at the age of 11 and after finishing his studies, he got a clerical job. His music career took off in 1969, when together with this band he recorded a cover version of the track ‘Give Peace a Chance’, originally released by John Lennon. The majority of the group’s songs were written by himself and the band’s bassist until he left the group in 1975. These include ‘Love is Life’, ‘Emma’ and ‘You Sexy Thing’, amongst others. Brown remained with the band until 1985 when he decided to take a career break.
He resumed singing in 1987 and became popular after releasing the single ‘Body Rocking’, especially in clubs. Until his retirement from the music industry in 2009, Errol had 4 albums and 14 singles.
During his ±40-year career, Brown received an Ivor Novello Award and was also named member of the Order of the British Empire for services to British music.
Errol passed away on 6th May 2015 from liver cancer at the age of 71.
*Image: no infringement intended. Source: Discogs