Biography
A Trojan Records producer discovered Tottenham resident Doris Gubbins in 1982 when she was 17 years old after she'd learned how to sing. Since another singer already had the stagename Doris at Trojan; Gubbins adopted the stagename O'Chi Brown.
Starting with a cover of Helen Reddy's 1981 song "I Can't Say Goodbye To You"; O'Chi made a name for herself by covering Lovers Rock songs. Her debut album, Danger Date, released in 1983 under Sky Records, all songs being covers. It failed to chart anywhere and had little promotion, so Sky Records launched a reboot album, Love For You, in 1984. Only three of the tracks on this album were original songs; one of the originals being written by Prince, with the rest of the tracklist being covers.
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This album also featured O'Chi's first music video; for Whiter Shade of Pale, which was a Procol Harum cover, and the lead single of the album. This turned out to be O'Chi's highest charting song on the charts ever, reaching #81 on the UK Top 100. She also performed the song live! The other singles from the album - covers of "Answer Me", "Auld Lang Syne" and "Unchained Melody" all failed to chart.
Initially, Sky Records would've produced another full album with Brown in 1985. However; the singer felt burned out after three years of producing songs nonstop. O'Chi and Sky Records did produce one single song in 1985, titled "Why Can't We Be Friends", which was an original song, and was her first to delve into synth dance-pop, but this would be O'Chi and Sky's last song together. It was a minor hit, making it to #88 on the UK Hot 100.
In early 1986, following a hiatus after her twentieth birthday; O'Chi signed onto British record producing trio Stock Aitken Waterman on label PWL; who had learned of her after finding her "Why Can't We Be Friends" track.
They began producing an album together with the assistance of Daize Washbourn; which O'Chi had little to no creative control over. The lead single of the album, "Whenever You Need Somebody", a synth-driven beat, peaked at #97 on the UK Hot 100. Despite strong demand, the song's further progress on the US charts was thwarted when stocks of the record ran out. The song's producers (Stock Aitken Waterman) would recycle the song for English singer Rick Astley a year later, and it would be the title of his debut studio album on PWL, and be one of his three signature songs. O'Chi however had no input on the track, saying she "only went to the studio to sing."
The second single from the album, "100% Pure Pain", a new-jack swing song inspired by Janet Jackson's song "What Have You Done For Me Lately", proved popular aswell; charting at #97 aswell. Both songs had music videos and are considered her signature songs.
The next single from the album, however, ballad "Two Hearts Beating As One" (marketed in some countries as Wedding Song), did not feature a music video, and did not chart.
O'Chi's 1986 album performed better than any of her other work, however O'Chi felt she didn't have alot of creative control over said album - her style was more classical, disco-influenced by the golden oldies of the 50s, 60s and 70s, including lovers rock and quiet storm. SAW could not give her this style.
O'Chi broke up with SAW in early 1987 and released a standalone single, a cover of "Rock Your Baby", which failed to chart.
Her next major work, in 1987, was Light the Night, produced by Magnet Records. It returned to the style of her first two albums. The lead single, I Got A Feeling, which released in 1987, used a previous album track off O'Chi's 1986 album; Lady, refashioned into Treat Me Like A Lady, as its' B-Side. This single failed to chart, and no more singles were issued off the album.
Abruptly, though, in October 1987, following the success of Rick Astley's single "Never Gonna Give You Up", SAW released an album track "Learning To Live (Without Your Love)" from Brown's 1986 album as a cash-in single in 1987. The track was a duet with Astley, but the two singers never met. It peaked at #103 on the UK Charts and was O'Chi's last charting song there.
In February 1988, O'Chi released her fourth standalone single, Groove Me. It's B-Side was "Change Acid", a minimalist electrobeat track which was more popular than the A-Side.
That year, O'Chi was discouraged after having so many of her songs fail to chart; her most successful only reaching #88 and being a cover of another song - so decided to retire from music. She would be married in 1993 to an unknown husband.
O'Chi was completely unreachable for nearly three decades; enjoying a private life. That was, however, until 9 September 2021, when podcasters Gavin Scott and Matthew Denby tracked down Brown to give an interview on episode 12 of their podcast "A Journey Through SAW". She mentioned, among other things, that she had two daughters - both of whom were musicians. She also said that she prefers her own version of "Whenever You Need Somebody".
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.