| Net Worth: | $65 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Musician |
| Date of Birth: | October 9, 1948 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5′ 10″ |
About Jackson Browne
Profoundly influenced by Bob Dylan and in the style of Jack Kerouac and Thomas Wolfe, Browne developed a protagonist whose journey for love, understanding, and justice was a mythic extension of his own experience. When Browne was three years old, he and his family relocated to the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles to live at his grandfather’s home, Abbey San Encino.
In his teens, he began singing folk songs in local venues such as the Ash Grove and The Troubadour Club. While living in Fullerton, California, he went to school and eventually graduated from Sunny Hills High.
Once meeting members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on the Los Angeles folk scene, they invited him to join the group after he finished college. Even though he was only a member for a short time, his songs ended up on the band’s first two albums. By the beginning of 1967, he had acquired a publishing deal with Nina Music, a branch of Elektra Records; Nina helped Browne secure songs on albums by Tom Rush and Steve Noonan in 1968.
Before releasing his self-titled debut album in 1972, he gained notoriety as a songwriter, having songs covered by artists including Tom Rush, the Byrds, and Linda Ronstadt.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tom Rush, Nico, Steve Noonan, Gregg Allman, Joan Baez, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, the Byrds, Iain Matthews, and many others covered Browne’s early works including “Shadow Dream Song” and “These Days” Browne did not release his own versions of these early tunes till years later. After this, Browne was acclaimed for his “new face to look for” and named a “mind-boggling melodies” by Rolling Stone.
Jackson Browne (1972), featuring the piano-driven “Doctor My Eyes” was Browne’s first album after signing with David Geffen’s Asylum Records in 1971. The success of his follow-up album, For Everyman (1973), was less than that of his first, although still selling a million copies because of its outstanding quality. Browne’s fan base was solidified with the release of Late for the Sky (1974), which peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard album chart and ended up being the 84th best-selling album of that year.
After winning a cult following with his first three albums—the last two, including the highly regarded Late for the Sky, featured instrumentalist David Lindley—Browne had million-selling hits with The Pretender (1976) and the live album Running on Empty (1978); the title tracks from both recordings are among his best-known songs. His musical style ranged from romantic folk rock ballads to up-tempo rock and reggae.
In June of 1978, he played for an audience of 20,000 protesters at the building site of the Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire.
Soon after the Three Mile Island nuclear catastrophe, around March 1979, Browne partnered with several musician friends to form the antinuclear organization Musicians United for Safe Energy. There were several benefit concerts in the 1980s that Browne participated in to raise money for organizations he believed in, such as Farm Aid and Amnesty International, both of which he actively supported.
Browne wed Australian fashion model Lynne Sweeney in January 1981. Ryan Browne, the couple’s firstborn, was born on January 28, 1982. Released in the same year as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, “Somebody’s Baby” became his biggest hit and peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. When 1983’s Lawyers in Love came out, it was clear that his lyrical focus had shifted from the intimate to the public sphere. Together with Clarence Clemons, he recorded a duet titled “You’re a Friend of Mine” in 1985. The two of them sang a duet on “You’re a Friend of Mine” in 1985.
The album Lives in the Balance, released in 1986, was Browne’s first to directly criticize American foreign policy in Central America through music. The documentary The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis, directed by journalist Bill Moyers and broadcast on PBS in 1987, won an Emmy for its use of the song “Lives in the Balance” the album’s title track, and the song’s use in the soundtrack of Stone’s War, a 1986 episode of Miami Vice centered on American involvement in Central America.
In the same year as the release of A Black and White Night, Browne appeared in it alongside Roy Orbison, Bruce Springsteen, k.d. lang, and many others. Cinemax was the first to telecast the special. Among his many live performances is a rendition of “I am a Patriot” a song originally performed by Steven Van Zandt and featured on his 1989 album World in Motion. In 1991, Browne and Jennifer Warnes recorded a live performance of the “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight” Beatles medley for the charity CD For Our Children, with proceeds going to the Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and the Pahinui Brothers all participated in a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Iniki on the island of Kauai in Honolulu on November 8 and 9, 1992. When Browne started dating Daryl Hannah in 1983, he had recently gotten divorced from Lynne Sweeney. The couple split up in 1992.
Browne released a new album, I’m Alive, in 1993, four years after his previous effort. In 1994, Browne and Kathy Mattea recorded a duet called “Rock Me on the Water” for the Red Hot Organization’s AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country.
In 1995, he was a part of Lincoln Center’s musical production of the classic tale The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True, with proceeds going to the Children’s Defense Fund. When Jann Arden recorded “Unloved” with him as a duet for her 1995 album Living Under June, he sang harmony vocals. Looking East (1996), Browne’s own album, came out soon after but was not as financially successful. In 1997, he released a best-of album titled The Next Voice You Hear: The Best of Jackson Browne.
Browne, a liberal Democrat, sang at multiple rallies in 2000 for Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign. Nader’s campaign theme songs included “I Am a Patriot” and others. The Naked Ride Home was Browne’s first album in six years, and he debuted it in 2002 with a performance on Austin City Limits, where he played many of the album’s most well-known classics. In 2002, Browne was honored with the John Steinbeck Award, presented to creative individuals who best represent Steinbeck’s commitment to environmental and social justice.
In the 2003 episode “Brake My Wife, Please” Browne appeared as a guest star and sang a parody of “Rosie” with lyrics changed to reflect the storyline surrounding Homer and Marge. Browne entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. The induction address was delivered by Bruce Springsteen. Occidental College in Los Angeles also awarded him an honorary Doctor of Music degree. In 2004, he took part in the Vote for Change tour, performing a string of concerts in battleground states across the United States. The goal of MoveOn.org’s concert series was to get out the vote for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election, and that’s why they put on these events.
Originally published in 2005 on Inside Recordings, “Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1” is a collection of acoustic solo performances. Browne, Michael Stanley, and J. D. Souther all played a benefit concert for Democratic candidates in Ohio in late 2006. Written in 1967, this track was included on his 2014 CD Standing in the Breach. A Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album was submitted on behalf of Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1 in 2007. In 2007, Browne also had a small role in the movie Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
Browne is a supporter of the No Nukes movement, which is opposed to the proliferation of nuclear power. In 2007, the band made a music video for their rendition of “For What It’s Worth” originally performed by Buffalo Springfield. Time the Conqueror is Browne’s twelfth studio album, released on September 23, 2008 via Inside Recordings. During August 2008, Browne sued John McCain, the Ohio Republican Party, and the Republican National Committee for exploiting his 1977 song, “Running on Empty”, in an attack advertising against Barack Obama without his permission.
During a prerecorded segment for the 2008 ALMA Awards, he spoke about his longtime friend and Trailblazer Award honoree Linda Ronstadt. Browne gave a performance at a benefit for the Artist for the Arts Foundation on May 31, 2008, in Barnum Hall at Santa Monica High School. In June, Browne shared the stage with 98 other performers and intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and Douglas Rushkoff.
Browne again performed there with Heart and other musician guest stars in 2009.
In September same year, Browne joined musicians such as Fred Tackett (Little Feat), Inara George (The Bird and the Bee) and others in supporting orphans, foster and homeless children through Safety Harbor Kids Holiday Collection with earnings going to assist educate at-risk adolescents. In 2010, he recorded “Waterloo Sunset” with Ray Davies for Davies’s collaborative album, See My Friends. After years of environmental activism and “green” his tours, Browne was honored with the Duke LEAF Award for Lifetime Environmental Achievement in the Fine Arts in 2010.
Browne covered Buddy Holly’s “True Love Ways” for the Listen to Me: Buddy Holly album tribute in 2011. Browne and David Lindley’s performance of Love Is Strange: En Vivo Con Tino won the award for Best Live Performance Album at the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards in January 2011.
Browne, Toad the Wet Sprocket’s Glen Phillips, and Venice played a benefit concert for Artists for the Arts in April of 2012. The benefit, which collected over $100,000, was held in an effort to maintain funding for arts and music education in public schools. Browne played a benefit concert for the Rock School Scholarship Fund at West Hollywood’s renowned Troubadour in November 2013. The concert featured students from both School of Rock locations in Los Angeles and Burbank. For the July Rock for Oklahoma charity performance in Oklahoma City for tornado victims, Browne was joined onstage by the Kings of Leon and the Flaming Lips.
On their list of the “100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time” Rolling Stone placed him at number 37 in 2015.
Back in August of that year, he gave another concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl to raise money for Sanctuary Centers. Browne supported Vermont senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic Party primaries. Browne was honored by Promoting Enduring Peace with their Gandhi Peace Award in 2018. He’s the inaugural winner of this prize for creative work.
First single off his fifteenth studio album, “A Little Soon to Say” was released by Browne in March of 2020. Downhill from Everywhere is Browne’s fifteenth studio album, released on July 23, 2021 via Inside Recordings.
Since the mid-1990s, he’s been in a committed relationship with Dianna Cohen, an artist and environmental activist who helped create the Plastic Pollution Coalition. This is his only grandchild.
