Ray, Goodman & Brown


Ray, Goodman & Brown is an American R&B vocal group. The group originated as The Moments, who formed in the mid-1960s and whose greatest successes came in the 1970s with hits including "Love on a Two-Way Street", "Sexy Mama" and "Look at Me ". In 1979, for contractual reasons they changed their name to Ray, Goodman & Brown and had further hits, including "Special Lady".

The original Moments

Early years

The original members of the Moments were Eric Olfus Sr., Richard Gross and John Morgan. The Moments formed in Washington, D.C. during the mid-1960s. In 1965, at Washington D.C.'s Howard University, the Mizell Brothers and Freddie Perren founded Hog Records and signed the harmony group as the Moments. The Moments recorded "Baby I Want You" and "Pray For Me" for Hog. The lineup consisted of Olfus, Gross and Morgan.
Mark Greene joined after the single's release. The group then signed with the newly established Stang Records label, set up by Sylvia Robinson at All Platinum Studios in Englewood, New Jersey with her husband Joe. The group had its first hit almost immediately late in 1968 with "Not On The Outside", which reached #13 on the R&B chart and #57 on the Billboard Hot 100. Robinson then hired a management firm headed by radio stars Frankie Crocker, Herb Hamlett and Eddie O'Jay. The trio began promoting the Moments and booking them for live events in major cities. When Hamlett moved to WCMF in Rochester, New York, he booked the Moments exclusively. In the later part of 1968, Greene, Olfus and Gross left All Platinum Records.

Goodman, Brown & Morgan

In 1968, Al Goodman was hired by Joe Robinson as a studio-production creative assistant, singer and songwriter. On recordings, he played the substitute role of Mickey.
The group quickly scaled down to a trio after one live appearance at the Apollo Theater as a quartet replaced by baritone Goodman and new lead singer William "Billy" Brown while Morgan stayed on. Brown was a member of The Broadways, who had recorded on the MGM label).

Early hits

In 1969, Goodman, Brown and Morgan released 4 R&B hit singles with Brown on lead. The first was released in March entitled, "Sunday",, then "I Do", their first top 10 R&B hit,, "I'm So Lost", and "Lovely Way She Loves", which was written by Goodman, Brown and Sylvia..
Their debut alum was released in 1969 entitled, "Not On The Outside, But On The Inside, Strong!". The album became a Top Ten Hit appearing on Billboard's R&B Album chart for twenty-two weeks and peaked at No. 8 on July 4, 1970.
In 1970, The Moments released 3 top 10 R&B hits that included their biggest hit to date, "Love On A Two Way Street". The song had originally been recorded by Stang artist Lezli Valentine, but failed to chart. The Moments' song enter Billboard's R&B chart on March 28, 1970 appearing for seven-teen weeks and peaking at No. 1 on May 16. It also became a Top 5 on Billboard's Hot 100 peaking at No. 3 after fifteen weeks on that chart..

Ray's arrival

After the recording of "Love On A Two Way Street" and before it became a hit, Morgan was briefly replaced by Sylvia Robinson's brother-in-law Johnny Moore in 1970. He appeared with Goodman and Brown on the cover of the group's second album cover, however Moore was absent from their live performances. Goodman and Brown worked as a duo until new arrival Harry Ray rounded out the trio that would become the longest lineup as The Moments.
While Brown recovered from vocal overuse, Ray sang lead on the Moments' subsequent hits including the other two releases of 1970 "If I Didn’t Care", and "All I Have". After Brown recovered, they released five top 40 R&B hits with him and Ray sharing lead vocal duties, while Goodman served as spokesman for the group. They released their second album in 1970 entitled, "A Moment With The Moments" that peaked at No. 39 on the R&B Billboard Album chart on December 12, 1970. Their album entitled, On Top was released in 1971,that included their hit singles, "All I Have" "I Can't Help It", "To You with Love" and "Lucky Me", however the album didn't make the charts.
In 1972, The Monments recorded a live album from a women's prison entitled, "Live at the New York State Women's Prison" It peaked at No. 25 on Billboard's R&B album chart.. They also released two Top 40 singles, "Just Because He Wants to Make Love " and "My Thing".
In 1973, they released, "Gotta Find A Way" and another top 10 R&B hit, "Sexy Mama" written by Goodman, Ray and S. Robinson. They also recorded a duet with Sylvia Robinson and Ray on lead, "Sho Nuff Boogie".
After a couple of more singles, the group hit the top of the R&B chart again in 1975 with the single, "Look At Me.
The Moments were co-credited with labelmates The Whatnauts on their hit "Girls "; it reached #25 on the U.S. R&B charts and became one of their biggest international successes, reaching #3 on the UK Singles Chart in 1975. Ray and Goodman were strongly involved in writing and producing much of the Moments' material from the mid-1970s, as well as producing and writing for The Whatnauts.
By 1979, the group had had a total of 27 R&B chart hits and decided to leave Stang, signing with the larger Polydor Records label. A legal dispute arose, barring them from using "The Moments" on their new label, so they renamed the group with their last names: Ray, Goodman & Brown.

Ray, Goodman & Brown

The first single under their new name, "Special Lady, became one of their biggest hits, reaching No. 1 on the R&B chart and No. 5 on the pop chart in early 1980, earning them a gold record. The song was written by, Goodman, Ray and L. Walter. The B-side featured “Déjà Vu”, with lyrics by Bob Natiello and music by Lou Toby. Their debut self titled album, "Ray, Goodman & Brown" became a big hit as well giving them their first gold album. They followed up with more hits, including "Inside Of You". In 1982, following the release of their fourth Polydor album, Ray left to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Kevin "Ray" Owens, a backing vocalist for Luther Vandross. Ray re-joined Sylvia and Joe Robinson at their new venture, but after one album and a minor hit, "Sweet Baby," he rejoined Goodman and Brown in 1983 for their comeback on EMI with the ballad "Take It To the Limit". In 1991, Harold "Eban" Brown, former vocalist for The Delfonics, became the lead vocalist for Ray, Goodman & Brown. He stayed for two and a half years before joining The Manhattans and became lead vocalist for The Stylistics in 2000.

1992–2010

Ray suffered a fatal stroke in 1992 and was again replaced in the group by Kevin "Ray" Owens. Occasionally solo artist Greg Willis joined Ray, Goodman and Brown in performances, but never became a full-time member. Vocalist Wade "Silky" Elliott also did a stint, before signing a solo contract with CBS Records during the 1990s and temporarily joining Blue Magic. With Owens' return, the trio continued to perform and tour as Ray, Goodman & Brown. They released two albums in 2002 and 2003, one with new material, and the other featuring re-workings of soul songs by other male vocal groups. These albums reunited them with former All-Platinum producer George Kerr. In one of their public appearances, they teamed with Gerald Alston to perform The Manhattans' hit "Kiss And Say Goodbye".
In 2003, Goodman, Brown, Owens and Winfrey sang backup vocals for Alicia Keys song "You Don't Know My Name", which was a #1 soul/R&B song in 2003. Alicia was so impressed with their vocals that she took them on tour with her. Recalls Brown: "We did every major TV show in the country — 'Good Morning America,' 'The View,' Jay Leno. When she played Madison Square Garden with Missy Elliott and Beyonce, she had us with her. I gave her the name of 'Our Angel.' She is Ray, Goodman & Brown's angel. She came along when things were kind of slow for us. I love her. I really do."
In 2008, Owens, Goodman and Brown continued to record together and tour, performing hits from both the Moments and Ray, Goodman and Brown.

Recent years

On July 26, 2010 Goodman died at the age of 67. In 2012, Harold "Eban" Brown rejoined remaining original member Billy Brown to re-record The Moments Greatest Hits - Volume 1. It was released in April 2014 on the Universal Music Group label - featuring the vocals of Harold "Eban" Brown and Billy Brown only.
In 2014, Winfree was officially welcomed into the group as the replacement for Goodman, with Owens and Brown, bringing the group back to its regular trio status.
In 2016 Brown suffered a stroke. Fortunately, after a short absence Brown fully recovered and continued to perform.
In February 2019, Ray, they performed on the Soul Train Cruise.
As of 2020, Billy Brown continues to perform keeping the legacy of Ray, Goodman & Brown alive as the remaining surviving member.

The Moments featuring Mark Greene

Mark Greene was called back to join the renamed Ray, Goodman & Brown; however, he declined, claiming that no royalties were ever paid him. His website displays information about the original group: the founding members, and a photograph of the quartet before Robinson reorganized the act. He released a self-produced CD project entitled Love Is More Than Spoken on the FAJR label. There was also a CD release on FAJR entitled Unspoken Moments by the Moments featuring Mark Greene picturing Greene, Johnny Moore and Gross on the cover; Greene later acquired the trademark for the Moments name. Now known as "The Moments featuring Mark Greene", he released 'Urban Legacy' in 2000 which featured tracks recorded in 1967 and featuring : Solomon Cunningham, Huitt Cunningham and Loren Brown. This group without Huitt Cunningham were performing and touring with Greene at the beginning of the 21st century.

Discography

Television appearances

Soul Train
American Bandstand
The Merv Griffin Show
The Mike Douglas Show

The Midnight Special
The Toni Tennille Show
The John Davidson Show