Funk Guitarist, Vocalist Chuck Brown Dead at 75

Yesterday, influential guitarist, vocalist and producer Chuck Brown died from complications with pneumonia. He was 75.

Known to most as "The Godfather of Go-Go," Brown was as a leader in the Washington, D.C., music scene, pioneering a brand of funk known as go-go in the 1970s, along with bands like The Young Senators and Black Heat.

Most music fans not familiar with the scene may still know Brown from his group Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, which scored a hit in 1978 with "Bustin' Loose."

Last September, Brown was honored by the National Symphony Orchestra as one of the "Legends of Washington Music."

Josh Hart

Josh Hart is a former web producer and staff writer for Guitar World and Guitar Aficionado magazines (2010–2012). He has since pursued writing fiction under various pseudonyms while exploring the technical underpinnings of journalism, now serving as a senior software engineer for The Seattle Times.