Eddie Bongo
Born: Memphis, Tennessee in 1932 (died in Los Angeles 1983)
Nick names: Bongo
Instruments: congas, bongos, gourd, claves
Eddie "Bongo" Brown joinied the fledgling Motown label in 1962, infusing the "Motown Sound" with his elements of Latin rhythms.
Born in Memphis, he learning to play virtually every hand-held percussion instrument but he particularly excelled on the bongos and congas.
After relocating to Detroit, he worked the local nightclub circuit before becoming Marvin Gaye's valet where his talent was noticed.Funk Brothers bandleader Earl Van Dyke once estimated Brown played on "at least 97 percent of all the music that came out of Motown."
In the high pressure environment of the studio Eddie was known as the joker who could always lighten the mood.Remarkably, he couldn't even read music - in the documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown, keyboardist Joe Hunter claimed that during sessions, Eddie simply replaced his sheet music with nudie magazines.
Bongo followed Motown to the West Coast in the mid-70s but, like Motown itself ,the magic was gone.