apartment in Los Angeles, she wanted to move out of California. The singer, Doris Troy, also lived in Las Vegas and we both urged Ruth Brown to move here. So, she did.
      During the last several years, Ruth Brown would tell me, “You know me better than I know myself. I wished you would write my biography with a different slant than the book written with Andrew Yule, “Miss Rhythm: The Autobiography of Ruth Brown, Rhythm and Blues Legend.” But, somehow we never got around to it.
      A few years ago, a Ruth Brown documentary was in the works. Ruth wanted me to be interviewed for it, so, I gave them a profile of the personal side of Ruth Brown. The interviewer, asked me “Is Ruth Brown, like most show people, an egomaniac?” I answered, “No, she does not have an ego problem. But she is bossy.”
      Doris Troy often said, “There’s a special bond between you and Ruth Brown.” I didn’t pay much attention to that remark, but with the passage of time I gave it some thought. A few months before Ruth Brown died, I mentioned it to Ruth Brown. We agreed that there was a special bond, but we did not know exactly why it was. We figured possibly it

because Ruth Brown was down to earth and a gracious, friendly human being.
      Each time I heard Ruth Brown sing at the Bootlegger her voice seemed more powerful. There was so much strength and volume and she held notes for a long time. Ruth Brown wailed and poured her heart, soul and every ounce of emotion into every number she sang. Often tears rolled down her face and Ruth would reach up and take off her false eyelashes. Her voice was better at 78 then it was when she was 24, and how many singers can match that?
      Ruth Brown, on stage or off, often said, “A friend is someone who knows everything about you and still likes you.”
      I feel privileged and honored for the special friendship Ruth and I shared. Ruth Brown has left a legacy of songs that will live on forever. She will not be forgotten. Ruth never wanted to say “goodby” because to her it meant a final parting - like death. Therefore, when we spoke on the phone, or parted our ways in person, it was always, “So long.”
     In 1949, Ruth Brown recorded the song,  “So   Long”  on   the  Atlantic