Jackson Browne
Over the course of more than five decades, Jackson Browne has written and performed some of the most literate and moving songs in popular music. With classic albums including Late For The Sky, The Pretender, Running On Empty and For Everyman, Browne has defined a genre of songwriting that is charged with honesty, emotion and personal politics. Along the way, he has touched the hearts and minds of millions worldwide.
Browne was born October 9, 1948, in Heidelberg, Germany, where his father Clyde Jack Browne, an American serviceman, was stationed for his job assignment with the Stars and Stripes newspaper. Browne’s mother, Beatrice Amanda (née Dahl), was from Minnesota of Norwegian ancestry.
At the age of three, Browne and his family moved to his grandfather’s house, Abbey San Encino which is in the Highland Park district of Los Angeles. In his teens, he began singing folk songs in local venues including Ash Grove and The Troubadour Club.
After graduating from high school Browne joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, performing at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, California, where they opened for the Lovin’ Spoonful. Later the band recorded a number of Browne’s songs, including “These Days”, “Holding”, and “Shadow Dream Song”.
After leaving the Dirt Band he moved to Greenwich Village, New York, where he became a staff writer for Elektra’s publishing company, Nina Music, before he was eighteen.
During 1968 he was in Greenwich Village, where he backed Tim Buckley and singer Nico of the Velvet Underground. In 1967, Browne and Nico were romantically linked and he became a significant contributor to her debut album, Chelsea Girl, writing and playing guitar on several of the songs.
Browne’s first songs, such as “Shadow Dream Song” and “These Days”, were recorded by the The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Gregg Allman, Joan Baez, Tom Rush, The Byrds and Iain Matthews.
In 1971, Browne signed with his manager David Geffen’s Asylum Records and released Jackson Browne (1972) which included the piano-driven “Doctor My Eyes”, (with David Crosby and Graham Nash on backing vocals), which entered the Top Ten in the US singles chart. The Jackson 5 later recorded “Doctor My Eyes” for inclusion on their sixth album Lookin’ Through the Windows, released in 1972.
His next album, For Everyman (1973) was less successful than his debut album, although it still sold a million copies. The upbeat “Take It Easy”, co-written with Eagles’ Glenn Frey, had already been a major success for The Eagles, (it was also the opening track of the band’s eponymous debut album) while his own recording of “These Days” reflected a sound representing Browne’s angst.
Late for the Sky (1974) consolidated Browne’s fan base, and the album peaked at No. 14. The title track was also featured in Martin Scorsese’s film Taxi Driver.
His fourth album The Pretender was released in 1976, after the suicide of his first wife, Phyllis Major who died after taking an overdose of barbiturates. The song “Here Come Those Tears Again” (co-written by Major’s mother Nancy Farnsworth) is dedicated to her.
Running on Empty (1977), recorded entirely on tour, became his biggest commercial success. Breaking the usual conventions for a live album, Browne used only new material and combined live concert performances with recordings made on buses, in hotel rooms, and backstage. Running on Empty contains some of his most popular songs, such as the title track, “Rosie”, and “The Load-Out/Stay”, Browne’s send-off to his concert audiences and tribute to his roadies. The album reached number 3 on the Billboard chart in 1978 and stayed on the charts for 65 weeks.
In 1979, Browne co-founded Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE), and was instrumental in organizing the legendary “No Nukes Concerts” at Madison Square Garden. Empathy has been at the core of his work for more than 50 years and he has regularly threaded activism into his life and songs, raising funds and awareness for many social, political and environmental efforts. He was arrested while protesting against the Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo.
His sixth album Hold Out remains his only album to date to reach number 1 on the Billboard chart. The song “Of Missing Persons” from the album was written for Inara George, the daughter of Lowell George (formerly of Little Feat), a songwriting collaborator and longtime friend of Jackson Browne’s who died a year prior to the release of Hold Out.
In 2004, Browne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bruce Springsteen gave the induction speech, commenting to Browne that although the Eagles were inducted first, he said, “You wrote the songs they wished they had written.”
During August 2008, Browne sued John McCain, the Ohio Republican Party, and the Republican National Committee for using his 1977 hit, “Running on Empty”, in an attack advertisement against Barack Obama without his permission.
Many artists have covered Browne’s song “These Days” including Glen Campbell, Miley Cyrus, Cher, Drake, Fountains of Wayne and St. Vincent.
Jackson was honored with the 2024 American Music Honors from the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music celebrating artists who have demonstrated artistic excellence, creative integrity, and a longstanding commitment to the value of music in our national consciousness.
