I    V    A    N

B    R    O    W    N    E

FORMER LEAD SINGER FOR THE LEMON PIPERS

AND THEIR NUMBER ONE HIT SINGLE

"GREEN TAMBOURINE"

Ivan Browne (vocals/rhythm guitar), Bill Bartlett (lead guitar), R.G. (Reg) Nave (organ), Steve Walmsley (bass) and Bill Albuagh (drums) - made its debut in 1967 with ‘Turn Around and Take A Look’. Its rudimentary style was then replaced by the measured approach of aspiring songwriting/production team, Paul Leka and Shelly Pinz. Together they created a distinctive Lemon Pipers sound, a sparkling mélange of sweeping strings and percussive vibraslaps exemplified on the group’s million-selling hit, ‘Green Tambourine’. The attendant album contained several songs - ‘Rice Is Nice’, ‘Shoeshine Boy’ - which were recorded in a similar style, but the set also contained the startling ‘Through with You’, an extended tour de force for Bartlett’s rampaging guitar work and a surprise for those anticipating easy-on-the-ear fare. Subsequent recordings failed to match their early success, and although a second album, Jungle Marmalade, offered several inventive moments, the Lemon Pipers were tarred as a bubblegum attraction on the strength of that first hit. The group broke up in 1969, although Bartlett later found success as a member of Ram Jam predominantly known for their hit single "Black Betty" in 1977.

IVAN and his wife ISA started traveling together in 1973. They performed in R.I., Hawaii, Alaska and New Hampshire, where they were married and started the IVAN and ISA BAND in October of 1975. Their musical travels continued to Florida and Ohio. In 1977, I and I settled down in Sonoma County, California, where they played 108 consecutive weeks as a house band at Santa Rosa's Ponderosa Club. In May 1981, they once again packed up their equipment and headed for the east coast and traveling through R.I., Ohio, and back to California. In March of 1985, IVAN and ISA bought a ridgetop home in Mendocino County from the "DOOR'S" Ray Manzarek's family.