"Brother Louie" is a song about an interracial love affair. The title was written and sung by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson of the group Hot Chocolate, and was a Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart for the band in 1973, produced by Mickie Most. Alexis Korner has a spoken word part in this version of the song.
| "Brother Louie" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Hot Chocolate | ||||
| B-side | "I Want to Be Free" | |||
| Released | 1973 | |||
| Label | RAK Records | |||
| Writer(s) | Errol Brown, Tony Wilson | |||
| Producer | Mickie Most | |||
| Hot Chocolate singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Covers [edit][]
| "Brother Louie" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Stories | ||||
| B-side | "What Comes After" | |||
| Released | 1973 | |||
| Length | 3:55 | |||
| Label | Kama Sutra | |||
| Writer(s) | Errol Brown, Tony Wilson | |||
| Producer | Kenny Kerner, Richie Wise | |||
| Stories singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
The song was covered by the American band Stories (featuring singer Ian Lloyd) about six months after Hot Chocolate's UK hit, and the Stories version made number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. Another cover was made by Roy Ayers on his album Virgo Red, playing vibes instead of singing.
More recently, the song has been covered by Bon Jovi, and the hip hop group Code Red.
It has been covered by many other artists, including The Undisputed Truth, The Quireboys, Beckett (Peter Beckett), and Scarecrow. Vandenberg singer Bert Heerink, had a top 10 hit in theNetherlands with a Dutch version of this song in 1995. They renamed it "Julie July".
It has also been covered by the North Korean group Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble.
In popular culture [edit][]
The recording by Stories was featured in the film A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006). The same version also appeared in an episode of the series Nip/Tuck. An alternate rendition of the Stories version of the song was included in the soundtrack of the 2007 film Zodiac. It also appeared on the soundtrack to the 1999 film Dick and in the 2005 French-Canadian filmC.R.A.Z.Y. But first time this song is ever played in in a movie is probably in Wim Wenders's 1974 film "Alice" (7:15 min into the movie).
The song, with slightly different wording, is used as the theme song to the television series Louie, a sitcom loosely based on the life of American comedian Louis C.K.. The word 'cry' was changed to 'die' in the second repetition of the
chorus. This version was produced by Reggie Watts, with the intro emulating the Hot Chocolate version, and with Stories' singer Ian Lloyd reprising his vocals.