Maxine & Franklin Brown

Biography

Franklin Brown was a police officer when he started his career as a singer. He was still a police officer when he represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest. After several female colleagues accused him of sexual harassment at work, he was fired. In 1998, he was sentenced to two months’ probation on appeal. According to Brown, the intimacies were part of the work culture. A female colleague who had sent him sexually explicit e-mails was later fired, partly because she allegedly made a false statement.

In 2005, Brown began performing with his own show orchestra. The Las Vegas Show orchestra in a ten-piece orchestra conducted by Pieter van den Dolder and is regularly supplemented with strings. Brown also played major roles in various shows by Frank Wentink in Studio 21 in Hilversum and he has set up his own event and booking agency, F.B. eye Productions.

With singer Mark Dakriet he founded the group B.I.G. where he brought in singer Danny Sopacua. Together with Maxine, he was also a member of the Eurovision song contest group The EuroStars. The ex-song contest participants Marlayne, Esther Hart and Mandy Huydts are also part of this group.

In 2007 Franklin Brown and Maxine recorded a new single and CD for the first time in eleven years. The single was composed by John Ewbank and lyrics written by Franklin Brown. The CD is titled “Steeds weer”. In 2011, Franklin Brown and pianist Fred van Straten wrote the song “Me again” for the feature film De Heineken Kidnapping. Franklin sang this song in this film. In 2012, the duo Franklin & Maxine’s single, entitled “Balsem voor het hart” was released. 2016 was the anniversary year for the Eurovision duo. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary, the hit “De eerste keer” was re-recorded in collaboration with Edwin Evers, who wrote and sang a rap for this performance under the name BICKEL.

In 2014, Brown became the lead singer of the jazz band Tiny Little Bigband. In 2020 Brown participated in a Eurovision edition of the Dutch show series Beste Zangers.