Nashville, TN – Maxine Brown Russell, the vivacious entertainer, mother, grandmother, aunt, sister, and friend passed today at Bowman Hospice in Little Rock, Arkansas from complications of heart and kidney disease at the age of 87. Her family was by her side.
Born April 27, 1931 in Campti, Louisiana, Russell was predeceased by her parents, Floyd and Birdie Brown, sisters Bonnie Ring and Norma Sullivan, brothers Jim Ed Brown and Raymond Brown, and her son, Tommy H. Russell, Jr. She is survived by two children, Jimmy Russell (Mary) and Alicia Short (Curtis), six grandchildren (Caitlin, Daniel, Meredith, Eva, Patrick, and Katherine), and two great-grandchildren (Atlas and Aina).
As one-third of the popular Country trio The Browns, Maxine enjoyed a lengthy career that spanned the 1950s and ’60s. The group released multiple “million-sellers,” including “The Three Bells,” “The Old Lamplighter,” “Scarlet Ribbons,” and “Send Me The Pillow You Dream On.” As a songwriter, her first taste of success came with The Browns’ release of “Looking Back To See.”
Funeral services are being planned and will be announced soon.