Danny Joe Brown, a founding member of Southern rockers Molly Hatchet, and singer and co-writer of the band’s biggest hits from the late ’70s, died on Thursday at his home in Davie of complications from pneumonia. He was 53.
The lone voice in a six-piece band that featured three lead guitarists, Jacksonville native Brown matched the clamor of Molly Hatchet’s music with a big, muscular growl on songs such as Flirtin’ with Disaster, Whiskey Man and Gator Country. An ode to living at a breakneck pace, Flirtin’ with Disaster is perhaps the band’s best-known song, still airing often on classic-rock radio stations 26 years after its release.
The son of an amateur musician, Brown started singing and playing guitar and harmonica as a child. He co-founded Molly Hatchet in Jacksonville in 1975. The band adopted a hard-rocking sound inspired in part by the boogie and blues of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Molly Hatchet also gained a reputation for partying hard, and after 2 million-selling studio albums and constant touring, Brown quit the band in 1980, citing exhaustion. He put out a solo album and rejoined Molly Hatchet in the 1980s.
Diagnosed with diabetes at age 19, Brown was hospitalized often and in 1998 he suffered a stroke that ended his music career. A band called Molly Hatchet still tours and plays Brown’s songs, and retains legal rights to the band’s name, but features no original members.
Brown is survived by his wife of 20 years, Crystle Halsell; their children Danny Joe Brown, Jr., Ashley Brown and Rebecca H. Brown; two children from a previous marriage, to Lynn Lippert, sons Matthew Brown and Jake Brown; a stepson, Aaron Morgan; siblings Michael Brown and Lyndia Mitchum; mother Catherine Langley and stepfather Charles Langley; and two grandchildren.
Visitation is 7 to 9 p.m. Monday at Panciera Memorial Home, 4200 Hollywood Blvd., in Hollywood. Services are 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at Cooper City Church of God, 9191 Stirling Rd., Cooper City, with burial at Lauderdale Memorial Park in Fort Lauderdale.
Sean Piccoli can be reached at or 954-356-4832.
