Jackson Browne

Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 30 million albums in the United States.

Emerging as a teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, Browne had his first successes writing songs for others. Encouraged by those successes, Browne released his self-titled debut album in 1972, which included two Top 40 hits of his own: "Doctor, My Eyes" and "Rock Me on the Water". His second album, For Everyman, was released in 1973. His third album, Late for the Sky (1974), was his most successful to that point, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard 200 album chart. His fourth album, The Pretender (1976), continued the pattern of each album topping the previous one by peaking at number 5 on the album chart, and included the hit singles "Here Come Those Tears Again" and "The Pretender".

Browne's 1977 album Running on Empty is his signature work; it rose to number 3 on the album chart and remained there for over a year. Both a live and concept album, it explores in its songs the themes of life as a touring musician. The album produced two Top 40 singles: "Running on Empty" and "The Load-Out"/"Stay", and many of the other tracks became popular radio hits on the album-oriented rock format. Browne had successful albums through the 1980s, including the 1980 album Hold Out, which was his only number 1 album; the non-album single "Somebody's Baby", which was used in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and 1983's Lawyers in Love, which included the hit single "Tender Is the Night".

Browne has released two compilation albums, The Next Voice You Hear: The Best of Jackson Browne in 1997, and The Very Best of Jackson Browne, released in conjunction with his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2004. As of 2026, his most recent studio album is 2021's Downhill from Everywhere. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked Browne 37th on its list of the "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time".

Browne was born on October 9, 1948, in Heidelberg, Germany, where his father Clyde Jack Browne, an American serviceman, was stationed for his job assignment with the Stars and Stripes newspaper. Browne's mother, Beatrice Amanda (née Dahl), was from Minnesota of Norwegian ancestry. Browne's paternal grandfather was Clyde Browne, builder of Abbey San Encino.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.