Keith Lionel Brown is a budding Latter-day Saint song writer who comes from a rich musical background. His mother, maternal grandmother, maternal great grandmother, and several aunts and cousins were all members of the Sacred Doves gospel choir at the Baptist church that he attended as a young boy.
There were also uncles and cousins that played musical instruments and sang in the men’s group known as the Baptist Jubilees. Keith was even a member of the church’s youth choir during his teenage years, and his youngest sister, Patricia, plays guitar, piano, organ, and drums, all by ear.
In early 2019, Keith founded Songs of My Heart Music. He even created an official website where he shares his original music creations, as well as some of his personal thoughts and feelings about how music influences our lives.
Each song that Keith writes comes directly from his heart, thus the name, Songs of My Heart Music. He carefully crafts the lyrics to each song to ensure that the message of the song is delivered exactly as intended. With each song that Keith writes, he not only shares what is on his heart, but if listeners pay close attention to the lyrics, they will also gain a small glimpse into what makes Keith the person that he is.
On 12 April 2019, Keith introduced his song writing talents to the world with the release of his first original song, which is called “Song of My Heart.” Having never written a song before, and unsure as to how it would be received, he was overjoyed at the welcoming response that the song garnered. People from different faiths and different walks of life genuinely liked and appreciated the song, including a Buddhist monk.
Sherri Whitehead, the manager of the music group Spark Singers commented:
The initial thing that I noticed was the hauntingly beautiful and familiar-feeling melody. It took no time to attach to it—and it created the perfect backdrop for the lyrics. . .. The lyrics are truly a beautiful outpouring of prayer from the soul of an earthly traveler. It is a song that begs to be sung because it represents what we have all felt. I loved how the tempo slowed near the end and created moments of even greater thoughtfulness.
Wayne S. Forrey, who is also a Latter-day Saint musician, commented:
As I listened to your, “Song of My Heart,” several times, I really felt the beautiful message of your music. The music and lyrics are so very meaningful. I hope that you will issue a new edition of this song with your voice…so we can hear this song with a male voice…from a male perspective. So many beautiful songs seem to have a female voice. We need songs like your “Song of My Heart” sung by a man so we can feel a masculine connection with God.
As of early February 2021, the song has received more than 2,000 hits on YouTube and Facebook combined. The owner of a Christian radio station discovered the song on social media and began playing the song over the airwaves in her country, the Philippines. The song can be found on the ReverbNation website, SoundCloud, and other social media platforms. It is available for purchase, streaming, and download on most music platforms, including iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify. You can read the story behind the song online.
“Song of My Heart” was followed in February 2020 by an original song that Keith wrote and dedicated to the loving memory of his mother who passed away at the young age of 59 from breast cancer. The song is called “The Memories Live On.” It was released on Valentine’s Day, 14 February 2020. Like “Song of My Heart,” the song is available for purchase, streaming, and download on most music platforms, and is available on other social media platforms. The story behind the song is available to read online.
Wayne S. Forrey commented:
I really love your song, “The Memories Live On.” The photos of you and your beautiful mother with the music in the background brought tears to my eyes. You are so blessed to have a loving relationship with your mother. You have weathered some tremendous setbacks and heartbreaks in your life. Your parents have both passed away and your sister is hospitalized. But look at the tenderness and compassion that has come into your life because of overcoming those challenges.
As a side note, the sister that was hospitalized, the older of Keith’s two sisters, passed away at the young age of 56, on 21 April 2020, from complications caused by the COVID-19 virus. She was one of the people, in addition to his parents and grandmother, that Keith dedicated his first original song to.
In late 2020, Keith was inspired to write yet another original song. This time he was inspired to write about his love of the scriptures. From his youth, he has always had a sincere love for the Word of God and was impressed to write a song about it as his personal testimony and to encourage other people, especially in the troubled times in which we now live.
The song is called “Thy Word in My Heart.” Wanting to have a male voice for this song, Keith reached out to his friend Teeroy Tyobee from Nigeria to sing the vocals. Teeroy agreed and plans are in the works to record and release the song in early March 2020. Like his two previous songs, the lyrics to “Thy Word in My Heart,” come straight from Keith’s heart. Once the song is recorded, a music video will be created, and the song will be released via DistroKid to all major music platforms.
American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive, William “Smokey” Robinson Jr., is quoted as saying, “Songwriting is my gift from God.” English singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actor, Edward Christopher Sheeran, is quoted as saying, “As far as songwriting, my inspirations come from love, life, and death, and viewing other people’s situations.” And Hunter Easton Hayes, an American country music singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist gave this rule for songwriting. He said, “Say what you want to say, say it again, say it in a different way, then say it again.” Those thoughts certainly come to mind as Keith composes his original songs of the heart.
Songs of My Heart Music is a labor of love. It is Keith’s hope and desire that the songs that he writes and publishes will resonate with the hearts of people around the world. He considers each song that he writes to be a message of hope and compassion coming straight from his heart to the hearts of his listening audience. In short, Songs of the Heart Music is a matter of the heart.
