Jim Brown was a man of many talents.
Besides football and acting he had a hand in the music industry.
He "discovered" the "Friends of Distinction" in a near-LAX hotel lounge, signed them, got a recording contract on RCA leading to their prominence on the pop charts of the late-'60s.
From Wikipedia:
"The Friends of Distinction formed in 1968 in Los Angeles with original members Floyd Butler (June 5, 1937 – April 29, 1990), Harry Elston (born November 4, 1938),
Jessica Cleaves (December 10, 1948 – May 2, 2014), and Barbara Jean Love (born July 24, 1941).
[1] Butler and Elston had worked together in The Hi-Fi's in the mid 1960s, often opening for
Ray Charles.
[1] Other members of the Hi-Fi's were
Marilyn McCoo and Lamont McLemore, who would later co-found
The Fifth Dimension.
The Friends of Distinction were discovered by
American football player
Jim Brown, who also discovered
Earth, Wind & Fire[
citation needed], and were signed to
RCA Records."
A "Fifth Dimension"-esque dynamic vocal group, FoD's biggest hit was "Grazing In the Grass". Here's an appearance on Ed Sullivan in 1970 (Youtube):
