A publicist for Bonnie Brown, one of three siblings whose smooth harmonies as the Browns influenced generations of singers from the Beatles to Lady Antebellum, has died.
Kirt Webster said Brown died Saturday of complications from lung cancer. She was 78.
Her brother, Jim Ed Brown, died in 2015, also of cancer.
With sister Maxine Brown, the three helped define the Nashville sound of the 1950s and '60s and were inducted in 2015 into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Browns were from Sparkman, Arkansas.
The following statement was released Saturday from Kyle Young, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO:
"When Bonnie Brown joined her brother, Jim Ed, and her sister, Maxine, in song, the siblings created an incomparable harmony: the smoothest and most elegant blend in country music. Bonnie offered harmony offstage as well. She brought people together with regal grace and kindness. She lived a remarkable life, singing on grand stages, raising a beloved family, entering the Country Music Hall of Fame, and breaking up with young Elvis Presley because he was, she said, a lousy kisser. Today, she is reunited with Jim Ed, and with her husband of 56 years, Brownie Ring."
