Who is Les Brown?

 Leslie Calvin "Les" Brown (born February 17, 1945) is an American motivational speaker. He was married to singer Gladys Knight. He was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1977 to 1981.

Early life

Brown was born with his twin brother, Wesley, in Liberty City, a low-income section of Miami, Florida. He was adopted by Mamie Brown, a 38-year-old single woman who worked as a cafeteria attendant and domestic assistant. Brown claims that he was declared "educable mentally retarded" in grade school, which damaged his self-esteem and confidence.


Professional life

According to many of Brown's speeches, when he first decided to get into public radio he was repeatedly unsuccessful. It was only after the on-air failures of the previous afternoon DJ that he was hired full-time. Upon his termination from the radio station, he ran for election in the Ohio House of Representatives and won. After leaving the Ohio State Legislature, he shifted his career to television and became a host on PBS.

From September to November 1993, he hosted a talk show, The Les Brown Show.

Brown was on KFWB in California for a daily syndicated radio program from 2011 to 2012.

Personal life

Brown married Gladys Knight in 1995. They divorced in 1997. In 1994, he was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. The doctor informed him that the cancer had consumed 43% of his T1 vertebrae and had metastasized to seven parts of his body. Brown reports that when he heard "seven," he smiled, which befuddled the doctor. "Seven is my lucky number," he explained. Being a Bible-believing Christian, Brown took hope in the multiple affirmative references to "seven" in the Bible. Brown was given two-and-a-half years to live but blew past the dire prognosis.

References


Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Brown_(speaker)