Franklin Brown

{{Infobox musical artist

| birth_name = Franklin Kroonenberg

| years_active = 1992–present

| genre = Pop, jazz, soul

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1961|03|11|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Rotterdam, Netherlands

| associated_acts = {{hlist|Maxine|The EuroStars|The Tiny Little Bigband|B.I.G}}

| image = Franklin Brown.jpg

| caption = Franklin Brown in 2022

| website = {{URL|http://www.franklinbrown.com/}}

}}

Franklin Kroonenberg (born 11 March 1961),{{Cite web|title=Maxine & Franklin Brown: De eerste keer|url=http://www.eurovisionartists.nl/index.htm?content/esf200.asp?ID=292|website=www.eurovisionartists.nl|access-date=23 May 2020}} known professionally as Franklin Brown, is a Dutch singer and voice actor. He is known for representing the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, together with Maxine, with the song "De eerste keer".

Career

= Eurovision Song Contest 1996 =

In 1996, Franklin Brown and Maxine won the Nationaal Songfestival with the song "De eerste keer". This gave them the right to represent the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, held in Oslo, Norway. They finished in seventh place with 78 points.

= After Eurovision =

After the contest, Maxine and Franklin Brown continued to pursue their own solo careers, only to get back together in 2005, when Brown founded the supergroup The EuroStars.{{Cite web|title=Muziekencyclopedie - The Eurostars|url=https://www.muziekencyclopedie.nl/action/entry/The+Eurostars|website=www.muziekencyclopedie.nl|access-date=22 May 2020}} Apart from Maxine and Franklin Brown, this group consists of the Dutch Eurovision representatives Mandy Huydts (of Frizzle Sizzle, 1986), Marlayne (1999) and Esther Hart (2003).

In 2020, Brown participated in a special Eurovision-themed broadcast of the Dutch television programme Beste Zangers, in which he performed the song "One Good Reason" by Marlayne.

Criminal charges

In the 1980s and 1990s, Brown worked as a police officer in Rotterdam. After several female colleagues had accused him of sexual assault, he was fired and received a two-month suspended prison sentence. One of these colleagues, who had sent him sexually explicit e-mails, was later also fired because she had made a false accusation.{{Cite web|title=Pret op het bureau|url=http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/5009/Archief/archief/article/detail/2602934/1997/04/11/Pret-op-het-bureau.dhtml|last=Verdonck|first=Ruud|date=11 April 1997|publisher=Trouw|language=nl}}{{Cite web|title=In hoger beroep vijf maanden geëist tegen Franklin Brown|url=http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/5009/Archief/archief/article/detail/2631707/1998/03/11/In-hoger-beroep-vijf-maanden-geeist-tegen-Franklin-Brown.dhtml|date=11 March 1998|publisher=Trouw|language=nl}}{{Cite web|title=Politie mocht e-mails van sexy agente inkijken|url=http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1401/ad/integration/nmc/frameset/varia/kobala_article.dhtml?artid=rd041591|last=Smits|first=Paul|date=27 April 2001|publisher=Algemeen Dagblad|language=nl}}