Will the real Brother Love please stand up?
Sean Combs, on Saturday, announced that he changed his name — again. He will no longer answer to Puff Daddy, nor Puffy. P. Diddy, you can take a seat, as can you, Diddy. Final (or at least latest) answer: Brother Love.
There is a slight problem, however: Another Brother Love exists, and he’s a musician too.
Queens-born Larry Florman has gone by Brother Love for years He’s put out albums under the name, including “Brother Love” in 2004.
“I was in a band, they started calling me Brother Love” in 2000 or 2001, Florman, who grew up in Fresh Meadows and now lives in Nashville, said in a phone interview. He was living in the East Village, he recalled, playing with All Jive Aside.
In Nashville for eight years, he still goes by the name, and Brolo, performing with Them Vibes.
Years ago, he said, he was reluctant to go by the name. “I said, ‘I guess it’s pretty pretentious. Only Prince could pull it off.’”
But Brother Love had stuck, and he’ll continue to go by the name.
“How could I not?,” he asked, ticking off Facebook and Twitter accounts under the name, and a website, brotherloverocks.com.
The Harlem-born Brother Love (nee Sean Combs) let the world know of his new moniker via a video posted to Twitter on Saturday, his 48th birthday.
“I have some very serious, serious news,” he says in the 50-second video, dressed in a sun hat and classic metal-framed sunglasses. He recognizes that his decision is “risky” and “could come off as corny.”
But he is resolute: “I’m just not who I am before. So my new name is Love, aka Brother Love.”
And don’t even try calling him Puffy, Diddy “or any other those other monikers.” He will answer only to Love or Brother Love.
But so will Florman. “I wish I’d trademarked it,” he said.
