MICHAEL BROWN COLLECTION Michael and Amanda Brown shared a happy life together until she succumbed, at age 31, to melanoma skin cancer. Advertisement

When Downtown Michael Brown set out to make his debut album, "With All My Heart," he wanted to keep it as real as possible. He hired all the top jazz players in Las Vegas, using his savings to pay for the studio time and for the musicians.

Brown began working on "With All My Heart" in January 2008 and finished production last November. The total cost was estimated to be between $8,000 to $10,000. Each track is different and unique, from feel-good jazz to slower, more emotional, pieces. Many of the songs, all written by Brown, are self-explanatory.

"Not all the tracks are complete," he said, "but I knew I had to do it for myself and Amanda."

"With All My Heart," the title track, is a heartfelt piece which tells the story of his wife, Amanda Brown, and their story -- how they met, loved and fought when Amanda was diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer.

"'I'll see you again in the blink of an eye,'" Brown said, eyes glistening. "That's what she said to me before she passed."

When Amanda died at the age of the 31 in April 2006, Brown was left with her message -- to spread the knowledge and awareness of melanoma and skin cancer to others. With the pain he felt over losing his wife, he knew the only way to fight through it was to spread her message and to prevent others from losing their loved ones.

"We didn't have the luxury of knowing what people know now," Brown said.

With Amanda's passing, Brown spread her message by becoming the executive director for the Melanoma Education Foundation for the Nevada chapter, the Amanda Faye Melanoma Foundation. The sole purpose of both foundations is to provide high school and middle school youth with advanced knowledge about skin cancer.

"I didn't want to crawl away and hide, though I wanted too," Brown said about his wife's passing. "But I had to fight for both of us."

To get involved, he said, all a school needs to do is go onto the Web site, www.skincheck.org, and sign up. The Melanoma Education Foundation will send a teacher tutorial to the school. If the school is still interested after viewing the video, the foundation will then send the school all the supplies and teaching materials, free of charge. The teacher is then able to have access to the materials necessary to answer more difficult questions about skin cancer during a one- to two- day class period.

To help spread skin cancer awareness, Brown has spoken at many schools in Nevada. He shares Amanda's fight with melanoma and other facts about skin cancer.

Despite all Brown has been through, he talks about Amanda with a smile and a hearty laugh while fighting back tears. He talks about her warmth, her kindness and the empathy she had for others.

"I may never know why God took her away from me," Brown said. "And preventing one life from skin cancer isn't going to be enough. It's going to take thousands."

A complete list of where to purchase "With All My Heart" can be found on Brown's Web site, www.downtownmichaelbrown.com.

"I recommend everyone buys the CD instead of downloading it," Brown said. "There's so much more to the songs. If they don't see the cover art, they aren't going to see the meaning, the story that goes along with the music."

For more information about the Melanoma Education Foundation or the Amanda Faye Melanoma Foundation, go to www.skincheck.org and www.amandasmessage.com.

"Yes, Amanda's story may be tragic, but its life and it happened," Brown said. "It's too important."