We have recorded the vibrationally resolved spectra of p-bromoaniline in the S-1 and cationic ground state. The band origin of the S-1 <--S-0) electronic transition is found to be 32 590 +/- 1 cm(-1), whereas the adiabatic ionization energy is 62 308 +/- 5 cm(-1) Most of the active vibrations of p-bromoaniline in the S-1 and cationic ground states are related to the totally symmetric in-plane ring modes, as in aniline. Comparison among these new experimental data and those of aniline, p-fluoroaniline and p-chloroaniline offers a good understanding about the heavy atom effects on the electronic transition, ionization and molecular vibration. The experimental findings are well supported by the ab initio and density functional calculations. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.