He was an innovator and an instigator, starting new trends in music dating back 40 years. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000, James Brown was a legend in his own time and had the moves to back it up. Crossing borders between genres and race, his appeal was undeniable to everyone and if he felt good, so did you.
Ever the entertainer, Mr. Brown was born May 3, 1933, in a one-room shack in Barnwell, S.C. As he would later tell it, midwives thought he was stillborn, but were miraculously able to revive him. When his parents separated four years later, he was left in the care of his aunt Honey, who ran a brothel in Augusta, Ga. As a boy he earned pennies buck-dancing for soldiers; he also picked cotton and shined shoes.
Always living life on the edge, with imprisonment and hard times followed by stellar heights, Mr. Brown had his first million-seller single in 1956 with his band the Flames and their recording of “Please Please Please.” He followed that up with the gospel ballad “Try Me” and “Think,” which put him on the R&B Top 10 and pop Top 40 charts. He cracked the Top 20 pop charts in 1963 with his ballad “Prisoner Of Love,” also releasing recordings of shows he had done at the Apollo Theater, fittingly called “Live At The Apollo,” which rose to be the number two album nationwide. “Papa’s Got Brand New Bag” won him his first Grammy, as he changed the face of funk and R&B with his complex beats and bare bones vocals in the follow-up “Cold Sweat.” Returning to ballads with the provocative “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” in 1966 and on to empowering social and civil rights statements with “Don’t Be A Dropout” and “Say It Loud – I’m Black And I’m Proud,” he showed everyone that it wasn’t all just about the beat.
Mr. Brown had a series of hits in the 70’s, including the infamous “Hot Pants” and “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine,” followed by a bump in the road when disco became king. But, everyone knows you can’t keep the “Godfather of Soul” down, and an appearance on “The Blues Brothers” in 1980 was his vehicle to yet another peak with “Living In America” in 1985. That gave him his second Grammy and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of its original members.
Today, his music has influenced icons of this era over and over, keeping his songs and unique style of R&B/Funk alive for future generations. His 1970 instrumental “Funky Drummer” may be the most widely sampled rhythm in hip-hop, and we’ve all tried to emulate his legendary stage moves, usually to his credit and our embarrassment.
We at SHOF were saddened to learn of his death in December at the young age of 73. He was one of a kind and, in his own words, “I was always 25 years ahead of my time.”
http://songwritershalloffame.org/exhibit_home_page.asp?exhibitId=150