James Brown, who rose from shining
shoes for pennies to becoming the
world-famous icon who had an almost
immeasurably profound impact on pop-
ular music with his extraordinary ener-
gy level, choreography and vocal mas-
tery, has died. He was 73.
And he influenced a "Who's Who" of
music legends with his unique moves and
style that rarely have been duplicated.
Charles Bobbitt, Brown's manager of
89 years, told JET that the singer tray-
eled to Atlanta over the Christmas holi-
day weekend to see a dentist and began
coughing badly.
"A doctor said we needed to get Mr.
Brown to the hospital because he didn't
like the sound of his chest. He said, 'It
sounds like pneumonia."'"
Bobbitt said doctors also told Brown
1AJames
Brown per-
formance
would not be
complete without
the display of his
unique and feverish
fancy footwork-
splits, pirouettes, the
camel walk.
The Godfather of
Soul was known
for topping off
his lively act by
having a cape
draped across his
shoulders in a funk
finale, but immedi-
ately coming back to
the crowd with more

that he had congestive heart failure in addition to

other health issues that included diabetes and a blood
clot in his lungs.
"Monday morning at about 1:20 a.m. he start-
ed complaining 'I can't breathe.' The nurse
gave him treatment. He laid down and sat
back up. He prayed to God and h
said, 'Mr. Bobbitt, I'm going to
leave here tonight.' I said,
'Oh man, you're kidding.
You're not going any- .
where.' He sighed three
times very softly. He
opened his eyes, he
closed his eyes and he
was gone. He just slip-
ped away."
His death, attributed
to congestive heart fail-
ure, stills one of the most
prolific careers in music

F53]
 Brown isaccompanied by his group, The
Famous Flames, as they show off their fast-
Sstepping chorus line moves in 1961. Without
* ever having a music lesson, Brown played
Severy instrument in his band.
history. Brown, with his trademark pom- Year's Eve and had a full slate of dates
padour hairstyle, splits, twists, growls set for 2007 when he died.
and gyrations, was given the well- In one of his final interviews, he told
deserved monikers "Godfather of Soul," JET last year while celebrating his 50th
"Soul Brother No. 1"and the even more year in show business that he lives to per-
appropriate "Hardest Working Man in form. "If I can't work, I can't walk. I'm
Show Business." He was scheduled to still giving people something. I'll keep
perform in New York City for New playing for as long as I can."
V His handprints were cemented when he was inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk in1992. That
same year he holds up the Award of Merit he was presented at the American Music Awards. Astar on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame was given to him in1997.
 4 The
Godfather of
Soul receives
the Lifetime
Achievement
Award from the
King of Pop
Michael Jacksor
at the 3rd
Annual BET
Awards 2003.

From his first hit Please,Please,Please in 1956,

Brown topped the charts in four different decades.
Brown had 60 Top 10 R&B hits, more than any
artist in history.
White audiences joined the hordes of Black fans
4 Brown was recipient of a
Lifetime Achievement Award for
Performing Arts at the Kennedy
Center Honors in 2003.

V Last year during Rev. Al

Sharpton's National Action
Network conference in New
York, Brown received the Martin
Luther King Jr. Memorial
Humanitarian Award for his pub-
lic service efforts as Martin
Luther King IIIobserved. So
influenced by Brown, Sharpton
(r) served as Brown's road man-
ager earlier in his career.
4 Brown stands infront of one of his many busi-
nesses, Man's World Enterprises. He also owned a
record label and several radio stations. He poses
(c) infront of his private plane. Boxing promoter
Butch Lewis (bottom, r) is responsible for helping
Brown earn his first million dollar concert.
who packed Brown's concerts. They
(Whites) began flocking to his music in the
1960s, making such songs as IFeel Good,
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag and Cold
Sweat major crossover hits.
IFeel Good still gets tremendous air-
play on pop and R&B stations. Even the
pre-teen dominated Radio Disney plays
the song. It has been used by several
National Football League teams to get sell-
out crowds pumped up.
He told JET that his hit It's a Man's,
Man's,Man's World might have been mis-
understood as somewhat chauvinistic.
"The Black man lets the Black woman run
the business," he explained. If an insur-
ance man would come to the house a long
time ago, he would talk to the wife. She'd
spend all the money. People didn't get too
upset with the title because I capped it off
when I said, '...but it would be nothing
without a woman or a girL"'
Brown also used his music to make
social commentary. The hugely successful
Say It Loud, I'm Black andI'm Proudhelped
usher in a sense of Black pride. Until then,
Blacks were called Negroes.
He recalled that the song actually
was met with tremendous resistance
from Black disc jockeys and some Black
listeners.
"People wouldn't touch that song when
WATT S.... SOUL.
&Xý1/4" BROTER
_LZ, L_-A" -ýAeI,f

it first came out (in 1968) because they didn't want

to be Black...They wanted to be Negro, they want-
ed to be light-skinned, high yellow. God made peo-
ple in all colors," he told JET.
During that same period, Brown was called on
to help calm crowds following the assassination of
Martin Luther King. He took to the radio airwaves
to ask fans to remain calm and not destroy neigh-
borhoods.
Boston's Mayor Kevin White asked Brown in
1968 to televise one of his shows to keep people at
home and off the streets.
By then, he was one of the most universally rec-
A An ambassador of American inspiration and pride
throughout the world, James Brown met with U.S. presi-
dents (from top, I),including President Richard Nixon
and President George Bush, Pope John Paul l1 and Jimmy
Carter, while president and Georgia governor (below).
ognized and beloved performers.
From Michael Jackson and Prince to
Mick Jagger, rapper Snoop Dogg, Usher and
newcomer Chris Brown, James Brown influ-
enced numerous performers with his unique, trade-
mark style. He was parodied on "Saturday Night
Live" by Eddie Murphy who, instead of singing the
hit Hot Pants,sang Hot Tub with the signature pom-
padour style.
Always supportive and proud of today's perform-
ers, Brown crowned superstar Usher "the Godson of
Soul" during the 2003 Grammy Awards telecast when
they performed together.
Usher recalled: "He personally taught me how to get on the 'good foot.' I'll never
forget our performances together. All these memories will live on in my heart forev-
er. He is the example of what you do with what God gives you. He was not only the
Godfather of Soul; he was the Godfather to the entire music industry. James Brown
was the greatest. He was the best."
The Rev. Al Sharpton was so influenced by Brown that he adopted his hairdo,
dress style and, for a time, became his road manager. He described Brown as his

58
father figure. Sharpton officiated during the pub-
lic memorial for Brown at the Apollo Theatre.
Brown's appeal was across the political spec-
trum and Brown performed before or met with
every President of the United States since 1965.
Always supportive of the country, he strutted
his stuff for American troops serving in Vietnam.
He received some criticism from Blacks when, in
1972, he endorsed Republican Richard Nixon's can-
didacy for president.
President Bush said he and his wife, first lady
Laura Bush, were "saddened" by Brown's death.
"For half a century, the innovative talent of the
'Godfather of Soul' enriched our culture and influ-
enced generations of musicians. An American original, his fans came from all walks
of life and backgrounds. James Brown's family and friends are in our thoughts and
prayers...
V James Brown shows his patriotic side as he greets
Wa capacity crowd of more than 5,000 troops and gives
a soulful, outdoor concert inVietnam. (Inset) After his
energetic performance, Brown is rushed away by bus
for a second show.
A Brown isjoined by ex-bandmates Bobby Byrd and Bootsy
Collins. The entertainer met, performed and mentored sever-
al celebrities throughout his lifetime including Muhammad
All, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Eddie Murphy.
His fans will truly miss the music and the non-
stop showmanship.
Audiences were often as spent and drenched
as Brown himself following his high-energy con-
certs that featured fancy footwork and his melo-
dramatic skit of throwing off a cape placed on his
back or leaving the stage and returning to the
microphone. He revealed that sometimes he
would lose as much as five pounds during a single
performance.
Former bandmate Maceo Parker, who
Brown immortalized during his concerts and
recordings by summoning him for his funky sax
solos, "Maceo, I want you to blow!," told JET, "He
really enjoyed trying to give an uplift with the
messages in his music and tried to make people's
lives better through his performances, his energy.
The most defining or underlying thing I can think
about when I think about his legacy was it was
really about giving something to that audience.
When the audience left, people walked away and
felt better."
Upon learning of Brown's death, Parker
revealed,"I couldn't believe it. I was thinking this
A One of Brown's closest friends, Charles Bobbitt, dis-
cusses business with the hardest working man in showbusi-
ness. He has worked with Brown for 39 years.
might be a hoax. We al-
ways joked and said James
Brown will outlive us all.
He'll be 200 years old and
still performing and remembering us. We really thought he just had that unique
whatever we felt, just to hang around and be here forever. It was really, really shock-
ing to learn of his death..."
Born in the middle of the Great Depression near Barnwell, SC, in 1933, Brown
first embraced music with a harmonica given to him by his father, Joe Gardner.
As a youngster, he earned money picking cotton and shining shoes in Augusta,
GA. where his aunt ran a brothel. He took up boxing while incarcerated in a juvenile
detention facility for breaking into cars. While there, he also sang in a gospel choir.
But R&B called.
In 1955, the Famous Flames, as his group with Bobby Byrd called themselves,
recorded Please,Please,Please.It became an instant success.
A couple of years later, he hit pay dirt again with the No. 1 hit single Try Me.
He reached what many considered the pinnacle for many Black performers when,
in 1959, he made it to the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem.
Brown's style wasn't restricted to R&B. He evolved. He embraced funk, disco and
rock and kept appealing to young audiences. His last major pop hit was Living In
America, a song that landed Brown into the Top 10. Brown performed that song in
the hit film, Rocky IV.
On the big screen, Brown also had a cameo in the successful Blues Brotherswhere
he played a minister, still displaying his patented moves.
Brown made many headlines with his run-ins with the law for brandishing a gun,
F61
 Brown (above, I)isshown with his ex-wife, Velma
Warren, in1979. She was the performer's first wife.
Deidre Jenkins was Brown's second wife; they later
divorced. Adrienne Brown was the third wife of the
soul legend. They were married for a decade before
her death in 1996. Brown shares a moment with his
son, James II,and the child's mother, backup
singer Tomi Rae Hynie, after Brown and Tomi Rae
married in December2001.

assault charges, unlawful use of a
firearm, assault on a police officer and
drug possession.
He also had his share of problems
with the Internal Revenue Service.
But, through it all, fans remained loy-
al. Even after having won three Grammy
Awards, he was given a Grammy Life-
time Achievement Award in 1992. He
also was feted with a Kennedy Center
Honor in 2003.
Throughout his career Brown em-
phasized education and Black self-
sufficiency.
"I tell everyone to go to college," he
explained. "Anybody who wants to be in
this business needs to get an education.
When I was young, boxing and baseball
were my best shots but I got in trouble as
a little boy."
. During his final interview with JET
last spring, Brown repeatedly said that
Black people should try to own more.
"We need to start wanting to own a
place instead of getting a job. Be your
own boss! Let's get together like the
(White) man and buy some land. We
need to save our money like the mob,
put up a factory and own the job. It's
awful when one group of people doesn't
own things. We don't own anything in
America."
As many highs and lows as Brown
experienced in his life, he said the low-
est points were the deaths of his father,
son Teddy (who died in a car crash) and
wife Adrienne, who died following cos-
metic surgery.
Bobbitt said Brown was perceived to
be a tough taskmaster.
"He didn't take nonsense," he said.
"He knew how to get the best out of peo-
ple. Really, he was a timid man. He
changed music with Papa'sGot a Brand
NewBag. I hope he's remembered for the
way he tried to bring people together. He
saw bad and tried to make it right."
Bobbitt also said it's fitting that Brown
has a viewing at the Apollo Theater.
"He told me two months ago, 'Let's go
back to the Apollo! I want to go back.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could see those
lines stretched around the block like they
used to be."'
In addition to Teddy, Brown has six
children. He was married four times. J
-Aldore Collier
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

TITLE: James Brown: His Music Gave America Soul

SOURCE: Jet 111 no2 Ja 15 2007
WN: 0701502618009

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