Legend of the Week

#1 James Brown - The Godfather of Soul

James Joseph Brown Junior was born on 3 May, 1933. Commonly known for his feverish vocal style, animalistic shouts and yelps, and unrivalled showmanship, Brown was a key player in the evolution of gospel and blues into what we today know as soul and funk, in the middle period of the last century.

Brown was born in South Carolina during the Depression era into extreme poverty. His mother left the family whilst Brown was still at an early age, and his father struggled to take care of the young James, or 'Junior' as he was known at that time. He moved to Augusta, Georgia, taking his young son in tow. Brown spent time living with relatives and even with an aunt who ran a brothel during his young years. One act of kindness which perhaps changed the destiny of James Brown was when his father bought him a harmonica. The young Brown took to the instrument with gusto, and soon learnt guitar, drums and piano from local musicians such as 'Tampa Red'. After witnessing a performance by Louis Jordan, a popular jazz performer in the 40s, Brown was hooked.

As an adult, Brown legally changed his name to remove the 'Junior'. With no education or future to speak of, James Brown spent his time rehearsing his skills in local music halls and committing petty crime, even being convicted of armed robbery in 1948 and sent to a young offender's home. It was in this reform school that Brown met Bobby Byrd, who was mesmirised by the charisma of Brown's performances with his makeshift, inhouse reform school band.

Upon his release, James Brown tried his hand as a boxer and a semi-pro baseball pitcher, both of which he retired from through injury. The only constant in Brown's life so far had been music and dancing, and he turned his energy towards it with renewed conviction.

In 1955, Brown collaborated with Bobby Byrd to form the RnB outfit 'The Flames'. They were signed to Federal Records and released nine singles, most notably 'Please, Please, Please', but to little acclaim. At this time Brown idolised Little Richard, and it quoted as saying that Richard's band, The Upsetters, were the first to infuse Rock n Roll with 'funk'. When Richard retired to become a preacher, Brown offered to fill in his remaining tour dates, and much of Richard's back up band joined the Flames - now known as 'The Famous Flames'. This was the start of James Brown's road to fame.

The 60s saw some of Brown's most seminal works come to the fore. 1963 album 'Live at the Apollo' marked the start of a decade of chart success, spanning tracks such as 'Out of Sight' (1964), 'Papa's Got a Brand New Pig Ba', 'I Got You (I Feel Good)', 'It's a Man's World' (all 1965).

Following the chart success of these hits, the end of the 60s coincided with a decidely funkier direction for Brown, with his 1967 #1 RnB chart hit 'Cold Sweat' sited as funk afficiandos the first true 'funk song' because it was the first of his recordings to contain a drum break and the first that featured a harmony that was reduced to a single chord change.

Brown's by now signature style was influencing artists including Sly and The Family Stone, Edwin Starr, David Ruffin (Temptations front man), and Dennis Edwards. A young Michael Jackson brought Brown's style more mainstream as the lead singer of the Jackson Five, the young Jackson modelled himself so closely on Brown that critics described the future megastar as a 'miniature James Brown'.

During the 1970s, Brown's band had evolved to include musicians with predominantly Jazz backgrounds, with Bobby Byrd the only surviving member of the Flames. Together, they recruited future funk legends in their own right such as bassist Bootsy Collins, Collins' guitarist brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins and trombonist and musical director Fred Wesley (later of Parliament-Funkadelic). This new backing band was dubbed "The J.B.'s", and the band made its debut with aplomb on Brown's 1970 (and arguably most well known) single "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine".

In 1971 Brown signed with Polydor, and a part of the deal included the absorption of Brown's 'People' label. Many of Brown's band released their own records on 'People', the tracks being produced by Brown who had honed his skills behind the mixing desk to almost the same heights as his stage performance. Songs such as monster track "I Know You Got Soul" by Bobby Byrd, "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins and "Doing It to Death" by Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s are considered as much a part of Brown's legacy as the tracks released under his own name.

Whilst Brown's music has been extensively sampled, a interesting point of note for the 70s id that Brown's 1976 single "Hot" (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)" (R&B chart #31) borrowed the main riff from "Fame" by David Bowie, not the other way around as was often believed. The sign of a truly grounded artist, Brown was always open to learning, even when contemparies such as Miles Davis were citing Brown as a major influence.

Brown's 1970s catalogue in many ways presented the culmination of his years of diligence and evolution. Standards such as "The Payback" (1973), "Papa Don't Take No Mess", "Stoned to the Bone", and "Funky President (People It's Bad)" (1974), and "Get Up Offa That Thing" (1976) were among his most noted recordings during this time, if not of all time.

At the turn of the 1980s, Brown's popularity was on the wane with the emergence of hip hop and breakbeat. With a few notable exceptions ("Living In America" and the Grammy it earned Brown, 1985) the rest of the decade was peppered with stints in jail for minor misdemeanors and appearances in films and television.

A reminder of Brown's cross-generational appeal came in 2000 with the release of 'Funk On Ah Roll' on the Inferno label, the B Side of which featured a 2-step UK garage mix by Bump n Flex which still enjoys 'Garage Classic' status.

The James Brown Revue was an elaborate band of many musicians which toured from the 1980s onwards, performing up to 330 shows a year, re-affirming Brown's status as 'The Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness'.

On December 25, 2006, Brown died at approximately 1:45 a.m. from congestive heart failure resulting from complications of pneumonia. His last words, according to long time friends and manager Charles Bobbit, were "I'm going away tonight".

Soul Evolution.co.uk slautes "Mr. Dynamite, Soul Brother Number One, The Godfather of Soul, Mr. Please Please, The Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness, the one and only, James Joseph Brown". If ever there was a man who truly influenced the course of popular culture and music as we know it today, it's James Brown. From hip-hop to funk, RnB to Soulful House, modern music owes a debt of gratitude to the man.

You're sure to hear more than a couple of his tracks at any Soul Evolution event and when his trademark vocal urges you to "Get Up Offa That Thing", we suggest you do just that in his memory!

R.I.P. James Joseph Brown 1933-2006

Interesting fact: Holds the record as the artist who charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting number one on that chart.

Interesting fact: The most sampled artist of all time.

Next week: The Temptations