James Brown 1933-2006

Reuters
December 25, 2006

Singer James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul," who billed himself as the hardest working man in show business, died on Monday at age 73, his manager said. James Brown died at 1:45 a.m. (0645 GMT) at Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta after being admitted there on Saturday for treatment of severe pneumonia, his manager, Frank Copsidas, said. Charles Bobbit, Brown's longtime friend and personal manager, was at his side, he said.

James Brown was born on May 3, 1933 in Macon, Georgia and was raised in Augusta. The singer, also known as "Mr. Dynamite," is credited with bringing the word "funk" into mainstream musical vernacular and influencing a new generation of black music. Rap and hip hop artists revered him for the grooves he was able to produce as a band leader and used his beats extensively as the backdrop to their own songs. He had more than 119 charting singles and recorded over 50 albums, was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and received a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 1992. He even played the role of a manic preacher in the hit 1980 movie "The Blues Brothers."

His first Top 40 hit was "Think" which entered the charts on May 30, 1960 and was released on the now legendary Federal label. It was to be his last single to chart on the Federal label though, as he was moved over to Federal's sister label King, where he continued to chart until 1971 before moving to Polydor Records.

Every record he made during 1960-77 reached the top 100. Big hits included "Please, Please, Please," "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" "Get Up (I feel like being a Sex Machine)" and "It's a Man's World." His 1985 monster hit "Living in America," which was featured in the movie "Rocky IV," brought him a whole new generation of fans and his first Grammy.

He combined his soul-rending music with a theatrical delivery. He also developed a trademark routine in which he would keep coming back on stage after a show and sing a few lines of "Please, Please, Please" with the sweat pouring from his bare-chested body. This routine was copied in tribute by Micky Dolenz of the Monkees during the group's 1967 tours. His stage crew would throw a cape over his back and he would leave, only to reappear seconds later on his knees, moaning the song into the microphone. The routine would sometimes go on for 30-40 minutes and send his fans delirious.

"Ninety percent of the stuff you see on television is all sex, and they kill 30 people in a 30 minute show, almost before you see the title of the show. They worried about me? I was trying to make people happy."