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 JAMES BROWN MR DYNAMITE 

   

"TITTER YE NOT"

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In my new post at the recycling plant, I'm melting down all James Brown's vinyl records.

It's a soul destroying job.

 

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When I was a kid, my parents told me the boogie man would get me if I were naughty.

I was so glad when James Brown died.
 

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So James Brown has officially been voted as the King of Soul.

I didn't realise that

South Korea was a monarchy.
 

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I've been doing a lot of soul searching recently.

James Brown's name seems to pop up a lot.

 

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A judge sentenced me to 30 years in prison for the rape and murder of

6 women in my local area.

"Mr. Smith, it's no less than you deserve, you truly are a monster with no soul!" He said.

Proved that twat wrong!

 

I sang James Brown - Sex machine perfectly in key for the whole courtroom to hear.

 

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 James Joseph Brown  was born on May 3, 1933, in Barnwell,

South Carolina, to 16-year-old Susie (née Behling; 1917–2003) and

22-year-old Joseph "Joe" Gardner Brown (1911–1993), in a small

wooden shack. Brown's name was supposed to have been Joseph

James Brown, Jr.; however, his first and middle names were

mistakenly reversed on his birth certificate. Brown later legally

changed his name to remove the "Jr." designation. His parents were

both black; in his autobiography, Brown stated that he also had

Chinese and Native American ancestry.

 

The Brown family lived in extreme poverty in Elko, South Carolina,

which was an impoverished town at the time. They later moved to

 Augusta, Georgia,  when Brown was four or five. Brown's family first

settled at one of his aunts' brothels and later moved into a house

shared with another aunt. Brown's mother later left the family after a

contentious marriage and moved to New York. Brown spent long

stretches of time on his own, hanging out in the streets and hustling

to get by. Brown managed to stay in school until sixth grade.

 

Brown began singing in talent shows as a young child, first appearing at Augusta's Lenox

Theatre in 1944, winning the show after singing the ballad "So Long". While in Augusta,

Brown performed buck dances for change to entertain troops from Camp Gordon at the start of

World War II, as their convoys travelled over a canal bridge near his aunt's home. Brown learned

how to play piano, guitar, and harmonica during this period. Brown became inspired to become

an entertainer after seeing footage of  Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five  performing "Caldonia" in a short film. During his teen years, Brown briefly had a career as a boxer. At 16, Brown was convicted of robbery and was sent to a juvenile detention centre in Toccoa.

 

Brown formed a gospel quartet with four fellow cellmates, including Johnny Terry. Stories differ as to how Brown was eventually paroled, including a story that Bobby Byrd's family had helped to secure an early release, while another stated that Brown got his parole after a car and motor manufacturing company owner, S.C. Lawson, agreed to be a sponsor after Brown had promised to look for a job guaranteed for two years. Brown was paroled on June 14, 1952. Upon his release, Brown joined a gospel group and worked at several jobs, including at the Lawson Motor Company and as a janitor at a local school. Brown and  Bobby Byrd  reportedly met following his release from prison, and the two became friends.

 

Brown joined Byrd's group, which highlighted under two names, as an

cappella gospel group called the Gospel Starlighters, and an R&B

band known as the Avons. Brown had allegedly joined the band after

one of the group's members, Troy Collins, was killed. Along with Brown

and Byrd, the group consisted of Sylvester Keels, Doyle Oglesby, Fred

Pulliam, Nash Knox, and Nafloyd Scott.

Influenced by R&B groups such as Hank Ballard and the Midnighters,

the Orioles, and  Billy Ward and his Dominoes,  the group changed its

name, first to the Toccoa Band, and then to the Flames. Nafloyd's

brother Baroy later joined the group on bass guitar, and Brown, Byrd,

and Keels switched lead positions and instruments, often playing

drums and piano. Johnny Terry later joined, while Pulliam and Oglesby

had long left.

 

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Berry Trimier became the group's initial manager, booking them at

parties near college campuses in the Georgia and South Carolina

areas. The group had already gained a reputation for being a live act

when they renamed themselves the " Famous Flames ". By 1955, the

group had contacted Little Richard, who was idolized by Brown, while

performing in Macon. Richard convinced the group to get in contact

with Richard's manager at the time, Clint Brantley, at his nightclub. Brantley agreed to manage them after seeing the group audition. Brantley then sent them to a local radio station to record a demo session, where they performed their own composition "Please, Please, Please", which was inspired when Little Richard wrote the words of the title on a napkin, and Brown was determined to make a song out of it. The Famous Flames eventually signed with King Records' Federal subsidiary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and issued a re-recorded version of "Please, Please, Please" in March 1956. The song became the group's first R&B hit, selling over a million copies. None of their follow-ups produced similar success. By 1957, Brown had replaced Clint Brantley as manager and hired Ben Bart, chief of Universal Attractions Agency. That year, the original Flames broke up after Bart changed the name of the group to "James Brown and The Famous Flames".

 

In October 1958, Brown released the ballad, "Try Me", which hit number-one on the R&B chart in the beginning of 1959, becoming the first of seventeen chart-topping R&B hits. Shortly afterwards, Brown recruited his first band, led by J.C. Davis and reunited with Bobby Byrd, who joined a revived Famous Flames line-up that included Eugene "Baby" Lloyd Stallworth and Bobby Bennett, with Johnny Terry sometimes coming in as the "fifth Flame". Brown, the Famous Flames, and his entire band debuted at the Apollo Theatre on April 24, 1959, opening for Little Willie John. Federal Records issued two albums credited to Brown and the Famous Flames. By 1960, Brown began multi-tasking in the recording studio, involving himself, the Famous Flames, and his band, sometimes named the

 James Brown Orchestra  or the James Brown Band. That year, the band recorded the top ten R&B hit, "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" on Dade Records, owned by Henry Stone, under the pseudonym "Nat Kendrick & the Swans", due to label issues. As a result of its success, King president Syd Nathan shifted Brown's contract from Federal to King. While under King, Brown, under the Famous

Flames lineup, released the album Think!, and the following year, released two albums with the James Brown Band, earning second billing. With the Famous Flames, Brown sang lead on several more hits, including "I'll Go Crazy" and "Think," songs that hinted at his

emerging style.

 

By 1962, Brown scored a hit with his band with their cover of the instrumental, " Night Train ", becoming not only a top-five R&B single but also Brown's first top 40 entry on the Billboard Hot 100. That same year, the ballads "Lost Someone" and "Baby You're Right", the latter a Joe Tex composition, added to his repertoire and increased his reputation with R&B audiences. On October 24, 1962, Brown financed a live recording of a performance at the Apollo and convinced Syd Nathan to release

The album, despite Nathan's beliefs that no one bought live albums due to the fact that

Brown's singles were already bought and that live albums were usually bad sellers.

 

 Live at the Apollo  was released the following June and became an immediate hit,

eventually reaching number two on the Top LPs chart and selling over a million copies,

staying on the charts for 14 months. In 1963, Brown scored his first top 20 pop hit with his

rendition of the standard, "Prisoner of Love". He also launched his first label, Try Me

Records, which included recordings by the likes of Tammy Montgomery (later to be

famous as Tammi Terrell), Johnny & Bill (Famous Flames associates Johnny Terry and Bill

Hollings) and the Poets, which was another name used for Brown's backing band. In 1964,

Seeking bigger commercial success, Brown and Bobby Byrd formed the production company,

Fair Deal, linking the operation to the Mercury imprint, Smash Records. King Records,

however, fought against this and was granted an injunction preventing Brown from releasing

any recordings for the label. Prior to the injunction, Brown had released three vocal singles,

including the blues-oriented hit "Out of Sight", which further indicated the direction his music

was going to take.

Touring throughout the year, Brown and the Famous Flames grabbed more national attention

after giving an explosive show-stopping performance on the live concert film, The T.A.M.I.

Show. The Flames' dynamic gospel-tinged vocals, polished choreography, and timing, as well

as Brown's energetic dance moves and high-octane singing, upstaged the show from the

proposed closing act, the Rolling Stones. With a new deal with King, Brown released his

composition, " Papa's Got a Brand New Bag ", which became his first top ten pop hit and won Brown his first Grammy Award. Later in 1965, Brown issued "I Got You", which became his second single in a row to reach number-one on the R&B chart and top ten on the pop chart. Brown followed that up with the ballad, "It's a Man's Man's Man's World," which confirmed his stance as a top-ranking performer, especially with R&B audiences from that point on.

 JAMES BROWN 

 FINALLY AT PEACE 

 

YOUNG JAMES BROWN

 

By 1967, Brown's emerging sound had begun to be defined as funk music. That year,

He released what some critics cited as the first true funk song, " Cold Sweat ", which hit

number-one on the R&B chart (Top 10 Pop), and became one of his first recordings to

contain a drum break and also the first that featured a harmony that was reduced to a

single chord. The instrumental arrangements on tracks such as "Give It Up Or Turn It A

Loose" and "Licking Stick-Licking Stick" (both recorded in 1968) and "Funky Drummer"

(recorded in 1969) featured a more developed version of Brown's mid-1960s style, with

the horn section, guitars, bass, and drums meshed together in intricate rhythmic

patterns based on multiple interlocking riffs.

 

Changes in Brown's style that started with "Cold Sweat" also established the musical

foundation for Brown's later hits, such as " I Got the Feelin " (1968) and "Mother

Popcorn" (1969). By this time, Brown's vocals frequently took the form of a kind of

rhythmic declamation, not quite sung but not quite spoken, that only intermittently

featured traces of pitch or melody. This would become a major influence on the

techniques of rapping, which would come to maturity along with hip hop music in the

coming decades. Brown's style of funk in the late 1960s was based on interlocking

syncopated parts:

                            funky bass lines, drum patterns, and iconic guitar riffs. The main guitar

ostinatos for "Ain't It Funky" and "Give It Up or Turn It Loose" (both 1969) are examples

of Brown's refinement of New Orleans funk. irresistibly danceable riffs, stripped down to

their rhythmic essence. On both recordings, the tonal structure is bare bones. The

pattern of attack points is the emphasis, not the pattern of pitches. It's as if the guitar is

an African drum, or idiophone. Alexander Stewart states that this popular feel was passed along from "New Orleans — through James Brown's music, to the popular music of the 1970s." Those same tracks were later resurrected by countless hip-hop musicians from the 1970s onward. As a result, James Brown remains to this day the world's most sampled recording artist.

Get On Up James Brown MOVIE

                                                                                                       

                                                                                                           "Bring it Up" has an Afro-Cuban guajeo-like structure. In fact, on a                                                                                                             1976 version, Cuban bongos are used. All three of these guitar                                                                                                                   riffs are based on an on-beat/off-beat structure. Stewart states,                                                                                                                   "This model, it should be noted, is different from a timeline (such                                                                                                               as clave and tresillo) in that it is not an exact pattern, but more of a                                                                                                             loose organizing principle." It was around this time, as the                                                                                                                           musician's popularity increased, that he acquired the nickname,                                                                                                                 "Soul Brother No.1", after failing to win the title "King of Soul" from                                                                                                             Solomon Burke during a Chicago gig two years prior. Brown's                                                                                                                     recordings during this period influenced musicians across the                                                                                                                     industry, most notably groups such as Sly and the Family Stone,                                                                                                               Funkadelic, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm                                                                                                                     Band, Booker T. & the M.G.s as well as vocalists such as Edwin                                                                                                                 Starr, David Ruffin and Dennis Edwards from The Temptations,                                                                                                                   and Michael Jackson, who, throughout his career, cited Brown as                                                                                                               his idol.

 

                                                                                                           Brown's band during this period employed musicians and                                                                                                                           arrangers who had come up through the jazz tradition. He was                                                                                                                   noted for his ability as a bandleader and songwriter to blend the                                                                                                                 simplicity and drive of  R&B  with the rhythmic complexity and                                                                                                                     precision of jazz.

 

Trumpeter Lewis Hamlin and saxophonist/keyboardist Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis (the successor to previous bandleader Nat Jones) led the band. Guitarist Jimmy Nolen provided percussive, deceptively simple riffs for each song, and Maceo Parker's prominent saxophone solos provided a focal point for many performances. Other members of Brown's band included stalwart Famous Flames singer and sideman Bobby Byrd, drummers John "Jabo" Starks,  Clyde Stubblefield,  and Melvin Parker, saxophonist St. Clair Pinckney, trombonist Fred Wesley, guitarist Alphonso "Country" Kellum, and bassist Bernard Odum.

 

In addition to a torrent of singles and studio albums, Brown's output during this period included two more successful live albums, Live at the Garden (1967) and Live at the Apollo, Volume II (1968), and a  1968 television special, James Brown: 

                                                                                                                                                                           Man to Man. His music empire expanded along with his influence on the music scene. As Brown's music empire grew, his desire for financial and artistic independence grew as well. Brown bought radio stations during the late 1960s, including WRDW in his native Augusta, where he shined shoes as a boy. In November 1967, James Brown purchased radio station WGYW in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a reported $75,000, according to the January 20, 1968, Record World magazine. The call letters were changed to WJBE reflecting his initials. WJBE began on January 15, 1968 and broadcast a Rhythm & Blues format. The station slogan was " WJBE 1430 Raw Soul ". Brown also bought WEBB in Baltimore in 1970.

 

Brown branched out to make several recordings with musicians outside his own band. In an attempt to appeal to the older, more affluent, and predominantly white adult contemporary audience, Brown recorded Gettin' Down To It (1969) and Soul on Top (1970) -- two albums consisting mostly of romantic ballads, jazz standards, and homologous reinterpretations of his earlier hits with the Dee Felice Trio and the Louie Bellson Orchestra. In 1968, he recorded a number of funk-oriented tracks with The Dapps, a white Cincinnati band, including the hit " I Can't Stand Myself ". He also released three albums of Christmas music with his own band.

 

In March 1970, most of Brown's mid-to-late 1960s road band walked out on him due to money disputes, a development aggravated by the prior disbandment of The Famous Flames singing group for the same reason in 1968. Brown and erstwhile Famous Flames singer Bobby Byrd (who chose to remain in the band during this tumultuous period) subsequently recruited several members of the Cincinnati-based The Pacemakers, which included Bootsy Collins and his brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins; augmented by the remaining members of the 1960s road band (including Fred Wesley, who rejoined Brown's outfit in December 1970) and other newer musicians, they would form the nucleus of   The J.B.'s.  Brown's new backing ensemble. Shortly following their first performance together, the band entered the studio to record the Brown-Byrd composition, "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine"; the song and other contemporaneous singles would further cement Brown's influence in the nascent genre of funk music. This iteration of the J.B.'s dissolved after a March 1971 European tour (documented on the 1991 archival release Love Power Peace) due to additional money disputes and Bootsy Collins' use of LSD; the Collins brothers would soon become integral members of Parliament-Funkadelic, while a new lineup of the J.B.'s coalesced around Wesley, St. Clair Pinckney, and drummer John Starks.

 

Brown's "Papa Don't Take No Mess" would be his final single to reach the No. 1 spot on the R&B charts and his final Top 40 pop single of the 1970s, though Brown continued to occasionally have Top 10 R&B recordings. Among his top ten R&B hits during this latter period were "Funky President" and " Get Up Offa That Thing ", the latter song released in 1976 and aimed at musical rivals such as Barry White, The Ohio Players, and K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Brown credited his then-second wife and two of their children as writers of the song to avoid concurrent tax problems with the IRS. Starting in October 1975, Brown produced, directed, and hosted Future Shock, an Atlanta-based television variety show that ran for three years.

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Although his records were mainstays of the vanguard New York underground disco scene

exemplified by DJs such as  David Mancuso  and Francis Grasso from 1969 onwards,

Brown did not consciously yield to the trend until 1975's Sex Machine Today. By 1977, he

was no longer a dominant force in R&B. After "Get Up Offa That Thing", thirteen of

Brown's late 1970s recordings for Polydor failed to reach the Top 10 of the R&B chart,

with only "Bodyheat" in 1976 and the disco-oriented "It's Too Funky in Here" in 1979

reaching the R&B Top 15 and the ballad "Kiss in '77" reaching the Top 20. After 1976's

"Bodyheat", he also failed to appear on the Billboard Hot 100. As a result, Brown's

concert attendance began dropping, and reported disputes with the IRS caused Brown's

empire to collapse. In addition, Brown's former bandmates, including Fred Wesley,

Maceo Parker and the Collins brothers had found bigger success as members of George

Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic collective. The emergence of disco also stopped Brown's

success on the R&B charts as its slicker commercial style had superseded his rawer funk

productions.

 

By the release of 1979's The Original Disco Man, Brown was not providing much

production or writing, leaving most of it to producer Brad Shapiro, resulting in the song

"It's Too Funky in Here" became Brown's most successful single in this period. After two

more albums failed to chart, Brown left Polydor in 1981. It was around this time that

Brown changed the name of his band from the J.B.'s to the Soul Generals (or Soul G's).

This band's name remained that way until his death. Despite a decline in record sales,

Brown enjoyed something of a resurgence in this period, starting with appearances in the

feature films The Blues BrothersDoctor Detroit, and Rocky IV, as well as guest-starring

in the Miami Vice episode "Missing Hours" (1987). In 1984, Brown teamed with rap

musician Afrika Bambatta on the song "Unity". A year later, he signed with Scotti Brothers

Records and issued the moderately successful album, Gravity, in 1986. It included

Brown's final Top 10 pop hit, "Living in America", marked his first Top 40 entry since 1974 and his first Top 10 pop entry since 1968. Produced and written by Dan Hartman, it was also featured prominently on the Rocky IV film and soundtrack. Brown performed the song in the film at Apollo Creed's final fight, shot in the Ziegfeld Room at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and was credited in the film as "The Godfather of Soul." 1986 also saw the publication of Brown's autobiography, James Brown:

                                                                                                                                                               The Godfather of Soul,  co-written with Bruce Tucker. In 1987, Brown won the Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Living in America".

 

In 1988, Brown worked with the production team Full Force on the new jack swing-influenced album I'm Real. It spawned his final two Top 10 R&B hits, "I'm Real" and "Static", which peaked at No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, on the R&B charts. Meanwhile, the drum break from the second version of the original 1969 hit "Give It Up Or Turn it A Loose" (the recording included on the compilation album In the Jungle Groove) became so popular at hip hop dance parties (especially for breakdance) during the late 1970s and early 1980s that hip hop founding father  Kurtis Blow  called the song "the national anthem of hip hop".

 

After his stint in prison during the late 1980s, Brown met Larry Fridie and Thomas Hart, who produced the first James Brown biopic titled James Brown:

                              The Man, the Message, the Music, released in 1992. James Brown returned with the album Love Over-Due in 1991. It included the single "(So Tired of Standing Still We Got to) Move On", which peaked at No. 48 on the R&B chart. His former record label, Polydor, also released the four-CD box set, Star Time, spanning Brown's career to date. Brown's release from prison also prompted his former record labels to reissue his albums on CD, featuring additional tracks and commentary by music critics and historians. That same year, Brown appeared on rapper  MC Hammer's  video for "Too Legit to Quit". Hammer had been noted, alongside Big Daddy Kane, for bringing Brown's unique stage shows and their own energetic dance moves to the hip-hop generation, with both Hammer and Kane listing Brown as their idol. Both musicians also sampled Brown's work, with Hammer having sampled the rhythms from "Super Bad" for his song, "Here Comes the Hammer", from his best-selling album, Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em. Before the year was over, Brown, who had immediately returned to work with his band following his release, organized a pay-per-view concert following a show at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre, which was well received.

 

james brown mugshot

 JAMES BROWN MUG SHOT 1988 

 Brown's personal life was marred by several brushes with the law.  At the age of 16, he was convicted of theft and served three years in juvenile prison. On July 16, 1978, after performing at the Apollo, Brown was arrested for reportedly failing to turn in records from one of his radio stations after the station was forced to file for bankruptcy. Brown was arrested in May 1988 on drug and weapons charges, and again on September 24, 1988, following a high-speed car chase on Interstate 20 near the Georgia-South Carolina state border. He was convicted of carrying an unlicensed pistol and assaulting a police officer, along with various drug-related and driving offenses. Although he was sentenced to six years in prison, he was eventually released on parole on February 27, 1991, after serving two years of his sentence. Brown's FBI file, released to The Washington Post in 2007 under the Freedom of Information Act, related Brown's claim that the high-speed chase did not occur as claimed by the police, and that local police shot at his car several times during an incident of police harassment and assaulted him after his arrest. Local authorities found no merit to Brown's accusations.

 

For the remainder of his life,  Brown was repeatedly arrested for domestic violence.  Adrienne Rodriguez, his third wife, had him arrested four times between 1987 and 1995 on charges of assault. In January 2004, Brown was arrested in South Carolina on a domestic violence charge after Tomi Rae Hynie accused him of pushing her to the floor during an argument at their home, where she suffered scratches and bruises to her right arm and hip. Later that year in June 2004, Brown pleaded no contest to the domestic violence incident, but served no jail time. Instead, Brown was required to forfeit a US $1,087 bond as punishment.

 

For the majority of his career, Brown had a strict drug and alcohol-free policy for any member in his entourage, including band members, and would fire people who disobeyed orders, particularly those who used or abused drugs and alcohol. Some members of Brown's vocal group the Famous Flames were fired due to alcohol use. Despite the policy, some of the original members of Brown's

1970s band, The J.B.'s, including Catfish and Bootsy Collins, intentionally took LSD during a concert gig in 1971, causing Brown to fire them after the show because he had suspected them of being on drugs all along.

 

However, by the mid-1980s, it was alleged that Brown

himself was using drugs. After meeting and later marrying

Adrienne Rodriguez and Brown began using  PCP 

("angel dust"). The drug resulted in domestically violent

outbursts from Brown, and he was arrested several times

for domestic violence against Rodriguez while high on the

drug. After a 1988 arrest for allegedly hitting his wife with

a lead pipe and shooting at her in their car during an

argument, Brown went on the CNN program Sonya Live

in L.A. and appeared to be behaving erratically in

response to questions asked by host Sonya Friedman,

refusing to discuss the domestic issue with Rodriguez,

instead wanting to bring more focus on his professional

life. At one point during the interview, Brown began

shouting out his song titles in response to one of

Friedman's questions. The interview later went viral and

led some to assume that Brown was either drunk or on

drugs. One of Brown's former mistresses recalled in a GQ

magazine article on Brown, some years after his death,

that Brown would smoke PCP "until that got hard to find," and cocaine, mixed with tobacco in Kool cigarettes. In January 1998, he spent a week in rehab to deal with an addiction to prescription drugs. A week following his release, he was arrested for unlawful use of a handgun and possession of cannabis.

 

On December 23, 2006, Brown became very ill and arrived at his dentist's office in Atlanta, Georgia, several hours later than his appointment for dental implant work. During that visit, Brown's dentist observed that Brown looked "very bad ... weak and dazed." Instead of performing the dental work, the dentist advised Brown to see a doctor right away about his medical condition. Brown checked in at the  Emory Crawford Long Memorial Hospital  the next day for a medical evaluation of his condition, and he was admitted to the hospital for observation and treatment. According to Charles Bobbit, Brown's longtime personal manager and friend, Brown had a noisy cough since he returned from a November trip to Europe. Bobbit also added that Brown never complained about being sick, and often performed while ill. Although Brown had to cancel upcoming shows in Waterbury, Connecticut, and Englewood, New Jersey, he was confident that the doctor would discharge him from the hospital in time to perform the New Year's Eve shows. For the New Year's celebrations, Brown was scheduled to perform at the Count Basie Theatre in New Jersey and at the B. B. King Blues Club in New York, in addition to performing a song live on CNN for the Anderson Cooper New Year's Eve special. However, Brown remained hospitalised, and his medical condition worsened throughout that day.

 

On December the 25th, 2006, Brown died at approximately 1:45 am EST (06:45 UTC) from congestive heart failure resulting from complications of pneumonia, at the age of 73, with his personal manager and longtime friend Charles Bobbit at his bedside.

According to Bobbit, Brown stuttered "I'm going away tonight", and then took three long, quiet breaths and fell asleep before dying.

 

After Brown's death, Brown's relatives and friends, a host of celebrities and thousands of fans attended public memorial services at the Apollo Theater in New York on December 28, 2006, and at the James Brown Arena on December 30, 2006, in Augusta, Georgia. A separate, private memorial service was also held in North Augusta, South Carolina on December 29, 2006, which was attended by Brown's family and close friends. Celebrities who attended Brown's public and or private memorial services included Michael Jackson, Jimmy Cliff, Joe Frazier, Buddy Guy, Ice Cube, Ludacris, Dr. Dre, Little Richard, Dick Gregory, MC Hammer, Prince, Jesse Jackson, Ice-T, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bootsy Collins, LL Cool J, Lil Wayne, Lenny Kravitz, 50 Cent, Stevie Wonder, Todd Williams and Don King, among others. All of the public and private memorial services were officiated by Rev. Al Sharpton.

 

Brown's public and private memorial ceremonies were elaborate, complete with costume changes for Brown and videos featuring him in concert performances. Brown's body, which was placed in a Promethean casket, which is bronze polished to a golden shine, was driven through the streets of New York to the Apollo Theater in a white, glass-encased horse-drawn carriage. In Augusta, Georgia, the procession for Brown's public memorial visited Brown's statue as the procession made its way to the James Brown Arena. During the public memorial at the James Brown Arena, a video showed Brown's last performance in Augusta, Georgia, and the Ray Charles version of " Georgia on My Mind " played soulfully in the background. Brown's last backup band, The Soul Generals, also played the music of Brown's hits during the memorial service at the James Brown Arena. The group was joined by Bootsy Collins on bass, with MC Hammer performing a dance in James Brown style. Former Temptations lead singer Ali-Ollie Woodson performed "Walk Around Heaven All Day" at the memorial service.

 

A colored is a very frightened-to-death Afro-American. A Negro is one who makes it in the system, and he wants to be white. A nigger, he's loud and boisterous, wants to be seen. Nobody likes a nigger. A black man has pride. He wants to build, he wants to make his race mean something. Wants to have a culture and art forms. And he's not prejudiced. I am a Black American Man. Now you go ahead and print it.

 

JAMES JOSEPH BROWN

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 The material on this site does not necessarily reflect the views of What If? Tees. 

 The Images and Text are not meant to offend but to Promote Positive Open Debate and Free Speech. 

 The material on this site does not reflect the views of What If? Tees. 

 The Images and Text are not meant to offend but to Promote Positive Open Debate and Free Speech. 

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