 Legend among legends and Godfather of Soul, James Brown passed away early Monday, December 25 (Christmas morning). He was 73 years old.
The iconic entertainer responsible for classics such as "Out of Sight," "(Get Up I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Say It Out Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud," was hospitalized with pneumonia at Atlanta's Emory Crawford Long Hospital on Sunday and died around 1:45 a.m. Monday. As of press time, the cause of death was uncertain.
Mr. Brown was not only the godfather of soul, his style was the backbone of rock, funk, disco and was unarguably the penultimate influence for hip-hop music; his rhythms and funky beats served as the foundation of break beats for rap as well as breakdance, and to this day Brown stands as the most sampled artist in rap music history.
"Disco is James Brown, hip-hop is James Brown, rap is James Brown; you know what I'm saying? You hear all the rappers, 90 percent of their music is me," he once told the Associated Press in 2003.
He won a Grammy award for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (best R&B recording) and for 1987's rousing "Living In America." He was one of the first artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and other uber legends. Along with Presley and Bob Dylan, Mr. Brown is indisputable as one of the seminal influences in all of modern music history.
Brown, whose first hit came in the 1950's with "Please, Please, Please," toured and performed seemingly nonstop into the new millennium and deserved his nickname of "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business." His inexhaustible energy and electric, sexually charged stage antics served as a template for world class, groundbreaking performers, including Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and Prince.
Born in Barnwell, South Carolina, in 1933, his life started virtually on the rough streets of Augusta, Georgia when at the age of four, he was abandoned to the care of relatives and friends. While serving 3 1/2 years in Alto Reform School in his early teens, he met Bobby Byrd, whose family took Brown into their home. Byrd and Brown started a group called the Famous Flames who by January 1956 was signed by King Records of Cincinnati. A few months later they dropped the Top 10 hit "Please, Please, Please."
Brown's life of the stage was just as raw and gritty as his music. Throughout his life there were instances of substance and domestic abuse. Most famously, he was arrested in 1988 after leading police on a high-speed car chase while he was high on PCP. He received a six-year prison sentence, spent 15 months in a South Carolina prison and 10 months in a work release program before being paroled in February 1991. In 2003, the South Carolina parole board granted him pardon.
Brown is survived by his fourth wife, and backup singer, Tomi Raye Hynie, and their son, James Jr, 5 years old. RIP Godfather of soul.
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