James Brown
James Brown
James J. Brown, James Joseph Brown
James Brown was a singer-songwriter, producer, bandleader, and dancer. He was known as the “Godfather of Soul,” “Soul Brother Number 1,” “Mr. Dynamite,” and “the hardest working man in show business.” He was instrumental in the development of a number of popular musical styles such as Funk, P-Funk and hip-hop.
Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia in the early 1950s. He connected with his longtime musical partner Bobby Byrd in the late 1940s as a teenager and Brown later joined Byrd’s group called the Gospel Starlighters, which changed to the Avons before switching to the Flames and then the Famous Flames. Hit ballads “Please, Please, Please” and “Try Me” brought national attention to Brown in the late 1950s, as he built a reputation as a relentless live performer with the Famous Flames.
In the 1960s and ‘70s, Brown moved away from the doo-wop sounds he performed with the Famous Flames and would begin making the heavy funk grooves he became known for. He led a band of talented musicians in a group known as The J.B.’s, which included Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, and Bootsy Collins before he broke off to join Parliament-Funkadelic. He also became noted for creating songs with social commentary, most notably the 1968 hit “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud).”