5 Years on and Christmas has never been the same: R.I.P. James Brown, the Godfather of Soul

It was the morning of the 25.12.2006 – Christmas Day and the news spread like wildfire. I was listening to London’s Heart FM with some friends and having a merry little get-together enjoying the smooth soul and funk as usual until the DJ announced that James Joseph Brown Jr. born near Barnwell, South Carolina, USA on 3rd May 1933 had passed away in hospital in his home town of Augusta, Georgia; probably of heart failure.

I’m going to leave aside most of the criticism and just stick to what is to me the greatest lifetime achievement in recent music history. This is a little obituary for the 5th anniversary of James Brown’s physical parting, but his music and and his life remains as important as ever.

CHRISTMAS was O-V-E-R and it was time for mourning. I think everyone of the five guys in the room had one clear favourite when it came to funk performers, producers and protagonists; the man who demanded the most respect and awe in the music we loved. This was not a time for considering the negative headlines he had drawn in recent years, which didn’t paint a very favorable picture of the man. I could not imagine what the world would be now without The Godfather of Soul.

In this obituary I will try and do justice to the man’s legacy in an unconventional format, with a list of facts which he, in my opinion, should be remembered for. Please consider that time is tight and there is a lot to say.

James Brown was born in America’s poor rural south into a broken home and was brought up for most of it by his aunt. Spending his school years outside of school “hustling” until he dropped out in 7th grade at around the age of 13, he continued shining shoes, busking on the street as a dancer and seemingly “hustling”, as he soon landed in jail for armed robbery. Thankfully he had met Bobby Byrd a few months before who negotiated an early release for James after 3 years.

Upon his release he joined a travelling gospel troupe called the Starlighters, lead by the Byrd family which seemed to set his life back on its destined track. Turning away from the career as the boxer his father Joe Brown had nurtured him towards, James choose instead to be a musician. This is cited by his father as being a major step; it was James’s personal choice to be an entertainer and so he supoorted his son of course.

In 1956 James released his first single “Please, Please, Please” at the age of 22 with the “Flames” whom he had begun to lead. It still stands out as one of the greatest R&B singles of all time and of course and was one of his signature songs for the rest of his life.

I mention R&B, the genre that came from the blues and doo-wop sung before the emergence of soul music in the late fifties, and James Brown was certainly one of the main protagonists of this genre with his band the Famous Flames. During this period he earnt the title “Godfather of Soul”.

Due to his managers’ lack of faith in the commercial viability of his music, he made history by financing his own recordings; the epic live performances at the Apollo Theater, Brookly, NY in 1963. It was a historic first for a black artist. This recording also brought one of soul music’s most infamous songs: “I Got You, (I Feel Good)”.

Always helping others to achieve he set up the James Brown Revue in the sixties helping artists such as Bobby Byrd, Marva Whitney, Sweet Charles and a roster of others. Once his success allowed him to lend a hand, James was, after receiving a few “hands-up” himself, keen to help those with disadvantaged backgrounds. It was probably around 1965 that “Mr. Dynamite” was added to his quickly growing stock of aliases.

James Brown established musical terms such as “the groove” or “bridge” while leading his band like an orchestra in the late sixties. This is also seen as an expression of Afro-Carribean and native roots in his music, “working that rhythm” and giving traditional black music a worldwide stage. This achievement marks a step without which disco, funk, house, hip-hop and, yes, popular electronic music, would not be the same today.

Being aware of his roots and the social injustice of America in the late sixties, he bcame a figurehead of the civil rights movement along with Rev. Al Sharpton, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Angela Davis, and he played numerous benefit gigs for the Black Panther Party and Jesse Jackson’s P.U.S.H organization.

James Brown was furthering the black cause with songs such as “Say It Loud, I’m Black And I’m Proud”, while also inadvertantly writing music history by releasing the most sampled track in history “Funky Drummer”, which became one of the founding breakbeats for a politically motivated movement known as hip-hop 20 years later.

A man of principal, he was politically active. He supported Nixon’s presidency in the early seventies but had a change of heart, brought on predominantly by public disapproval, refusing to play for NIxon at the White House after his inauguration as President in 1972. The title of the “Soul Brother Number One” was also used to describe James Brown during this time.

The early seventies also set the scene for some his best work, furthering funk music around the principle of keeping the rhythm on “the one”, which created an environment of deep understanding between the many band members.

The title “First Minister of the New-Super-Heavy Funk” was an apt way of describing the man at the time, especially as his band of the early and mid-seventies included such epic musicians as Bootsy Collins on bass, Fred Wesley as musical director and trombone and the ever consistent Johnny Griggs on congas.

People Records had been founded in 1971 and was setting new standards in the musical, world selling millions of copies of the finest funk records, performing sell-out shows in top theaters, scoring music for blockbuster movies, and championing a roster of artists which included Lyn Collins, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, and Vicky Anderson. It was all being run by “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business.”

The only thing capable of stopping this tour-de-force seemed to be the immense popularity and success of the band itself, which left James Brown for seemingly freer and more creative realms at the end of the 70′s, and left the man more and more isolated (especially in the face of the stupidly monotonous and senseless musical beast heading his way known as DISCO!!!) Problems with the IRS, who took two of his personal Lear jets as a deposit for supposed withheld tax-payment, the conclusion of his recording contract with Polydor Records in 1981 and his second marriage break-up left him in fairly bad financial and private state by the start of the new decade.

After a brief period of quiet from the James Brown camp he emerged with a new band called the Soul Generals, a recording contract with the Scotti Brothers and with a cameo in the worldwide blockbuster movie “Blues Brothers” boosting his career once more and while also allowing him to “cross-over” to a more and more white audience and he was subsequently given the chance to perform in various other films.

His 1985 hit “Living in America” was one of his most commercial successes and helped firmly establish him as an American household name. The rap artists of the late 80s didn’t approve of hits like this but were certainly feeding on his catalogue of recorded work. I will say that overall his popularity steadily increased and in the year of his death he was still performing to crowds of 80,000 people and more! There should be no reason to resent the man as he always paid for his mistakes, but got himself back up on his feet. He paid his taxes. He supported his children. His dance moves inspired Michael Jackson. He continued what Little Richard had started – he put the funk into rock N roll! He was an inspiration to musicians and younger generations a like.

All in all there is no way to describe this man’s legacy to the world in mere words. You have got to feel his music, closely take into account his situation and try to see his 71 year long career in historic context. Even then a judgement of probably the most important musician to have ever lived still seems impossible. RIP.

Illustration by Tom McClean.