James Brown, The Legend

[Guest kkkkk]

May 3 1933 - December 25 2006

What a Christmas, and really unexpected too. He died on Monday morning.

Many singers of our generation cite him as their influence, and he really contributed massively to the sounds of today.

My fave James Brown song is 'The Payback'.

Yours?

From the NY Times

ATLANTA (AP) -- James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured ''Godfather of Soul,'' whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday, his agent said. He was 73.

Brown was hospitalized with pneumonia at Emory Crawford Long Hospital on Sunday and died around 1:45 a.m. Monday, said his agent, Frank Copsidas of Intrigue Music. Longtime friend Charles Bobbit was by his side, he said.

Copsidas said the cause of death was uncertain. ''We really don't know at this point what he died of,'' he said.

Along with Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and a handful of others, Brown was one of the major musical influences of the past 50 years. At least one generation idolized him, and sometimes openly copied him. His rapid-footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson among others. Songs such as David Bowie's ''Fame,'' Prince's ''Kiss,'' George Clinton's ''Atomic Dog'' and Sly and the Family Stone's ''Sing a Simple Song'' were clearly based on Brown's rhythms and vocal style.

If Brown's claim to the invention of soul can be challenged by fans of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, then his rights to the genres of rap, disco and funk are beyond question. He was to rhythm and dance music what Dylan was to lyrics: the unchallenged popular innovator.

''James presented obviously the best grooves,'' rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy once told The Associated Press. ''To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one's coming even close.''

His hit singles include such classics as ''Out of Sight,'' ''(Get Up I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine,'' ''I Got You (I Feel Good)'' and ''Say It Loud -- I'm Black and I'm Proud,'' a landmark 1968 statement of racial pride.

''I clearly remember we were calling ourselves colored, and after the song, we were calling ourselves black,'' Brown said in a 2003 Associated Press interview. ''The song showed even people to that day that lyrics and music and a song can change society.''

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 ''Living In America'' in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.) He was one of the initial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Presley, Chuck Berry and other founding fathers.

He triumphed despite an often unhappy personal life. Brown, who lived in Beech Island near the Georgia line, spent more than two years in a South Carolina prison for aggravated assault and failing to stop for a police officer. After his release on in 1991, Brown said he wanted to ''try to straighten out'' rock music.

From the 1950s, when Brown had his first R&B hit, ''Please, Please, Please'' in 1956, through the mid-1970s, Brown went on a frenzy of cross-country tours, concerts and new songs. He earned the nickname ''The Hardest Working Man in Show Business'' and often tried to prove it to his fans, said Jay Ross, his lawyer of 15 years.

Brown would routinely lose two or three pounds each time he performed and kept his furious concert schedule in his later years even as he fought prostate cancer, Ross said.

''He'd always give it his all to give his fans the type of show they expected,'' he said.

With his tight pants, shimmering feet, eye makeup and outrageous hair, Brown set the stage for younger stars such as Michael Jackson and Prince.

In 1986, he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And rap stars of recent years overwhelmingly have borrowed his lyrics with a digital technique called sampling.

Brown's work has been replayed by the Fat Boys, Ice-T, Public Enemy and a host of other rappers. ''The music out there is only as good as my last record,'' Brown joked in a 1989 interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

''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 told the AP in 2003.

Born in poverty in Barnwell, S.C., in 1933, he was abandoned as a 4-year-old to the care of relatives and friends and grew up on the streets of Augusta, Ga., in an ''ill-repute area,'' as he once called it. There he learned to wheel and deal.

''I wanted to be somebody,'' Brown said.

By the eighth grade in 1949, Brown had served 3 1/2 years in Alto Reform School near Toccoa, Ga., for breaking into cars.

While there, he met Bobby Byrd, whose family took Brown into their home. Byrd also took Brown into his group, the Gospel Starlighters. Soon they changed their name to the Famous Flames and their style to hard R&B.

In January 1956, King Records of Cincinnati signed the group, and four months later ''Please, Please, Please'' was in the R&B Top Ten.

Pete Allman, a radio personality in Las Vegas who had been friends with Brown for 15 years, credited Brown with jump-starting his career and motivating him personally and professionally.

[Guest dekadoggy]

Man where's the love from you soompi members?

I miss him already.

[Guest Leonard Crabs]

"High on God" indeed.

[Guest sleepyness]

Aww..R.I.P, he was truly a legend x_X;

[Guest gemini]

it's a damn shame. he's blessed the world with a lot of GOOD music. one of the most popular artists to sample from for breakbeats too.

sex machine

[Guest buuberry]

he is the grandfather of funk man!

i just found out last night. i feel awful. =( there goes a legend.

he will always be remembered.

[Guest Myss Blewm]

Whoa........I can't force myself to believe this. I never thought I'd ever see this at all.......he will definitely live on through his music though. RIP James Brown!!!!

[Guest sweet_hunny]

Aww the godfather of soul passed away? Man he was awesome and his songs are very enjoyable since they're classics.

[Guest knockblock]

Farewell James Brown. Rest in peace.

[Guest snowbunny*]

awwww it makes me sad knowing that a legend like that had passed away . may you rest in peace james brown.

[Guest uiyoltan]

RIP. Without James Brown, hip hop wouldn't be hip hop.

[Guest girl armageddon]

rip, james brown.

i'm at my mom's house. his house is pretty 30 minutes away. his public funeral was less than 30 minutes away and the private one for his family was pretty much up the road. at noon, news stations started airing coverage(and footage of the singer). his "home going celebration" as they called it, was at 1pm. lots of people showed up; al sharpton, jesse jackson, MC Hammer, Patti LaBelle, Usher, Don King, and even Michael Jackson. i wish i could have gone but i had nothing to wear and no ride. it was quite a spectacle to see. everyone was so happy when michael arrived. they started a lot of the "celebration" then.

my mom was crying. everyone was crying. al sharpton and jesse jackson were crying. it's a day no one will forget here. especially since in downtown augusta, they decorated the statue the town put in honor of him.

more than 8800 people showed up to his homegoing celebration.

just wanted to let everyone know that.