Brown is a color term, denoting a range of composite colors produced by a mixture of orange, red, rose, or yellow with black or gray. The term is from Old English brún, in origin for any dusky or dark shade of color. The Common Germanic adjective *brûnoz, *brûnâ meant both dark colors and a glistening or shining quality, whence burnish. The current meaning developed in Middle English from the 14th century.

The adjective is applied to naturally occurring colors, referring to animal fur, human hair, human skin pigmentation (tans), partially charred or carbonized fiber as in toasted bread and other foods, peat, withered leaves, etc.

In terms of the visible spectrum, "brown" refers to high wavelength (low frequency) hues, yellow, orange, or red, in combination with low luminance or saturation. Since brown may cover a wide range of the visible spectrum, composite adjectives are used such as red brown, yellowish brown, dark brown or light brown.

As a color of low intensity, brown is a tertiary color: a mix of the three subtractive primary colors is brown if the cyan content is low. Brown exists as a color perception only in the presence of a brighter color contrast: yellow, orange, red, or rose objects are still perceived as such if the general illumination level is low, despite reflecting the same amount of red or orange light as a brown object would in normal lighting conditions.

The first recorded use of brown as a color name in English was in 1000.

Variations of brown

Red-brown (web color "brown")

The web color called "brown" is displayed at right.

The historical and traditional name for this color is red-brown.

The color shown above at the top right at the head of this article (color #964B00) is the color normally and traditionally regarded as brown--a medium dark orange. Its h (hue) code is 30, which signifies a shade of orange. The color to the immediate right (color #A52A2A) that was chosen as the web color "brown"--a medium dark red—is the color traditionally called red-brown. That this color is a shade of red and not orange can be easily ascertained by inspecting its h (hue) code, which is 0, signifying a shade of red.

The first recorded use of red-brown as a color name in English was in 1682.

Dark brown

The color dark brown is displayed at right.

Pale brown

The color pale brown is displayed at right.

Brown in nature

Mammals

The brown rat or Norwegian rat (Rattus norvegicus) is one of the best known and most common rats.

The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America.

Brown in culture

;Animal Rights

The Brown Dog affair was a political controversy about vivisection that raged in Edwardian England from 1903 until 1910.

;Astronomy

The planet Jupiter has orange, red, and brown coloration in its clouds.

Astronomers have recently detected the existence of the long theorized formerly hypothetical but now known to be actual astronomical objects called brown dwarfs, which are intermediate in mass between a gas giant planet and a star.

;Business

is the color of the United Parcel Service (UPS) delivery company with their trademark brown trucks and uniforms; it was earlier the color of Pullman rail cars of the Pullman Company, and was adopted by UPS both because brown is easy to keep clean, and due to favorable associations of luxury that Pullman brown evoked. UPS has filed two trademarks on the color brown to prevent other shipping companies (and possibly other companies in general) from using the color if it creates "market confusion." In its advertising, UPS refers to itself as "Brown" ("What can Brown do for you?"). City Planning

Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where redevelopment for infill housing is complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations.

; Computing

Ubuntu is well known for its default brown color scheme. The exact shades have changed from release to release, with a general trend towards lighter colors and 'shiny' graphics.

; Cooking

Browning is a process to remove excess fat from meat by heating, as under a broiler or in a frying pan, until it turns brown.

Browning is also used to describe a range of chemical changes to food, desirable and undesirable. Examples of browning reactions include caramelization and the Maillard reaction (both generally desirable) and the process that leads to the undesirable browning of the flesh of cut apples, pears, potatoes, and the like.

;Ethnography

Brown is sometimes used to refer to brown people in general or sometimes more specifically to the darker skinned Indo-Aryan and Dravidian of South Asia.

The term brown or bronze may be used by mestizo or Amerindian Hispanics to describe themselves.

Austronesians in the 19th century and 20th century were often referred to as the Malayan race or brown race. (A term for Austronesians often used today is Maritime Asian.)

In her 1942 Glossary of Harlem Slang, Zora Neale Hurston placed "high yaller" at the beginning of the entry for her African American colorscale, which ran:

;Food

Chocolate is often associated with the color brown.

Brownies are a favorite dessert.

Boston brown bread is a popular bread made with molasses that is often sold in cans.

In Japanese language, brown is described as , which means "tea color", meaning the color of the raw tea leaves used to make red tea, although green tea is the most popular tea in Japan.

;Games

In the billiard game of Snooker the 4-point snooker ball is brown.

;Movies

Four shades of brown is the title of a Swedish film from 2004

;Music

Little Brown Jug is a drinking song written in 1869 by Joseph Winner.

Brown Sugar is one of the most popular songs by the Rolling Stones (Album: Sticky Fingers).

The song "Brown Eyed Girl" is by Van Morrison (Album: Blowin' Your Mind!).

The song "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" is by the artist Primus (Album: Tales from the Punchbowl).

Golden Brown is a popular song about heroin by The Stranglers.

;Nature

Many soils are brown.

Many kinds of wood and the bark of many trees are brown.

Feces are usually brown due to the presence of bilirubin, a pigment produced as a breakdown product of the porphyrin pigment hemoglobin in blood.

A large number of mammals and predatory birds have a brown coloration. This sometimes changes seasonally, and sometimes remains the same year-round. This color is likely related to camouflage, since the backdrop of some environments, such as the forest floor, is often brown, and especially in the spring and summertime when animals like the Snowshoe Hare get brown fur.

;Parapsychology

It is said that people who have brown auras are often unethical businessmen who are in business purely for the sake of greed, or people who are just generally greedy and avaricious.

;Politics

In the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, the Nazi paramilitary organization the Sturmabteilung (SA) wore brown uniforms and were known as the brownshirts. It was often said of members of the SA that they were like a beefsteak--"brown on the outside, and red on the inside"--because many of them were former Communists. The color brown was used to represent the Nazi vote on maps of electoral districts in Germany. If someone voted for the Nazis, they were said to be "voting brown". The national headquarters of the Nazi party, in Munich, was called the Brown House. The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 was called the Brown Revolution. At Adolf Hitler's Obersalzberg home, the Berghof, he slept in a "bed which was usually covered by a brown quilt embroidered with a huge swastika. The swastika also appeared on Hitler's brown satin pajamas, embroidered in black against a red background on the pocket. He had a matching brown silk robe."

;Sexuality

In the bandana code of the gay leather subculture, wearing a brown bandana means that one is into the sexual fetish of scat.

;Sports

Brown is sometimes used as a team color or name, as in the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League, which got its name from its founder and long-time coach, Paul Brown, but also uses brown as a team color. The St. Louis Browns are a former Major League Baseball team, now known as the Baltimore Orioles; they do not use brown as a team color. For about 25 years, the San Diego Padres had brown as a primary team color.

;Television

In the TV show Firefly, a browncoat refers to a person who fought against the Anglo-Sino Alliance.

See also

List of colors

References

Category:Shades of brown Category:Shades of orange

af:Bruin ang:Brūn ar:بني (لون) ast:Marrón ay:P'aqu az:Qəhvəyi be:Карычневы колер bs:Smeđa bg:Кафяв цвят ca:Marró cs:Hnědá da:Brun pdc:Brau de:Braun myv:Тюжа es:Marrón eo:Bruna eu:Arre (kolorea) fa:قهوه‌ای fr:Brun (couleur) gl:Marrón ko:갈색 hr:Smeđa id:Cokelat (warna) it:Marrone he:חום (צבע) jv:Soklat lbe:Михак рангсса la:Aquilus lt:Ruda mk:Кафеава боја mt:Kannella (kulur) ms:Warna perang mdf:Тарав nl:Bruin ja:茶色 ce:Боьмаша no:Brun nn:Brun oc:Marron pnb:گندمی pl:Barwa brązowa pt:Marrom qu:P'aqu ru:Коричневый цвет sa:कपिलः sco:Broun simple:Brown fi:Ruskea sv:Brun tl:Kayumanggi th:สีน้ำตาล tr:Kahverengi uk:Коричневий колір ug:قوڭۇر رەڭلىك vi:Nâu yi:ברוין zh-yue:啡色 zh:褐色

Background	solo_singer
Birth name	James Joseph Brown, Jr.
Birth date	May 03, 1933
Birth place	Barnwell, South Carolina, U.S.
Origin	Augusta, Georgia, United States
Death date	December 25, 2006
Death place	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Genre	Rhythm and blues, funk, soul
Occupation	Singer, musician, songwriter, dancer, bandleader, record producer
Instrument	Vocal, guitar, harmonica, bass, keyboards, drums, percussion instruments
Years active	1956–2006
Label	Federal, King, Try Me, Smash, People, Polydor, Scotti Bros., Dade Records
Associated acts	The Famous Flames, The J.B.'s, Bobby Byrd , The Soul Generals, Lyn Collins
Website	}}

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. Eventually referred to as "The Godfather of Soul", Brown started singing in gospel groups and worked his way on up. He has been recognized as one of the most iconic figures in the 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing. He was also called "The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business" and "Mr. Dynamite". He was also noted as the lead singer of the famed Rhythm & Blues vocal group, The Famous Flames.

Early life

James Brown was born in Barnwell, South Carolina on May 3, 1933 to Susie Brown and Joseph ("Joe") Gardner (who changed his surname to Brown after Mattie Brown who raised him). Although Brown was to be named after his father Joseph, his first and middle names were mistakenly reversed on his birth certificate. He therefore became James Joseph Brown, Jr. As a young child, Brown was called Junior. When he later lived with his aunt and cousin, he was called Little Junior since his cousin's nickname was also Junior. He was of African American, Native American (Apache), through his father, and had Asian ancestry.

As a young child, the family lived in extreme poverty in nearby Elko, South Carolina, which at the time was an impoverished town in Barnwell County. When Brown was two years old, his parents separated after his mother left his father for another man. After his mother abandoned the family, Brown continued to live with his father and his father's live-in girlfriends until he was six years old. After that time, Brown and his father moved to Augusta, Georgia.

His father sent him to live with an aunt, who ran a house of prostitution. Even though Brown lived with relatives, he spent long stretches of time on his own, hanging out on the streets and hustling to get by. Brown managed to stay in school until he dropped out in the seventh grade.

During his childhood, Brown earned money shining shoes, sweeping out stores, selling and trading in old stamps, washing cars and dishes and singing in talent contests. Brown also performed buck dances for change to entertain troops from Camp Gordon at the start of World War II as their convoys traveled over a canal bridge near his aunt's home. Between earning money from these adventures, Brown taught himself to play a harmonica given to him by his father. He learned to play some guitar from Tampa Red, in addition to learning to play piano and drums from others he met during this time. Brown was inspired to become an entertainer after watching Louis Jordan, a popular jazz and R&B; performer during the 1940s, and Jordan's Tympany Five performing "Caldonia" in a short film.

As an adult, Brown legally changed his name to remove the "Jr." designation. In his spare time, Brown spent time practicing his various skills in Augusta-area stalls and committing petty crimes. At the age of sixteen, he was convicted of armed robbery and sent to a juvenile detention center upstate in Toccoa in 1949.

In 1952, while Brown was still in reform school, he met future R&B; legend Bobby Byrd, who was there playing baseball against the reform school team. Byrd saw Brown perform there and admired his singing and performing talent. As a result of this friendship, Byrd's family helped Brown secure an early release after serving three years of his sentence. The authorities agreed to release Brown on the condition that he would get a job and not return to Augusta or Richmond County. After stints as a boxer and baseball pitcher in semi-professional baseball (a career move ended by a leg injury), Brown turned his energy toward music.

Career

Brown's career spanned decades, and profoundly influenced the development of many different musical genres. Brown moves on a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly Africanised approach to music making. Brown performed in concerts, first making his rounds across the "chitlin' circuit", and then across the country and later around the world, along with appearing in shows on television and in movies. Although he contributed much to the music world through his hitmaking, Brown holds the record as the artist who charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting number one on that chart.

1955: The Famous Flames

In 1955, Brown and Bobby Byrd's sister Sarah performed in a group called "The Gospel Starlighters". Eventually, Brown joined Bobby Byrd's vocal group, the Avons, and Byrd turned the group's sound towards secular rhythm and blues. After the group's name was changed to The Flames, Brown and Byrd's group toured the Southern "chitlin' circuit". The group eventually signed a deal with the Cincinnati, Ohio-based label Federal Records, a sister label of King Records. Brown's early recordings were fairly straightforward gospel-inspired R&B; compositions, heavily influenced by the work of contemporary musicians such as Ray Charles, Little Willie John, Clyde McPhatter and Little Richard.

Little Richard's relations with Brown were particularly significant in Brown's development as a musician and showman. Brown once called Richard his idol, and credited Richard's saxophone-studded mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters, with being the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat. Etta James recalled her first meeting with James Brown, in Macon, Georgia, where Brown had befriended Little Richard. She said Brown "used to carry around an old tattered napkin with him, because Little Richard had written the words, 'please, please, please' on it and James was determined to make a song out of it...". The resulting track "Please, Please, Please" ended up becoming The Flames first R&B; hit in 1956, selling over a million copies. However, nine subsequent singles released by The Flames failed to live up to the success of their debut, and the group was in danger of being dropped by Federal Records. When Little Richard left pop music in October 1957 to become a preacher, Brown filled out Little Richard's remaining tour dates in his place. Further, several former members of Little Richard's backup band joined Brown's group after Richard's exit from the pop music scene. Brown's group returned to the charts, hitting #1 R&B; in February 1959 with "Try Me". This hit record was the best-selling R&B; single of the year, becoming the first of 17 chart-topping R&B; singles by Brown over the next two decades. By the time "Try Me" was released on record, the group's billing was changed to James Brown and The Famous Flames. "The Famous Flames" was a vocal group, not a backing band.

In 1959, Brown and The Famous Flames moved from the Federal Records subsidiary to King Records, the parent label. Brown began to have recurring conflicts with King Records president Syd Nathan over repertoire and other matters. In one notable instance, Brown recorded the 1960 Top Ten R&B; hit "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" on Dade Records, owned by Henry Stone, under the pseudonym "Nat Kendrick & The Swans" because Nathan refused to allow him to record it for King.

Early and mid-1960s

In 1962, the singer Tammi Terrell came to the attention of James Brown and the seventeen-year-old found herself in Brown's popular Revue becoming one of Brown's first female headliners. In 1963, Terrell recorded for Brown's Try Me Records, releasing the ballad, "I Cried", which gave her some chart success. Terrell and Brown also had a personal relationship, which was hampered by Brown's physical abuse towards her. After a horrific incident backstage after a show, Terrell asked singer Gene Chandler (the "Duke of Earl", who witnessed the incident first hand) to take her to the bus station so she could go home. He later called her mother to come pick her up. This ended Terrell's two-year relationship with Brown. Brown scored on the charts in the early 1960s with recordings such as his 1962 cover of "Night Train". While Brown's early singles were major hits across the southern United States and then regular R&B; Top Ten hits, he and the Famous Flames were not successful nationally until his self-financed live show was captured on the 1963 LP Live at the Apollo. Brown financed the recording of the album himself, and it was released on King Records over the objections of label owner Syd Nathan, who saw no commercial potential in a live album containing no new songs. Defying Nathan's expectations, the album stayed on the pop charts for fourteen months, peaking at #2. In addition, Brown recorded a hit version of the ballad "Prisoner of Love", (his first Top 20 pop hit), in 1963 and founded (under King auspices) the fledgling Try Me Records, Brown's first attempt at running a record label.

Brown followed the success of Live at the Apollo with a string of singles that, along with the work of Allen Toussaint in New Orleans, essentially defined the foundation of Funk music. Driven by the success of Live at the Apollo and the failure of King Records to expand record promotion beyond the "black" market, James Brown and fellow Famous Flame Bobby Byrd formed a production company, Fair Deal, to promote sales of Brown's record releases to white audiences. In this arrangement, Smash Records, a subsidiary of Mercury Records, was used as a vehicle to distribute Brown's music. Smash released his 1964 hit "Out of Sight", which reached #24 on the pop charts and pointed the way to his later funk hits. Its release also triggered a legal battle between Smash and King that resulted in a one year ban on the release of Brown's vocal recordings.

During the mid-1960s, two of Brown's signature tunes "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)", both from 1965, were his first Top 10 pop hits, as well as major #1 R&B; hits, with each remaining the top-selling singles in black venues for over a month. In 1966, Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" won the Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording (an award last given in 1968). Brown's national profile was boosted further that year by appearances in the movie Ski Party and the concert film The T.A.M.I. Show, in which he and The Famous Flames (Bobby Byrd, Bobby Bennett and "Baby Lloyd" Stallworth) upstaged The Rolling Stones. In his concert repertoire and on record, Brown mingled his innovative rhythmic essays with Broadway show tunes and ballads, such as his hit "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (1966).

Late 1960s

As the 1960s decade neared its end, Brown continued to refine the new funk idiom. Brown's 1967 #1 R&B; hit, "Cold Sweat", sometimes cited as the first true funk song, was the first of his recordings to contain a drum break and the first that featured a harmony that was reduced to a single chord. The instrumental arrangements on tracks such as "Give It Up Or Turnit 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.

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". At the time it was mentioned "Brown has also branched out into real estate and music publishing in recent months".

Brown's recordings influenced musicians across the industry, most notably Sly and his Family Stone, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s and soul shouters like King Curtis, Edwin Starr, Temptations David Ruffin, and Dennis Edwards. A then-prepubescent Michael Jackson took Brown's shouts and dancing into the pop mainstream as the lead singer of Motown's The Jackson 5. 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, with "Funky Drummer" itself becoming the most sampled individual piece of music.

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 singer and sideman Bobby Byrd, drummers John "Jabo" Starks, Clyde Stubblefield and Melvin Parker (Maceo's brother), saxophonist St. Clair Pinckney, trombonist Fred Wesley, guitarist Alphonso "Country" Kellum and bassist Bernard Odum.

During this period, Brown's music empire also 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 radio station WRDW in Augusta, Georgia where he shined shoes as a boy. Brown also branched out to make several recordings with musicians outside his own band. He recorded Gettin' Down To It (1969) and Soul on Top (1970), two albums consisting mostly of romantic ballads and jazz standards, with the Dee Felice Trio and the Louie Bellson Orchestra respectively. He recorded a number of tracks with the Dapps, a white Cincinnati bar band, including the hit "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)". He also released three albums of Christmas music with his own band.

1970s and the J.B.'s

By 1970, most members of James Brown's classic 1960s band had quit his act for other opportunities, and The Famous Flames singing group had disbanded, with original member Bobby Byrd the only one remaining with Brown. Brown and Byrd employed a new band that included future funk greats, such as bassist Bootsy Collins, Collins' guitarist brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins and trombonist and musical director Fred Wesley. This new backing band was dubbed "The J.B.'s", and the band made its debut on Brown's 1970 single "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine". Although The J.B.'s went through several lineup changes, with the first change occurring in 1971, the band remained Brown's most familiar backing band.

In 1971, Brown began recording for Polydor Records which also took over distribution of Brown's King Records catalog. Many of his sidemen and supporting players, such as Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s, Bobby Byrd, Lyn Collins, Vicki Anderson and Hank Ballard, released records on the People label, an imprint founded by Brown that was purchased by Polydor as part of Brown's new contract. The recordings on the People label, almost all of which were produced by Brown himself, exemplified his "house style". Songs such as "I Know You Got Soul" by Bobby Byrd, "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins and "Doing It to Death" by Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s are considered as much a part of Brown's recorded legacy as the recordings released under his own name.

In 1972, James Brown, when asked, openly proclaimed his support of Richard Nixon against the Democrat, George McGovern, and a nationwide boycott called by Black Democratic leaders damaged his status as the most successful Black entrepreneur in the country. Still, his popularity buoyed up his financial fortunes after a brief downturn, and he went on with his career, undaunted.

In 1973, Brown provided the score for the blaxploitation film Black Caesar. In 1974, he toured Africa and performed in Zaire as part of the buildup to the Rumble in the Jungle fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Admirers of Brown's music, including Miles Davis and other jazz musicians, began to cite Brown as a major influence on their own styles. However, Brown, like others who were influenced by his music, also "borrowed" from other musicians. His 1976 single "Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)" (R&B; #31) used the main riff from "Fame" by David Bowie, not the other way around as was often believed. The riff was provided to "Fame" co-writers John Lennon and Bowie by guitarist Carlos Alomar, who had briefly been a member of Brown's band in the late 1960s.

Brown's Polydor recordings during the 1970s exemplified his innovations from the previous twenty years. Compositions such as "The Payback" (1973), "Papa Don't Take No Mess", "Stoned to the Bone", and "Funky President (People It's Bad)" (1974), and "Get Up Offa That Thing" (1976) were among his most noted recordings during this time.

Late 1970s and 1980s

By the mid-1970s, Brown's star-status was on the wane, and key musicians in his band such as Fred Wesley and Bootsy left to join Parliament-Funkadelic, the collective conducted by George Clinton. The onslaught of the slickly commercial style of disco caught Brown off guard, as it superseded his raw style of funk music on the dance floor. His 1976 albums Get Up Offa That Thing and Bodyheat were Brown's first flirtations with disco rhythms and its slicker production techniques. While the albums Mutha's Nature (1977) and Jam 1980s (1978) did not generate chart hits, Brown's 1979 LP The Original Disco Man was a notable late addition to his oeuvre. This album featured the song "It's Too Funky in Here", which was his last top R&B; hit of the decade. Like the rest of the songs on The Original Disco Man, "It's Too Funky in Here" was not produced by Brown himself, but produced instead by Brad Shapiro.

Brown's contract with Polydor expired in 1981, and his recording and touring schedule was somewhat reduced. Despite these events, Brown experienced something of a resurgence during the 1980s, effectively crossing over to a broader, more mainstream audience. He appeared in the feature films The Blues Brothers, Doctor Detroit and Rocky IV, as well as guest starring in the Miami Vice episode "Missing Hours" (1988). He also recorded Gravity, a modestly popular crossover album released on his new host label Scotti Bros., and the 1986 top 10 hit single "Living in America" (written by Dan Hartman), which was featured prominently in 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 as "The Godfather of Soul." In 1987, Brown won the Grammy for Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance for "Living in America." Acknowledging his influence on modern hip-hop and R&B; music, Brown collaborated with hip-hop artist Afrika Bambaataa on the single "Unity."

In 1988, Brown worked with the production team Full Force on the hip-hop influenced album I'm Real, which spawned a #5 R&B; hit single, "Static". Meanwhile, the drum break from the second version of the original 1969 hit "Give It Up Or Turnit 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".

1990s to the 2000s

After a stint in prison during the late 1980s, Brown released the album Love Overdue, with the new single "Move On". Brown also released the 1991 four-CD box set Star Time, which included music spanning his four-decade career at that time. Nearly all of his earlier LPs were re-released on CD, often with additional tracks and commentary by experts on Brown's music. In 1991, Brown appeared in MC Hammer's video "Too Legit to Quit" (or "2 Legit 2 Quit"), someone Hammer idolized. In 1993, James Brown released the album Universal James, which spawned the singles "Can't Get Any Harder", "How Long" and "Georgia-Lina". In 1995, the live album Live at the Apollo 1995 was released, featuring the new studio track "Respect Me", which was released as a single that same year. Brown followed up this single with the megamix "Hooked on Brown" that was released as a single in 1996. Brown's later LP releases during this time included the 1998 studio album I'm Back that featured the single "Funk on ah Roll", and the 2002 album The Next Step that featured the single "Killing is Out, School is In," both produced and co-written by Derrick Monk. Brown participated in the PBS American Masters television documentary James Brown: Soul Survivor, which was directed by Jeremy Marre.

Although Brown had various run-ins with the law, he continued to perform and record regularly, and he also made appearances in television shows and films, such as Blues Brothers 2000, and sporting events, such as his 2000 appearance at the World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view event SuperBrawl X. In Brown's appearance at the SuperBrawl X event, he danced alongside wrestler Ernest "The Cat" Miller, whose character was based on Brown, during his in ring skit with The Maestro. Brown was featured in Tony Scott's 2001 short film, Beat the Devil, alongside Clive Owen, Gary Oldman, Danny Trejo and Marilyn Manson. Brown also made a cameo appearance in the 2002 Jackie Chan film The Tuxedo, in which Chan was required to finish Brown's act after Brown was accidentally knocked out by Chan. In 2002, Brown appeared in Undercover Brother, playing the role as himself.

Brown appeared at Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push, the final Live 8 concert on July 6, 2005, where he performed a duet with British pop star Will Young on "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag". He also performed a duet with another British pop star, Joss Stone, a week earlier on the United Kingdom chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Before his death, Brown was scheduled to perform a duet with singer Annie Lennox on the song "Vengeance" for her new album Venus, scheduled for release in early 2007. In 2006, Brown continued his "Seven Decades Of Funk World Tour", his last concert tour where he performed all over the world. His final U.S. performance was in San Francisco on August 20, 2006, as headliner at the Festival of the Golden Gate (Foggfest) on the Great Meadow at Fort Mason. His last shows were greeted with positive reviews, and one of his final concert appearances at the Irish Oxegen festival in Punchestown in 2006 was performed for a record crowd of 80,000 people. Brown's last televised appearance was at his induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame in November 2006, before his death the following month.

James Brown Revue

For many years, Brown's touring show was one of the most extravagant productions in American popular music. At the time of Brown's death, his band included three guitarists, two bass guitar players, two drummers, three horns and a percussionist. The bands that he maintained during the late 1960s and 1970s were of comparable size, and the bands also included a three-piece amplified string section that played during ballads. Brown employed between 40 and 50 people for the James Brown Revue, and members of the revue traveled with him in a bus to cities and towns all over the country, performing upwards of 330 shows a year with almost all of the shows as one-nighters.

Concert introduction

Before James Brown appeared on stage, his personal MC gave him an elaborate introduction accompanied by drumrolls, as the MC worked in Brown's various sobriquets along with the names of many of his hit songs. The introduction by Fats Gonder, captured on Brown's 1963 album Live at the Apollo album, is a representative example:

So now ladies and gentlemen it is star time, are you ready for star time? Thank you and thank you very kindly. It is indeed a great pleasure to present to you at this particular time, national and international[ly] known as the hardest working man in show business, the man that sings "I'll Go Crazy" ... "Try Me" ... "You've Got the Power" ... "Think" ... "If You Want Me" ... "I Don't Mind" ... "Bewildered" ...the million dollar seller, "Lost Someone" ... the very latest release, "Night Train" ... let's everybody "Shout and Shimmy" ... Mr. Dynamite, the amazing Mr. Please Please himself, the star of the show, James Brown and The Famous Flames!!

Among the MCs who worked with Brown and his revue through the years, Brown's most famous MC was Danny Ray, who appeared on stage with him for over 30 years.

Concert repertoire and format

James Brown's performances were famous for their intensity and length. His own stated goal was to "give people more than what they came for — make them tired, 'cause that's what they came for.'" Brown's concert repertoire consisted mostly of his own hits and recent songs, with a few R&B; covers mixed in. Brown danced vigorously as he sang, working popular dance steps such as the Mashed Potato into his routine along with dramatic leaps, splits and slides. In addition, his horn players and backup singers (The Famous Flames) typically performed choreographed dance routines, and later incarnations of the Revue included backup dancers. Male performers in the Revue were required to wear tuxedoes and cummerbunds long after more casual concert wear became the norm among the younger musical acts. Brown's own extravagant outfits and his elaborate processed hairdo completed the visual impression.

A James Brown concert typically included a performance by a featured vocalist, such as Vicki Anderson or Marva Whitney, and an instrumental feature for the band, which sometimes served as the opening act for the show. Although Brown released many live albums, Say It Live & Loud: Live in Dallas 08.26.68, released by Polydor in 1998, was one of only a few audio recordings that captured a performance of the James Brown Revue from beginning to end.

Cape routine

A trademark feature of Brown's stage shows, usually during the song "Please, Please, Please", involved Brown dropping to his knees while clutching the microphone stand in his hands, prompting the show's longtime MC, Danny Ray, to come out, drape a cape over Brown's shoulders and escort him off the stage after he had worked himself to exhaustion during his performance. As Brown was escorted off the stage by the MC, Brown's vocal group, The Famous Flames, continued singing the background vocals "Please, please don't go-oh-oh". Brown would then shake off the cape and stagger back to the microphone to perform an encore. Brown's routine was inspired by a similar one used by the professional wrestler Gorgeous George.

Brown performs a version of the cape routine over the closing credits of the film Blues Brothers 2000.

As band leader

Brown demanded extreme discipline, perfection and precision from his musicians and dancers — right down to when performers in his Revue showed up for rehearsals all the way to whether members wore the right "uniform" or "costume" for concert performances. During an interview conducted by Terri Gross during the NPR segment "Fresh Air" with Maceo Parker, a former saxophonist in Brown's band for most of the 1960s and part of the 1970s and 1980s, Parker offered his experience with the discipline that Brown demanded of the band:

Brown also had a practice of directing, correcting and assessing fines on members of his band who broke his rules, such as wearing unshined shoes, dancing out of sync or showing up late on stage. During some of his concert performances, Brown danced in front of his band with his back to the audience as he slid across the floor, flashing hand signals and splaying his pulsating fingers to the beat of the music. Although audiences thought Brown's dance routine was part of his act, this practice was actually his way of pointing to the offending member of his troupe who played or sang the wrong note or committed some other infraction. Brown used his splayed fingers and hand signals to alert the offending person of the fine that person must pay to him for breaking his rules.

Social activism

Civil unrest and self-empowerment

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, James Brown was renowned for his social activism. In 1966, he released the single "Don't Be a Drop-Out" as a lesson to young students who had thoughts of dropping out. He later made public speeches in front of dozens of children and advocated the importance of education in school. In 1967, he issued a patriotic single, "America is My Home", which was a "rap" about how he felt people, particularly in the African-American community, were neglecting the country that he said "could give (them) opportunities" explaining how at one time he was shining shoes and the next, he was greeting the President of the United States as he did when President Lyndon B. Johnson thanked him for donating money to school drop-out prevention programs.

In 1968 after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Brown released "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" following pressure from fans to take a stance on the civil rights movement, an issue he had avoided up until this point. It became an anthem of the civil rights movement. Brown later said of it in his 1986 autobiography “The song is obsolete now... But it was necessary to teach pride then, and I think the song did a lot of good for a lot of people... People called "Black and Proud" militant and angry - maybe because of the line about dying on your feet instead of living on your knees. But really, if you listen to it, it sounds like a children's song. That's why I had children in it, so children who heard it could grow up feeling pride... The song cost me a lot of my crossover audience. The racial makeup at my concerts was mostly black after that. I don't regret it, though, even if it was misunderstood.”

He performed in front of a televised audience in Boston the day after Dr. King's death. Brown is often given credit for preventing rioting with the performance. Mayor Kevin White strongly restrained the Boston Police from cracking down on minor violence and protests after the assassination, and Boston religious and community leaders worked to keep tempers from flaring. Also, White arranged to have the Brown performance broadcast multiple times on Boston's public television station, WGBH, thus keeping many potential rioters off the streets, watching the concert for free. Brown demanded $60,000 for "gate" fees (money he thought would be lost from ticket sales on account of the concert being broadcast for free), and then threatened to go public about the secret arrangement when the city balked at paying up after the concert, news of which would have been a political death-blow to White, and possibly sparked riots on its own. White successfully lobbied the behind-the-scenes power-brokering group known as "The Vault" to come up with money for Brown's gate fee and other social programs; The Vault contributed $100,000 to such programs, and Brown received $15,000 from them via the city. White persuaded management at the Boston Garden to give up their share of receipts to make up the difference. The story is documented in the PBS film "The Night James Brown Saved Boston".

Afterwards, President Johnson urged Brown to visit Washington, D.C. to greet inner-city residents there performing at a benefit concert there and expressed the notion that violence "wasn't the way to go". Many in the black community felt that Brown was speaking out to them more than some major leaders in the country, a sentiment that was strengthened with the release of his groundbreaking landmark single, "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud".

Brown continued performing benefit concerts for various civil rights organizations including Jesse Jackson's PUSH and The Black Panther Party's Breakfast program throughout the early-1970s. Brown also continued to release socially conscious singles such as "I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I'll Get It Myself)" (1969), "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" (1971), "Talking Loud and Saying Nothing" (1972), "King Heroin" (1972), "Funky President (People It's Bad)" (1974) and "Reality" (1975). The week before his death, Brown took time to give Christmas presents to an orphanage in Atlanta.

Personal life

At the end of his life, James Brown lived in a riverfront home in Beech Island, South Carolina, directly across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia. James Brown was diagnosed with diabetes at a very early stage of his life. Brown was once diagnosed with prostate cancer, which was successfully treated with surgery. Regardless of his health, Brown maintained his reputation as the "hardest working man in show business" by keeping up with his grueling performance schedule. However, James Brown led as colorful a life on stage with his performances, as he had off stage with his troubles with the law and his last marriage in particular.

Marriages and children

Brown was married three times — Velma Warren (1953–1969, divorced), Deidre "Deedee" Jenkins (22 October 1970–10 January 1981, divorced) and Adrienne Lois Rodriguez (born 9 March 1950) (1984–1996, wife's death). He also had a relationship with Tomi Rae Hynie (2001–2004). From these and other relationships, James Brown had five sons — Teddy Brown (1954–1973), Terry Brown, and Larry Brown, Daryl Brown (a member of Brown's backing band) and James Joseph Brown II, in addition to four daughters — Lisa Brown, Dr. Yamma Noyola Brown Lumar, Deanna Brown Thomas and Venisha Brown. Brown also had eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Brown's eldest son, Teddy, died in a car crash on 14 June 1973. According to a 22 August 2007 article published in the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, DNA tests indicate that Brown also fathered at least three illegitimate children. The only one of them who has been identified is LaRhonda Pettit (born 1962), a retired air stewardess and teacher who lives in Houston.

JB Skate Culture

There is a rollerskating art form called JB created and dedicated to James Brown in Chicago, Illinois. It is a culture that has grown over three decades that has a distinct style that is recognized by specific moves, tempo, and attitude. The music is created by local Chicago musical producers who personally love James Brown and his music, many of them roller skate themselves. The music starts with taking samples of original James Brown songs and then the producer puts his or her creative spin on it.

Brown-Hynie marriage controversy

Much controversy surrounds Tomi Rae Hynie's marriage to James Brown on December 23, 2002, officiated by Rev. Larry Fryer. Brown's longtime attorney, Albert "Buddy" Dallas, reported that the marriage between Brown and Hynie was not valid because Hynie was married at that time to Javed Ahmed, a Bangladeshi whom Hynie claimed married her for a Green Card in an immigration fraud. Although Hynie stated that her marriage to Javed Ahmed was later annulled, this annulment did not occur until April 2004. In an interview on CNN with Larry King, Hynie produced a 2001 marriage certificate as proof of her marriage to James Brown, but she did not provide King with court records pointing to an annulment of her marriage to him or to Ahmed.

According to Dallas, Brown was angry and hurt that Hynie concealed her prior marriage from him, and that Brown moved to file for annulment from Hynie. Dallas added that, although Hynie's marriage to Javed Ahmed was annulled after she married James Brown, the Brown-Hynie marriage was not valid under South Carolina law because Brown and Hynie did not remarry after the annulment. In August 2003, Brown took out a full-page public notice in Variety Magazine featuring Hynie, James II and himself on vacation at Disney World to announce that he and Hynie were going their separate ways.

Paternity of James Brown II

In a separate CNN interview, Debra Opri, another Brown family attorney, revealed to Larry King that Brown wanted a DNA test performed after his death to confirm the paternity of James Brown II — not for Brown's sake, but for the sake of the other family members. In April 2007, Hynie selected a guardian ad litem whom she wants appointed by the court to represent her son, James Brown II, in the paternity proceedings.

Legal issues

Brown's personal life was marred by several brushes with the law:

At the age of 16, he was arrested for theft and served 3 years in prison.

In 1988, Brown was arrested following an alleged high-speed car chase on Interstate 20 along 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 in 1991 after serving only three 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.

In another incident, the police were summoned to Brown's residence on July 3, 2000 after he was accused of charging an electric company repairman with a steak knife when the repairman visited Brown's house to investigate a complaint about having no lights at the residence.

In 2003, Brown was pardoned by the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services for past crimes that he was convicted of committing in South Carolina.

During the 1990s and 2000s, Brown was repeatedly arrested for domestic violence:

Adrienne Rodriguez, his third wife, had him arrested four times between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s 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.

In January 2005, a woman named Jacque Hollander filed a lawsuit against James Brown, which stemmed from an alleged 1988 forcible rape. When the case was initially heard before a judge in 2002, Hollander's claims against Brown were dismissed by the court as the limitations period for filing the suit had expired. Hollander claimed that stress from the alleged assault later caused her to contract Graves' Disease, a thyroid condition. Hollander claimed that the incident took place in South Carolina while she was employed by Brown as a publicist. Hollander alleged that, during her ride in a van with Brown, Brown pulled over to the side of the road and sexually assaulted her while he threatened her with a shotgun. In her case against Brown, Hollander entered as evidence a DNA sample and a polygraph result, but the evidence was not considered due to the limitations defense. Hollander later attempted to bring her case before the Supreme Court but nothing became of her complaint.

Death and aftermath

Death

On December 23, 2006, James Brown, in ill health, showed up 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 in Atlanta, Georgia on December 24, 2006 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 been sick and suffering with a noisy cough since he returned from a November trip to Europe. Bobbit also added that it was characteristic of Brown to never tell or complain to anyone that he was sick, and that Brown frequently performed during illness. Although Brown had to cancel upcoming shows in Waterbury, Connecticut and Englewood, New Jersey, Brown 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 hospitalized, and his medical condition worsened throughout that day.

On December 25, 2006, Brown died at approximately 1:45 AM EST (06:45 UTC) from congestive heart failure resulting from complications of pneumonia, with his agent Frank Copsidas and his friend Paul Sargent at his bedside. According to Sargent, Brown stuttered "I'm going away tonight", and then Brown took three long, quiet breaths and fell asleep before dying.

Memorial services

After Brown's death on Christmas day, 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, 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, nachos and pretzels were served to mourners, as 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 services.

Last will and testament

James Brown signed his last will and testament on August 1, 2000, before Strom Thurmond, Jr., an attorney for Brown's estate. The irrevocable trust, separate and apart from Brown's will, was created on Brown's behalf in 2000 by his attorney, Albert "Buddy" Dallas, who was named as one of three personal representatives of Brown's estate. Brown's will covered the disposition of his personal assets, such as clothing, cars and jewelry, while Brown's irrevocable trust covered the disposition of music rights, business assets of James Brown Enterprises and Brown's Beech Island estate in South Carolina.

During the reading of Brown's will on January 11, 2007, Thurmond revealed that Brown's six adult living children (Terry Brown, Larry Brown, Daryl Brown, Yamma Brown Lumar, Deanna Brown Thomas and Venisha Brown) were named in the will. Hynie and James II were not mentioned in the will as parties who could inherit Brown's property. Brown's will was signed ten months before James II was born and more than a year before Brown's marriage to Tomi Rae Hynie. Like Brown's will, his irrevocable trust also did not mention Hynie and James II as recipients of Brown's property. The irrevocable trust was established before, and had not been amended since, the birth of James II.

On January 24, 2007, Brown's children filed a lawsuit against the personal representatives of Brown's estate. In their petition, Brown's children asked the court to remove the personal representatives of Brown's estate (including Brown's attorney and estate's trustee, Albert "Buddy" Dallas) and appoint a special administrator because of perceived impropriety and alleged mismanagement of Brown's assets. To challenge the validity of the will and irrevocable trust, Hynie also filed a lawsuit against Brown's estate on January 31, 2007. In her lawsuit against Brown's estate, Hynie asked the court to recognize her as Brown's widow, and she also asked the court to appoint a special administrator for the estate.

Burial at temporary site

After the public and private memorial services in late December 2006, James Brown's body remained in his casket for a time in a temperature-controlled room at his estate. Brown's casket was later moved to an undisclosed location, while his children and Tomi Rae Hynie became embroiled in disputes about Brown's final resting place and matters related to probating his will. More than ten weeks after Brown's death and the public and private memorial services, Brown's children and Hynie decided on a temporary burial site for James Brown. Brown was buried on March 10, 2007 in a crypt at the home of Deanna Brown Thomas, one of Brown's daughters who also held a private ceremony for the temporary burial. The private ceremony for the temporary burial, officiated by Al Sharpton, was attended by Brown's family and a host of friends.

According to Brown's family, Brown's body will remain buried at the temporary site while a public mausoleum is built for him and a decision has been made for Brown's final resting place. To turn Brown's estate into a visitor attraction, Brown's family plans to consult with the family of Elvis Presley for guidance about converting the estate into an attraction similar to Graceland.

Dallas, Brown's long time attorney and one of the trustees for Brown's estate, did not attend the private service for the temporary burial. He expressed his disapproval and disappointment with the temporary burial arrangement with the comment "Mr. Brown's not deserving of anyone's backyard." According to Dallas, the trustees for Brown's estate "had made arrangements for Brown to be laid to rest at no cost at a 'very prominent memorial garden in Augusta.'"

Honors, awards and dedications

James Brown received a variety of awards and honors throughout his lifetime and after his death. At one city, fans voted to honor Brown by naming a bridge after the entertainer. In 1993, the City Council of Steamboat Springs, Colorado conducted a poll of its residents to choose a new name for the bridge that crossed the Yampa River on Shield Drive. The winning name with 7,717 votes was "James Brown SoulCenter of the Universe Bridge". The bridge was officially dedicated in September 1993, and James Brown appeared at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the event. Although a petition was started by a local group of ranchers to return the name of the bridge to "Stockbridge" for historical reasons, the ranchers backed off after citizens defeated their efforts because of the popularity of Brown's name. Brown returned to Steamboat Springs, Colorado on July 4, 2002 for an outdoor music festival, performing with other bands such as The String Cheese Incident.

During his long career, James Brown received several prestigious music industry awards and honors. In 1983, Brown was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. In addition, Brown was named as one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction dinner in New York on January 23, 1986. However, the members of his original vocal group, The Famous Flames, Bobby Byrd, Johnny Terry, Bobby Bennett, and Lloyd Stallworth, were not. On February 25, 1992, Brown was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th annual Grammy Awards. Exactly a year later, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 4th annual Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards. A ceremony was held for Brown on January 10, 1997 to honor him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On June 15, 2000, Brown was honored as an inductee for the New York Songwriters Hall of Fame. On August 6, 2002, James Brown was honored as the first BMI Urban Icon at the BMI Urban Awards. His BMI accolades include an impressive ten R&B; Awards and six Pop Awards. On November 14, 2006, Brown was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, and he was one of several inductees who performed at the ceremony. In recognition of his accomplishments as an entertainer, Brown was a recipient of Kennedy Center Honors on December 7, 2003. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked James Brown as #7 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In an article for Rolling Stone, critic Robert Christgau cited Brown as "the greatest musician of the rock era".

Brown was also honored in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia for his philanthropy and civic activities. On November 20, 1993, Mayor Charles DeVaney of Augusta held a ceremony to dedicate a section of 9th Street between Broad and Twiggs Streets, renamed "James Brown Boulevard", in the entertainer's honor. On May 6, 2005, as a 72nd birthday present for Brown, the city of Augusta unveiled a life-sized bronze James Brown statue on Broad Street. The statue was to have been dedicated a year earlier, but the ceremony was put on hold because of a domestic abuse charge that Brown faced at the time. In 2005, Charles "Champ" Walker and the We Feel Good Committee went before the County commission and received apporoval to change Augusta's slogan to "We Feel Good". Afterwards, Official renamed the city's civic center the James Brown Arena, and James Brown attended a ceremony for the unveiling of the namesake center on October 15, 2006.

On December 30, 2006, during the public memorial service at the James Brown Arena, Dr. Shirley A.R. Lewis, president of Paine College, a historically black college in Augusta, Georgia, bestowed posthumously upon Brown an honorary doctorate in recognition and honor of his many contributions to the school in its times of need. Brown was scheduled originally to receive the honorary doctorate from Paine College during its May 2007 commencement.

During the 49th Annual Grammy Awards presentation held on February 11, 2007, James Brown's famous cape was draped over a microphone at the end of a montage by Danny Ray (his M.C. for over 30 years), in honor of notable persons in the music industry, including Brown, who died during the previous year. Earlier that evening, Christina Aguilera delivered an impassioned performance of one of Brown's hits, "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" followed by a standing ovation, while Chris Brown performed a dance routine in honor of James Brown.

Tributes

As a tribute to James Brown, the Rolling Stones covered the song, "I'll Go Crazy" from Brown's Live at the Apollo album, during its 2007 European tour. On September 12, 2007, barely nine months after James Brown's death, Bobby Byrd, the original leader and founder of The Famous Flames vocal group along with Brown, died of cancer at 73 years old. Jimmy Page has remarked, "He [James Brown] was almost a musical genre in his own right and he changed and moved forward the whole time so people were able to learn from him."

On December 22, 2007, the first annual "Tribute Fit For the King of King Records" in honor of James Brown was held at the Madison Theater in Covington, Kentucky. The tribute, organized by Bootsy Collins, featured appearances by Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D of Public Enemy, The Soul Generals, Buckethead, Freekbass, Triage and many of Brown's surviving family members. Comedian Michael Coyer was the MC for the event. During the show, the mayor of Cincinnati proclaimed December 22 as James Brown Day. It has been said that a biopic is in the works about Brown; Spike Lee has signed on to direct, with Brian Grazer producing and Jez and John-Henry Butterworth writing the script. Usher and Fergie are interested in being in the project.

In 2008, Aaron Smith (aka Shwayze), an American rapper, titled the 8th track of his self-titled album "James Brown is Dead" as a tribute to the Godfather of Soul.

Discography

Notable albums

Four of James Brown's albums appeared on the Rolling Stone Magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time:

Live at the Apollo (1963) (#24)

In the Jungle Groove (1986) (#330)

Star Time (1991) (#79)

20 All-Time Greatest Hits! (1991) (#414)

In addition, Brown's 1970 double album Sex Machine was ranked 96th in a 2005 survey held by British television station Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. Other notable albums, originally released as double LP records, feature extensive playing by The J.B.'s and served as prolific sources of samples for later musical artists, including:

Get On the Good Foot (1972)

The Payback (1974)

Hell (1974)

The 1968 Live at the Apollo, Vol. II double LP album was notably influential on musicians at the time of its release. This classic album remains an example of Brown's energetic live performances and audience interaction, as well as providing a means of documenting the metamorphosis of his music from the R&B; and soul styles into hard funk.

Notable singles

Until the early 1970s, Brown was famous mostly for his road show and singles, rather than his albums (with his live LPs as a major exception). Six of his hit singles appeared on the Rolling Stone Magazine's 2004 list of the 500 greatest songs of all time:

"Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (1965) (#72)

"I Got You (I Feel Good)" (1965) (#78)

"It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (1966) (#123)

"Please, Please, Please" (1956) (#142)

"Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" (1968) (#305)

"Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" (1970) (#326)

Complete singles reissue

In 2006, Hip-O Select Records began a multi-volume reissue of James Brown's complete singles (both A-sides and B-sides) on CD. As of March 2011, ten volumes have been released, covering the periods 1956–1960, 1960–1963, 1964–1965, 1966–1967, 1967–1969, 1969–1970, 1970–1972, 1972–1973, 1973–1975 and 1975-1979. The liner notes included in the CD release of Volume Ten indicate that an eleventh volume is in the works.

Filmography

The T.A.M.I. Show (1964) (documentary)

Ski Party (1965)

The Phynx (1970)

Black Caesar (1973) (soundtrack only)

Slaughter's Big Ripoff (1974) (soundtrack only)

The Blues Brothers (1980)

Doctor Detroit (1983)

Rocky IV (1985)

When We Were Kings (1996) (documentary)

Soulmates (1997)

Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

portrayed by Carlton Smith in Liberty Heights (1999)

Holy Man (1998)

Undercover Brother (2002)

The Tuxedo (2002)

The Hire: Beat The Devil (2002) (short film)

Paper Chasers (2003) (documentary)

Sid Bernstein Presents... (2005) (documentary)

Glastonbury (2006) (documentary)

Life on the Road with Mr. and Mrs. Brown (2007) (documentary; release pending)

I Got The Feelin': James Brown in the '60s (three-DVD set featuring the film The Night James Brown Saved Boston, Live at the Boston Garden 1968 and Live at the Apollo '68

Soul Power (2009) (documentary)

In other media

Games

In the video game World of Warcraft, Bronjahm (the first boss character in the "Forge of Souls" level) contributes music to the game, refers to himself as "the Godfather of Souls", and accompanies each new music cue with a James Brown reference.

In The Godfather 2 video game, Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" plays behind the end credits.

A different version of "I Got You (I Feel Good)", recorded in 1974, is playable in the rhythm video game Rock Band 3. In addition, "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine (Pt. 1)" is available for download across the series, while "Super Bad (Pts. 1 & 2)" was released later, only for the third game.

References

; Footnotes

; Other references

Sussman, M. (producer). (2006, December 25). Arts: Soul classics by James Brown (multimedia presentation). The New York Times. Retrieved January 9, 2007.

Slide show: James Brown through the years. (2006, December 25). The New York Times. Retrieved January 9, 2007.

Lethem, J. (2006, June 12). Being James Brown. Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved January 14, 2007.

Rolling Stone Magazine audio interview with Jonathan Lethem about James Brown and his music. Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved January 9, 2007.

External links

Profile of James Brown at Soul Evolution

The Times Obituary for James Brown

James Brown, 1933-2006. News and multimedia archive from The Augusta Chronicle

James Brown's Musicians Reflect On His Legacy – article from Down Beat Magazine

Biography: James Brown and the Black Arts movement of the 60s and 70s (biography at Funky-Stuff.com).

James Brown biography and concert review in cosmopolis.ch

RBMA Radio On Demand – Across 135th Street – Volume 7 – Tribute to James Brown - Chairman Mao (RBMA, Egotrip)

1980 Interview with James Brown and the Rev. Al Sharpton by Jon Alpert on Democracy Now

James Brown concert and interviews on NPR Music

James Brown radiostream

James Brown funeral program Digital Library of Georgia

The James Brown SuperFan Club

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name	Kevin "K-Mac" McCall
background	solo_singer
birth name	Kevin McCall
birth date	July 25, 1985Watts, California,
origin	Watts, California
genre	Hip hop, R&B;, Pop
occupation	Singer, Songwriter, Producer
years active	2007–present
label	CBE, Universal Music Group
associated acts	Jason Derulo, Chris Brown, Tyga
website	Website - Kevin McCall }}

Kevin McCall (born July 25, 1985), better known as K-Mac, is an American singer, songwriter, producer, and rapper signed to Universal Music Group and CBE (Chris Brown Entertainment). He wrote on "Last Train to Paris", and was nominated with Chris Brown for Deuces on the 2011 Grammys.

Discography

;Mixtapes

Un-invited Guest (Hosted by DJ Ill Will feat. DJ Drama) (2011)

The EargaZm (Hosted by DJ Ill Will) (2011)

Production and writing credits

Title	Year	Album	Artist(s)
"Turn Up"			rowspan="2"
"Too Freaky"
"Shoes"
"Big Booty Judy"	K-Mac, Chris Brown
"Medusa"
"Back Out"
"Work Wit It"
"I Get Around"
"Twitter (Follow Me)"	Chris Brown, K-Mac
"T.Y.A."
"Sex"
"What They Want"
"Drop Top Girl"
! scope="row"
"Ballin'"
"Ain't Thinkin' 'Bout You" (with Boi-1da)
"Like A Virgin Again"		Chris Brown, Tyga
"Have It"	Chris Brown, Tyga, K-Mac
"Number One"	Chris Brown, K-Mac
"Make Love"
"No Bullshit"
"Deuces (Remix)"
"Ms. Breezy"		Chris Brown, Gucci Mane
"Shit Got Damn"	Chris Brown, Big Sean
"Talk that Shit"	Chris Brown
"My Girl Like Them Girls"	Chris Brown, J. Valentine
"Fuck Um All"	Chris Brown, K-Mac, Diesel
"Chrismas Came Today"	Chris Brown, SeVen of RichGirl
"Glitter"
"What U Doin"
"Drop Rap"	Chris Brown, Petey Pablo
"AWOL"
"Seen Her Naked"
"Last Time Together"
"Life Itself"	Chris Brown, K-Mac
"Sex Love"	Chris Brown, Lonny Bereal, SeVen
"Another You"	Chris Browm, K-Mac
"Boing"	Chris Brown
"Quits"	Chris Brown, K-Mac
"You Want Me"	Chris Brown, SeVen
"Put Your Hands in the Air"	Chris Brown
"Yesterday"	Last Train to Paris	Diddy-Dirty Money, Chris Brown
"One Night Stand"	No Boys Allowed	Keri Hilson, Chris Brown
"How Many Bars"			K-Mac
"Roll Up"	rowspan="1"	Wiz Khalifa
"Forgettable"		Yung MillzZ

As featured artist

Year	Song	Peak chart positions			Album
		!align="center" valign="top" width="40"	!align="center" valign="top" width="40"	!align="center" valign="top" width="40"
	align="left" valign="top"|"Deuces" (Chris Brown featuring Tyga & Kevin McCall)

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

2011, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: "Deuces" (nominated)

References

== External links ==

Category:Articles created via the Article Wizard Category:1985 births Category:Living people

fr:Kevin McCall pl:Kevin McCall ru:Мак-Колл, Кевин

name	Fat Joe
background	solo_singer
birth name	Joseph Antonio Cartagena
born	August 19, 1970New York City, New York, U.S.
alias
genre	Hip hop
occupation	Rapper
years active	1992–present
label	Terror Squad Entertainment, Relativity, Atlantic, Imperial, E1
associated acts	Big Punisher, Buju Banton, Busta Rhymes, D.I.T.C., R. Kelly, KRS-One, Lil Wayne, Raekwon, Rick Ross, Jadakiss, Terror Squad, Big L
website	www.myspace.com/fatjoe }}

Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper, CEO of Terror Squad Entertainment, and member of musical groups D.I.T.C. and Terror Squad.

Fat Joe's first album was Represent, released in 1993, followed by Jealous One's Envy in 1995. From 1998 to 2006, he was signed to Atlantic Records, releasing four albums under the label, Don Cartagena in 1998, Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) in 2001, Loyalty in 2002, and All or Nothing in 2005. Around the release of All or Nothing, Fat Joe became involved in a highly publicized feud with another New York City-based rapper 50 Cent, who attacked Fat Joe in his song "Piggy Bank". His most popular song in which he performed was his Remy Ma duet "Lean Back" with Terror Squad. The song was a number-one hit in the summer of 2004.

Starting in 2006, when his album Me, Myself, & I was released, Fat Joe was signed to Imperial Records, which distributes through Terror Squad Entertainment. His follow up album wasThe Elephant in the Room, which was released in 2008; Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2), the sequel to Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.), was released in October 2009. His tenth album The Darkside Vol. 1 was released on July 27, 2010.

Early life

Fat Joe was born on August 19, 1970 in the southern Bronx area of New York City, where he was raised by parents of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. He lived in public housing and began stealing at a young age to support his family. He also states that he was a bully in his childhood. His brother introduced him to rap music. As a teenager, he was highly influenced by fellow Latino rapper Big Pun. Fat Joe explained the rapper's influence on him by saying "Latinos before us who had the opportunity to do it just didn't know how to do it. They came in trying to do this black music, waving flags. [But] we're trying to kick in the doors for other Latinos and represent our people, and it shows."

Music career

1992 - 1995: Early years

Under stage name Fat Joe da Gangsta and part of the Diggin' in the Crates (D.I.T.C.) rap group, Cartagena was signed to Relativity Records in the early 1990s, recording material and working with many artists who he would later sign to his own label. In 1993, his debut album Represent was released, featuring production from The Beatnuts, Diamond D, Lord Finess, and others. Its lead single, "Flow Joe" peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart; other minor singles from the album included "Watch the Sound" and "This Shit is Real".

In 1995, Fat Joe released his second studio album, Jealous One's Envy, which peaked at #71 on The Billboard 200 and at #7 on Top R&B;/Hip Hop Albums. The album featured a guest appearance from KRS-One and production from Diamond D. The lead single was Success, which did not chart, but his second single, "Envy" peaked at #8 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. The success of this album led Fat Joe to be featured on the remix of LL Cool J's single I Shot Ya along with Foxy Brown, Keith Murray and Prodigy of Mobb Deep.

1998 - 2005: Signing to Atlantic Records, Terror Squad, feud with 50 Cent

Released in 1998, Don Cartagena was Joe's third album and his first for Atlantic Records. It peaked on The Billboard 200 at #7 and #2 on Top R&B;/Hip Hop albums, eventually being certified gold by the RIAA.

The album featured two hit singles "Bet Ya Man Can't Triz", and "Don Cartagena". Guest appearances included Nas, Diddy, Big Pun, Raekwon, Jadakiss, and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Within the album, Fat Joe debuted his own group Terror Squad that consisted of the late Big Pun, as well as Cuban Link, Triple Seis, Prospect, Armageddon and later Remy Ma. Joe himself acknowledged, in an interview with HipHopGame.com, that he has received criticism for releasing only one solo album by a former Terror Squad member, Remy Ma, as well as barely featuring original members Prospect and Armageddon on "True Story." Terror Squad singer Tony Sunshine has had possible album release dates pushed back over three years, and Joe had stated that artists Prospect and Armageddon have not released solo albums yet as the result of them being "really lazy". Former Terror Squad member Triple Seis also went on record when asked who had written Fat Joe's lyrics, stating that he and Pun were Joe's ghostwriters, and asserts that Joe continues to hire ghostwriters. In 1999, he appeared on Jennifer Lopez's single "Feelin' So Good" from her On the 6 album with late rapper Big Pun.

Fat Joe released his fourth album Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) in 2001, featuring production from the then-popular Irv Gotti. The album featured a star-studded line up from the likes of Ashanti , Ja Rule, N.O.R.E., Busta Rhymes, Petey Pablo, M.O.P., Ludacris, R. Kelly, Buju Banton, and artists from his Terror Squad label. The lead single "We Thuggin'" featuring R. Kelly was a big hit in late 2001, but would not reach the level of the Irv Gotti-produced "What's Luv?" which was a massive hit in early 2002 and featured The Inc. superstars Ja Rule and Ashanti. The album was Fat Joe's biggest hit as it was successful from its January release all the way into May, being certified platinum. However, Fat Joe's fifth album Loyalty, out in 2002 and featuring production from Irv Gotti, was not as successful.

In 2003, Fat Joe was featured in the pop single "I Want You" by Mexican singer Thalía. The same year, he and Tony Sunshine performed the single "Crush Tonight" from Loyalty on the Comedy Central program Chappelle's Show, hosted by comedian Dave Chappelle.

Despite the setback, Fat Joe scored a number-one hit in 2004 with his group Terror Squad, collaborating with Remy Ma on the Scott Storch production "Lean Back" from the album True Story . The song was criticized twice by conservative columnist L. Brent Bozell III for its extensive use of obscenity. However, Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic called the song "a perfect club-ready duet between Joe and Remy Ma that boasts a trademark Scott Storch beat and a memorable singalong hook and dance-along step".

Three years later, in 2005, Fat Joe released his sixth album All or Nothing, noted for featuring the popular diss track "My Fofo", aimed at fellow New York rapper 50 Cent, who had dissed Joe for recording with Ja Rule. All or Nothing spawned the singles "So Much More" and "Get It Poppin" featuring Nelly, also with guest appearances from Eminem, Mase, Remy Ma, Mashonda, and R. Kelly. Responding to "My Fofo", 50 Cent attacked Fat Joe in his song "Piggy Bank" from his 2005 album The Massacre. Fat Joe subsequently attacked 50's street credibility and called him a "coward" on a phone interview with Kay Slay of New York City hip-hop radio station WQHT. The conflict carried on at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, while Fat Joe introduced the reggaeton act featuring Daddy Yankee, Joe remarked, "I feel safe with all the police protection—courtesy of G-Unit." Shortly after, when MTV switched to a commercial break, 50 Cent directed an obscenity at Joe, and 50 Cent jumped on stage as Fat Joe was leaving.

2006 - 2008: Me, Myself & I, The Elephant in the Room, the 50 Cent feud continued, and more

Me, Myself & I, released in 2006, is Fat Joe's seventh album. It was his first album released on his new deal with Virgin Records. It featured the hit single "Make It Rain" with southern rapper Lil Wayne, followed by "No Drama (Clap and Revolve)". Fat Joe did a freestyle cipher segment for VH1's "Freestyle 59" competition in October 2006 prior to the VH1 Hip Hop Honors featuring New Jersey emcee Neuse.

In June 2007, the Reverend Michael Pfleger targeted Fat Joe as among several rappers he believed promoted misogyny in his billboard campaign "Stop Listening to Trash", which was launched June 18, 2007 throughout Chicago, Illinois, where Pfleger preaches. Also that month, Fat Joe was featured in the DJ Khaled singles "We Takin' Over" alongside Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Birdman, and Lil Wayne and the remix to Khaled's "I'm So Hood" with Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Ludacris, and Birdman. Verbal disputes between Fat Joe and 50 Cent continued during this time period: in September 2007, on the BET program Rap City, 50 Cent accused Fat Joe of being cowardly for not willing to confront him, but Fat Joe dismissed this claim as nonsense. Later in January, 50 Cent released another Fat Joe diss, called "Southside Nigga (I'm Leaving)". At the end of January 2008, Fat Joe and his longtime accountant Brian Dittrich both denied rumors spreading on the Internet that Fat Joe owed the IRS in taxes.

Fat Joe's eighth solo studio album The Elephant in the Room was distributed by Imperial Records, a division of Capitol Records and Terror Squad Entertainment, and released on March 11, 2008; its lead single was "I Won't Tell" featuring singer J. Holiday. The album debuted at the sixth position on the Billboard Hot 100. "Ain't Sayin' Nuthin'" followed and featured Plies.

On March 20, 2008, shortly after record sales were released for Fat Joe's new album The Elephant in the Room, 50 Cent released a video via his YouTube account, which features the "funeral" of Fat Joe, which shows 50 Cent crying in the fake footage. 50 Cent then talks about Fat Joe's record sales, and states that he ended Fat Joe's career (like he says he did to Ja Rule's) and that his mixtape blew out Fat Joe's album.

2009: Jealous Ones Still Envy 2

Fat Joe's ninth solo studio album is to be titled J.O.S.E. 2 and released towards the end of June 2009. The project reprises the title of Joe’s 2002 RIAA-Certified Platinum release, Jealous Ones Still Envy, and will mark Joe’s third release since bringing his Terror Squad imprint to the EMI family in 2006. For this album, Joe has reached out to many artists, landing assists from Ron Browz, Fabolous, Lil' Kim, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, and Akon. Producers include Jim Jonsin, The Inkredibles, and frequent collaborator StreetRunner. "One", featuring Akon, was the first single. The album was released on October 6, 2009 and sold 11,000 copies in its first week. It debuted on The Billboard 200 at #73.

2010: Signing to E1 Music and The Darkside

In January 2010, Fat Joe announced that he was working on a new album, The Darkside Vol. 1. MTV News reported that Fat Joe intended "all the material...to be much harsher" than his previous album. Production comes from The Alchemist, Cool & Dre, Streetrunner, DJ Premier, Scoop DeVille, Just Blaze, Scram Jones, Raw Uncut and DJ Infamous with guest appearances by Busta Rhymes, Trey Songz, Lil Wayne, R Kelly, Clipse, Cam'ron, Rico Love, Too $hort, TA and Young Jeezy. The first single from The Darkside Vol. 1 is "(Ha Ha) Slow Down," which features Young Jeezy. The second single off the album is "If It Ain't About Money" and features Trey Songz.

On March 28, 2010 Fat Joe signed a record deal with E1 Music. The Darkside Vol. 1 was released on July 27, 2010 and sold approximately 12,000 copies in the first week and entered the Billboard 200 at #27.

On August 6, 2010 Fat Joe was interviewed on MTV RapFix Live by Sway. Fat Joe announced in the interview that he plans to record 2 more volumes of The Darkside and then retire.

2011 - Present: Darkside Vol. 2 mixtape and new album

In an interview with XXL Magazine on September 21, 2011 Fat Joe stated Darkside Vol. 2 is going to be his first ever official mixtape and will feature the Mark Henry produced songs Massacre on Madison and Drop a Body both of which were released earlier in the year. Joe went on to say he is also working on an album which is yet to be named but the first single will be called Another Round produced by Cool and Dre and Young Lad and will feature Chris Brown

Personal life

Family

Fat Joe currently lives in Miami and is married with three children.

Community work

Fat Joe has been back to his old school in the Bronx, New York to donate computers for the students.

In 2008 He attended the grand opening of the Hip Hop Soda Shop in Miami which was community outreach project set up by Ben Chavis for the youth to hang out and do things such as record music, use the computers and play on Xbox 360s.

At a "School is Cool" assembly in Public School 5 in Jersey City, New Jersey on June 11, 2009, Fat Joe was a speaker.

Weight loss

By 1996, he weighed 300 pounds. In 2005, Stuff magazine and ContactMusic.com profiled Fat Joe's weight loss efforts.

In 2011, Fat Joe unveiled his latest weight loss efforts in the video for his song Drop a Body after shedding 88 pounds off his previous weight of 350 pounds. He has said although he loves to eat KFC, McDonald’s and other less healthy foods he had to stop due to losing several friends, including former Terror Squad member Big Pun to obesity and he wanted to stay alive to see his children grow up. He lost the weight without the help of supplements and fad diets by combining 2 hour cardio and weight lifting sessions with proper eating habits. Instead of Burger King, KFC, and McDonald’s, he opted for smaller portioned meals of fruit, vegetables, and lean meats.

Basketball

Fat Joe is a huge fan of the New York Knicks and was involved in convincing Amar'e Stoudemire to sign with them.

Fashion

In the late 90's Fat Joe set up a clothing store called Halftime, a barber shop and a fashion label called FJ560.

Fat Joe is also an avid sneaker collector, which could be seen in an episode of Bobbito Garcia's show "It's the Shoes".

His Favourite sneaker brand is Air Jordan

Legal issues

On September 8, 1998, Fat Joe and Big Pun were arrested on assault charges for hitting a man with a baseball bat and stealing the man's gold chain on June 14 that year.

Joe was arrested again on May 12, 2002 for allegedly fighting with another man at B.B. King's Blues Club in Times Square, but the charges were dropped on January 10, 2003.

In two murder cases, Fat Joe has been named a witness:

Joe's former bodyguard, Jose Mulero (also known as Sing Sing), was arrested on September 17, 2004 for the April 15, 1994 shooting death of 16-year-old Ernesto Rivera at a Bronx nightclub. Responding to a subpoena, Fat Joe claimed to have heard the shooting and seen people fleeing the scene, but investigators argued that he was standing closer to Mulero, by a door.

Miami Beach police also named Fat Joe as a witness in a Memorial Day double homicide outside David's Cafe II in South Beach. Jermaine Wufgang Chamberline of Miami Gardens was accused of shooting Lessli Paz and Joey Navarro to death on that morning; Fat Joe and the two victims were sitting in a rented Cadillac Escalade parked outside the restaurant when a fight broke out between passengers and another man.

Discography

Studio Albums

Represent (1993, as Fat Joe da Gangsta)

Jealous One's Envy (1995)

Don Cartagena (1998)

Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) (2001)

Loyalty (2002)

All or Nothing (2005)

Me, Myself & I (2006)

The Elephant in the Room (2008)

Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2) (2009)

The Darkside Vol. 1 (2010) Unknown (TBA)

Filmography

Thicker Than Water (1999) - Lonzo Medina

Prison Song (2001)

Empire (2002)

Scary Movie 3 (2003) - As Himself

Happy Feet (2006) - voice of Seymour

See also

List of famous Puerto Ricans

Latin hip hop

List of number-one dance hits (United States)

List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References

External links

Official website (archived from 2009)

Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:American entertainers of Cuban descent Category:American people of Puerto Rican descent Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Diggin' in the Crates Crew members Category:Hispanic and Latino American rappers Category:Imperial Records artists Category:Rappers from New York City Category:People from the Bronx Category:Terror Squad members

ar:فات جو cs:Fat Joe da:Fat Joe de:Fat Joe es:Fat Joe fr:Fat Joe fy:Fat Joe ko:팻 조 it:Fat Joe he:פאט ג'ו sw:Fat Joe hu:Fat Joe nl:Fat Joe ja:ファット・ジョー no:Fat Joe pl:Fat Joe pt:Fat Joe ro:Fat Joe ru:Fat Joe fi:Fat Joe sv:Fat Joe tr:Fat Joe uk:Fat Joe

name	Bobby Brown
background	solo_singer
birth name	Robert Barisford Brown
birth date	February 05, 1969
origin	Roxbury, Massachusetts, U.S.
genre	R&B;New jack swingHip hopDance-pop
occupation	Singer-songwriter Dancer
years active	1978–present
label	MCA (1986-1998)Bronx Bridge Entertainment (2011-present)
associated acts	New EditionHeads of State Whitney Houston Damien Marley
website	www.bobbybrownonline.com }}

Robert Barisford "Bobby" Brown (born February 5, 1969) is an American R&B; singer-songwriter, occasional rapper, and dancer. After success in pop group New Edition, Brown began his solo career in 1987 and had a string of Top 10 Billboard hits, culminating in a Grammy Award. He was a pioneer of New Jack Swing music, a fusion of hip hop and R&B.; His second album, Don't Be Cruel, included popular songs such as "My Prerogative". Brown is the ex-husband of pop singer Whitney Houston and starred in the reality show Being Bobby Brown.

Music career

New Edition

Bobby Brown began his music career as a member of the R&B; boy band New Edition which he founded along with childhood friend Michael Bivins. He is the youngest member of the group since the inception. The group's hits with Brown included "Candy Girl", "Cool It Now", and "Mr. Telephone Man". Brown was voted out of New Edition in 1986 when the other four members felt that their careers would be jeopardized by Bobby's lewd, line-crossing on-stage antics. Throughout the All for Love tour, he feuded with Ralph Tresvant and cut in on Tresvant's lead vocals. In 1996, Brown rejoined the group for New Edition's comeback album, Home Again. In the middle of the tour, he engaged in further racy on-stage antics. He extended his solo set and cut into Bell Biv Devoe's time. Once again, he left New Edition. In the fall of 2005, New Edition performed at BET's 25th Anniversary Special. The group performed a medley of its greatest hits, and even brought Bobby Brown on stage for a rendition of "Mr. Telephone Man". It was later announced on BET and Inside Hollywood that Bobby had rejoined the group and would be on the next group album. In January 2006, New Edition announced that the group would launch a new album and tour in 2008. Bobby also appeared at a concert in Columbia, South Carolina that New Edition had filmed for a future DVD release.

Solo career

After leaving New Edition in 1985, Brown stayed with the group manager Steven Machat and Machat secured from MCA, the groups record label, a record deal guaranteed for Browns solo career if Brown agreed to leave the New Edition. MCA released his first solo album, King of Stage, in 1986. This album included "Girlfriend", a minor hit which went to #1 on the Billboard R&B; charts and #57 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other than that, King of Stage did not garner much attention. However, Brown's next album, 1988's Don't Be Cruel with Machat overseeing the entire production and styling of Brown with Louil Silas, MCA's rep, rocketed him to super stardom. Working with the writing/producing team of L.A. Reid and Babyface, as well as Teddy Riley, Don't Be Cruel spawned five Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 singles: "Don't Be Cruel" (#8), "Every Little Step" (#3), "Rock Wit' Cha" (#7), "My Prerogative" (#1), and "Roni" (#3). The album would eventually be certified 8x platinum (8,000,000 units sold).

In 1989, he contributed two songs (including "On Our Own", which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100) to the Ghostbusters II soundtrack, in addition to making a cameo in the film. Brown has subsequently dabbled in acting.

In between the "On Our Own" single and the release of Brown's next album, a remix album, Dance! Ya Know It! was released to capitalise on Brown's huge success at the time. A non-album "megamix" single was released to promote the project. The European dance-oriented version (sampling beats by Snap!) was titled "The Freestyle Megamix" and was a hit in the UK, reaching #14 on the Gallup charts. A more R'n'B oriented version called "Every Little Hit Mix" (b/w "Roni) was released in Australia.

Brown's third album, Bobby, did not arrive until 1992. It reached #2 on the Billboard album charts and produced the hit singles "Humpin' Around" (#3 on the Billboard Hot 100) and "Good Enough" (#7) as well as a smaller hit in "Get Away" (#14). The album was eventually certified 1x platinum (1,000,000 units sold). However, it did not come close to matching the album sales or singles chart success of its predecessor.

Brown waited until late 1997 to release his next (and to date, last) album of original material, Forever. The album was originally titled Bobby II and was supposed to be produced by such luminaries as R.Kelly, Teddy Riley, Sean Combs and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. However, Brown negotiated 100% creative control of the album and decided to write all the songs himself. It only managed to climb to #61 on the Billboard Hot 200 album charts and produced no charting singles.

In 2006 Brown appeared on "Beautiful", the third single from Damian Marley's album Welcome to Jamrock.

2010 Bobby Brown surprised his fans by dueting with American R&B; and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress Macy Gray on her new album titled The Sellout. Together they did a song "Real Love". Macy Gray divulged the pleasure of working with Bobby Brown to Essence Magazine on the project, saying that "actually he came to the studio, since he doesn't live far, and knocked out his recording in two hours. We're friends and his one-year-old son is my godson. His fiance is one of my best friends in the whole world. I met Bobby a long time ago, but we really got to know each other through her."

Heads of State

As of September 27, 2008, Brown began touring with fellow New Edition members Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill in a new group named Heads of State. The group continues to tour worldwide. They are currently recording an album.

Movies

While always maintaining his focus on music, Brown has also been venturing into the movie side of showbiz. In 1996, Brown co-starred in the hit movie, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, along with Martin Lawrence and Lynn Whitfield. and in more recent years he has appeared in the films Two Can Play That Game, along with Vivica A. Fox and Morris Chestnut; Go for Broke; and Gang of Roses starring Lil' Kim, Lisa Raye, Stacey Dash, and Marie Matiko. After those he was in Nora's Hair Salon.

Bobby Brown had cameo guest appearances in many movies. Panther (1995) starring Courtney B. Vance and Chris Rock. Earlier, he played all three characters of Three Blind Mice in Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (1990). In 1989 was Brown's first solo guest cameo appearance in Ghostbusters II playing the Mayor's Doorman.

1985 Krush Groove Character Name: Himself

1989 Ghostbusters II Played The Mayor's Doorman

1989 His Prerogative Interview and Videos

1990 Mother Goose Rock 'N' Rhymes Character Name: Three Blind Mice

1992 Bobby Brown: Humpin' Around Making of the Video

1993 Bobby Brown: Bobby Played Himself

1995 Panther Character Name: Rose

1996 A Thin Line Between Love and Hate Character Name: Tee

2001 Two Can Play That Game Character Name: Michael

2002 Go For Broke Character Name: Jive

2003 Gang of Roses Character Name: Left Eye Watkins

2004 Nora's Hair Salon Character Name: Bennie

2008 Nora's Hair Salon II Character Name: Old Man Butter

Personal life

In June 2007, Brown took part in the ITV television series "24 hours with...", a chat show format as celebrity and interviewer spend an intense 24 hours locked in a room together. The show's host, Jamie Campbell, asked Brown questions about his career and private life, and infamously joked about making "sexual moves" towards the singer. Brown was furious and threatened to beat Campbell up live on air.

He has been appearing on cable-televised reality T.V. shows such as Celebrity Fit Club, Gone Country, and his own show entitled Being Bobby Brown.

Family

Brown has a total of five biological children. In chronological order the oldest being his son Landon Brown, La'princia Brown, Robert (Bobby) Brown Jr., Bobbi Kristina Brown, and Cassius Brown. Brown married Whitney Houston in July 1992. Together they have one daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, born 1993. On September 13, 2006, Houston's publicist announced that after 14 years of marriage, Houston had filed for a legal separation from Brown. One month later, Houston officially filed for a divorce from Brown. It was ruled by a judge on April 4, 2007 that their marriage would be definitively dissolved on April 24, 2007, and that Whitney would receive custody of their then 14-year-old daughter.

Brown's eldest son, Landon Brown, appeared on the MTV show Rock the Cradle. On February 3, 2009, it was announced Brown was expecting his fifth child with his then girlfriend. His fifth son, a boy named Cassius, was born May 30, 2009.

On May 7, 2010, Brown proposed to his long time girlfriend while performing at the Funk Fest in Jacksonville, Fla. He asked her to marry him while giving his performance on stage. He got down on one knee and when she joined him on stage along with their child she accepted his proposal. He is currently signed to Bronx Bridge Entertainment.

Substance abuse and legal problems

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Brown's legal and substance abuse troubles threatened to overshadow his music. In late 2003, Brown was arrested for misdemeanor battery, allegedly for striking Houston while shouting epithets. In February 2004, Brown was arrested and jailed in Georgia on a parole violation related to a previous drunk driving conviction. Whitney Houston has also publicly stated that Brown's choice of drug was marijuana laced with cocaine.

Bobby Brown made a guest appearance on The Monique Show with fellow group mates Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant to promote their ongoing tour across the globe to sold out shows. Bobby also discussed how he overcame his struggles. The trio Heads of State performed medleys of their classic legendary hits to an audience full of die hard New Edition fans.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions							! rowspan="2"
		! width="30"	! width="30"	! width="30"	! width="30"	! width="30"	! width="30"	! width="30"
1986				* Released: December 11, 1986	* Label: MCA Records	88	12	40	—	—	—	—
1988	align="left"			* Released: June 20, 1988	* Label: MCA Records	1	1	3	5	20	—	—		RIAA>US: 7× Platinum	British Phonographic Industry>UK: 2× Platinum	CRIA>CAN: 3× Platinum
1992	align="left"			* Released: August 25, 1992	* Label: MCA Records	2	1	11	2	4	26	18		* US: 2× Platinum	* CAN: 2× Platinum
1997	align="left"			* Released: November 4, 1997	* Label: MCA Records	61	15	—	—	—	—	—
2011	align="left"			* Released: September 6, 2011	* Label: Bronx Bridge Entertainment	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Remix albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions				Certifications(sales threshold)
		US	USR&B;	UK	AUS
1989				* Released: 1989	* Label: MCA Records	9	7	26	14		* US: Platinum	* UK: Gold	* CAN: Gold
1993				* Released: 1993	* Label: MCA Records	—	72	—	—

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions						RIAA	Album
		! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"
1986		57	1	—	—	—	—	—
1987		—	31	—	—	—	—	—
	align="left"	8	1	—	—	42	—	Gold
	1	1	71	—	6	40	Gold
		—	—	—	—	13	—	—
	3	2	1	—	21	—	Gold
	3	1	17	—	6	8	Gold
align="left"	2	1	15	—	4	22	Platinum
	7	3	—	28	33	—	Gold
		—	—	—	—	14	—	—
	—	—	—	—	—	21	—
		3	1	15	—	19	1	Gold
	7	5	—	—	41	39	Gold
		14	3	3	—	—	—	—
align="left"	57	9	31	—	56	—	—
	—	—	—	—	16	—	—
1994	align="left"	—	—	—	—	38	—	—
		—	—	—	—	3	—	—
	—	—	—	—	8	—	—
	—	—	—	—	17	—	—
1996		—	—	—	—	25	—	—
1997		—	42	—	—	40	—	—
2006		—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2009		—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2011		—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"—" denotes releases that did not chart or not certified

Featured singles

Year	Single	Artist	Peak chart positions					Album
			US	US R&B;	US Dance	UK	AUS
1990		Glenn Medeiros	1	43	—	12	8
2002		Ja Rule	42	16	10	15	7	align="left"
2006		Damian Marley	—	—	—	39	—
2010		Macy Gray	—	—	—	—	—

References

External links

Bobby Brown Online

NEW Bobby Brown HD interview April 2010

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:African American singers Category:American dance musicians Category:American male singers Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Massachusetts Category:New Edition members Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Boston, Massachusetts Category:Whitney Houston Category:MCA Records artists Category:Celebrity Fit Club participants Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics

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