Coordinates	52°05′36″N5°7′10″N
Name	Sam Maceo
Birth name	Salvatore Maceo
Birth date	March 01, 1894
Birth place	Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Death date	April 16, 1951
Death place	Baltimore, Maryland, US
Death cause	Cancer
Resting place	Galveston, Texas, US
Resting place coordinates
Citizenship	US
Other names	"Velvet Glove"
Known for	Organized crime; established Galveston as a gaming and entertainment center
Occupation	Club manager, bootlegger
Years active	1920? - 1950
Predecessor	Ollie Quinn
Successor	Victor J. Fertitta and Anthony Feritta
Spouse	Edna Marie Sedgwick(1915-2002)
Partner	Rosario Maceo
Children	Sam Maceo, Edward Maceo, Sedgie Maceo
Parents

Salvatore Maceo, also known as Sam Maceo, was a businessman, community leader, and organized crime boss in Galveston, Texas in the United States. Because of his efforts Galveston Island became a nationally known resort town during the early and mid 20th century, a period known as Galveston's ''Open Era''. He and his brother, both Sicilian immigrants, owned numerous restaurant and casino venues including the now-vanished Hollywood Dinner Club and the Balinese Room. Sometimes known as the "Velvet Glove," Sam's smooth style and ability to influence people were legendary. He was able to wield influence comparable to an elected official and he held relationships with celebrities and politicians throughout Texas and the United States. During his lifetime he and his island home were known nationwide.

The culture and economy Sam and the Maceo syndicate helped create on the island engendered the nickname "Free State of Galveston." He was also involved in the development of the Las Vegas Strip during the late 1940s, particularly the establishment of the Desert Inn.

Early life

Salvatore Maceo was born in Palermo, Sicily to Vito Maceo and Angelina Sansone in 1894. He trained as a barber and moved to Galveston in 1910, shortly before World War I, to start a business with his brother Rosario (Rose) Maceo.

Growth of an empire

As Prohibition took hold the brothers began to give gifts of wine (low-quality to be sure) that they were able to smuggle to their customers. As their customers became more interested in the liquor they gradually became more serious bootleggers. The Maceo brothers allied themselves with the Beach Gang, opened a "cold drink place," (i.e. speakeasy), and invested in the gang's gambling operations. Eventually the Beach Gang leader Ollie Quinn and the brothers opened the Hollywood Dinner Club, the Gulf coast's most elegant night club at the time. Sam's smooth personality quickly made him the ''face'' of the nightclub. He is said to have developed his style and interpersonal skills by modeling Quinn's facility in dealing with politicians.

Fortuitous arrests of the leaders of the gangs allowed the brothers to gain control of the island's underworld. The Maceos gradually invested in numerous clubs and other entertainment ventures in the city involving gambling and bootlegging. Their other big venture, besides the Hollywood, was a club and casino called Maceo's Grotto (later renamed the Balinese Room) which opened in 1929. The Maceos soon controlled most of the gambling, prostitution, and other vice on the island. Their wealth and Sam's ability to deal with influential figures allowed him to exert increasing influence over other businesses and the government of the island.

The Maceo syndicate

The syndicate created by the Maceos quickly became a business empire. Through business dealings and partnerships Sam Maceo was able to earn millions for the syndicate. In addition to gymnasium and steam room facilities the club contained a bookmaking parlor for baseball and horse race betting as well as two clubs, the Studio Lounge and the Western Room. The business empire included dozens of bookmaking parlors, casinos, and clubs throughout the island and Galveston County, particularly Kemah and Dickinson. Additionally the Maceos came to dominate vice and narcotics as far north as Dallas.

The crown jewel of the Maceo empire was the Hollywood Dinner Club. Once the Hollywood was shut down by the Texas Rangers in 1939 the Balinese Room became the premiere club in the syndicate's holdings. Other properties held by the Maceos included the Moulin Rouge, Murdoch's Bingo, and the Pleasure Pier. Other Maceo corporate holdings included Maceo and Company, Dickinson Equipment, Murdoch Bathhouse Company Inc., Gulf Coast Properties Inc., Gulf Entertainment places, and the Galveston Novelty Company.

Maceo cultivated relationships with business leaders throughout Galveston including William L. Moody, head of one Galveston's most prominent families. Over the years Sam was able to secure substantial financing from Moody's American National Insurance Company (ANICO) and many other institutions. Maceo established strong relationships with other leading families such as the Sealys and the Kempners. Major ''legitimate'' businesses on the island such as banking and hotels were, in fact, able to thrive in large part because of the illegal activities.

It would be a mistake to think that the Maceos owned all the major vice businesses on the island. Though dominant figures in many ways, they generally did not attempt to prevent others from prospering so long as it did not interfere with their businesses. Nevertheless, in the view of many the Maceos ran the island for three decades. Following Sam's death Edna returned to Hollywood with her sons and married Henry Plitt of New York, founder of Plitt Theaters. The Fertittas became involved in the Maceo businesses due to this relationship.

Public perceptions

In the business world Sam Maceo was known as a being pleasant and persuasive. Ultimately he was acquitted in 1942.

Though the Maceo-owned clubs were raided numerous times the raids were rarely successful (with the important exception of the Hollywood Dinner Club being closed) and the Maceos were able to carry on their business throughout their careers.

End of an era

The heyday of the ''Free State'' was over by the 1940s. Because of conflicts with the United States Treasury, the Hollywood Dinner Club was shut down in the late 1930s. The local clubs found it increasingly difficult to attract major entertainment figures. Gambling had been legalized in Nevada in 1931 and this distinct advantage over Galveston gradually lured mob figures such as New York City's Bugsy Siegel to Las Vegas. The competition created by the up-and-coming entertainment center in the desert substantially challenged the island on the Gulf. Still even during the later years the Balinese Room was able to attract the likes of Tony Bennett and Peggy Lee, among others.

By the late 1940s corruption at the Texas state and county level was in decline. As investigation of the Maceo activities became more serious, the Maceos began plans to move their empire to Nevada. Sam Maceo became a major investor in the Desert Inn, which opened in 1950, the largest and most elaborate casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip at the time. Moe Dalitz, who opened the Desert Inn, and Sam and had long been allies and business partners, and financing of the Las Vegas project was largely facilitated by the Maceos and Moodys through the ANICO (the company, for its part, is known to have lent millions to known mob figures). Sam and Rose Maceo transferred controlling interest of most of their Galveston empire to a new group dominated by the Fertitta family with investments coming from business interests around the island. The Fertitta group, however, never wielded the influence that the Maceos had.

Sam Maceo died of cancer in 1951 at Johns Hopkins Hospital, just after the opening of the Desert Inn. His death made national obituary news. Galveston's wide-open era ended a few years after Maceo's death when authorities raided the island's gambling establishments. The Balinese Room continued to operate as a restaurant until 2008, when it was completely destroyed by Hurricane Ike.

See also

Free State of Galveston

Galveston, Texas

Rosario Maceo

Sicilian American

Tilman J. Fertitta

Notes

References

Category:People from Sicily Category:American mobsters of Sicilian descent Category:People from Galveston, Texas Category:History of Galveston, Texas Category:1951 deaths Category:1894 births

Coordinates	52°05′36″N5°7′10″N
Position	Linebacker
Number	70
Birth date	October 04, 1934 Edna Gas, West Virginia
Debutyear	1956
Debutteam	New York Giants
Finalyear	1969
Finalteam	Washington Redskins
Draftyear	1956
Draftround	3
Draftpick	30
College	West Virginia
Teams	New York Giants (–) Washington Redskins (–)
Highlights	5× Pro Bowl selection (1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1964) 4× First-team All-Pro selection (1957, 1958, 1959, 1960) 2× Second-team All-Pro selection (1961, 1963) 2× All-Conference (1964, 1965) NFL 1950s All-Decade Team 70 Greatest Redskins Redskins' Ring of Fame
Stat1label	Interceptions
Stat1value	30
Stat2label	Touchdowns
Stat2value	2
Stat3label	Games
Stat3value	168
Nfl	HUF311466
Hof	102
Collegehof	50085 }}

Robert Lee "Sam" Huff (born October 4, 1934 in Edna Gas, West Virginia) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

Early life

Huff was born and grew up in the No. 9 coal mining camp in Edna Gas, West Virginia, The fourth of Oral and Catherine Huff's six children, he lived with his family in a small rowhouse with no running water. Huff grew up during the Great Depression, while his father and two of his brothers worked in the coal mines loading buggies for Consolidated Mining.

Huff attended and played high school football at the now-closed Farmington High School, where he was both an offensive and defensive lineman. While he was there, Huff helped lead the team to an undefeated season in 1951. He earned all-state honors in 1952 and was named to the first-team all-Mason Dixon Conference.

College career

Huff attended and played college football at West Virginia University, where he majored in physical education. He started at guard as a sophomore and tackle the next two years, after winning a letter as a backup guard during his freshman season. He was a four-year letterman and helped lead West Virginia to a combined four-year mark of 31-7 and a berth in the 1954 Sugar Bowl.

In 1955, Huff was voted an All-American and served as co-captain in both the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl.

Professional career

New York Giants (1956 – 1963)

Huff was drafted in the third round of the 1956 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. In training camp, head coach Jim Lee Howell was having a hard time coming up with a position for Huff. Discouraged, Huff left camp but was stopped at the airport by assistant coach Vince Lombardi, who coaxed him back to camp.

Then, defensive coordinator Tom Landry came up with the new 4-3 defensive scheme that he thought would fit Huff perfectly. The Giants switched him from the line to middle linebacker behind Ray Beck. Huff liked the position because he could keep his head up and use his superb peripheral vision to see the whole field. On October 7, 1956 in a game against the Chicago Cardinals, Beck was injured and Huff was put into his first professional game. He then helped the Giants win five consecutive games and they finished with a 8–3–1 record, which gave them the Eastern Conference title. New York went on to win the 1956 NFL Championship Game and Huff became the first rookie middle linebacker to start an NFL championship game. In 1958, the Giants again won the East and Huff played in the 1958 NFL Championship Game. The championship, which became widely known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played", was the first ever National Football League (NFL) game to go into sudden death overtime. The final score was Baltimore Colts 23, New York Giants 17.

In 1959, Huff and the Giants again went to the NFL Championship Game, which ended in a 31–16 loss to the Colts. Also that year, Huff became the first NFL player to be featured on the cover of ''Time'' magazine on November 30, 1959. He almost passed up the magazine appearance, demanding money to be interviewed, but relented when ''Time'' agreed to give him the cover portrait. Huff was also the subject of an October 31, 1960 CBS Television special, "The Violent World of Sam Huff"., broadcast as an episode of the Walter Cronkite anthology series ''The Twentieth Century''. The network wired Huff for sound in practice and in an exhibition game. The Giants then visited the championship under new coach Allie Sherman in 1961, 1962, 1963, but lost every one of them. To improve what he thought was a defensive problem, Sherman then traded many defensive players, including Cliff Livingston, Rosey Grier, and Dick Modzelewski. After these trades, Huff went to owner Wellington Mara and was assured he would not be traded. But in 1964, Giants head coach Allie Sherman traded Huff to the Washington Redskins for defensive tackle Andy Stynchula and running back Dick James. The trade made front-page news in New York and was greeted with jeers from Giants fans, who crowded Yankee Stadium yelling "Huff-Huff-Huff-Huff."

Huff played in four consecutive Pro Bowls with the Giants from 1959 through 1963. He was named most valuable player of the 1961 Pro Bowl.

Washington Redskins (1964–1969)

Huff joined the Redskins in 1964 and they agreed to pay him $30,000 in salary and $5,000 for scouting, compared to the $19,000 he would have made another year with New York. The impact Huff had was almost immediate and the Redskins' defense was ranked second in the NFL in 1965.

On November 27, 1966, Huff and the Redskins beat his former Giant teammates 72–41, in the highest-scoring game in league history. After an ankle injury in 1967 ended his streak of 150 straight games played Huff retired in 1968.

Vince Lombardi talked Huff out of retirement in 1969 when he was named Washington’s head coach. The Redskins went 7-5-2 and had their best season since 1955 (which kept Lombardi's record of never having coached a losing NFL team intact). Huff then retired for good after 14 seasons and 30 career interceptions. He spent one season coaching the Redskins' linebackers in 1970.

After football

Business

Huff invested $75,000 with ESPN to showcase the West Virginia Breeders Classic horse race from Charles Town, West Virginia. The event has now run for over 20 years and has paid for Huff’s original investment several times over.

Huff joined the Marriott Corporation as a salesman in 1971 and worked himself up to vice president of sports marketing before retiring in 1998. He owns a 5 percent stake in the Marriott Hotel in Charleston, West Virginia. It remains the only Marriott in the state.

Commentator

After retiring from football, Huff spent one season as a color commentator for the Giants radio team and then moved on to the same capacity for the Redskins radio network, where he remains to this day, calling games alongside former Redskins teammate Sonny Jurgensen and play-by-play announcer Larry Michael. He was also a broadcaster for a regionally syndicated TV package of Mountaineer football games in the mid-1980s.

Honors

In 1982, Huff became just the second WVU player to be inducted into both the College and Pro football Halls of Fame. In 1988, he was inducted into the WVU School of Physical Education Hall of Fame and, in 1991 he was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1999, Huff was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame and was ranked number 76 on ''The Sporting News''' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.

In 2001, Huff was ranked number six on ''Sports Illustrated's'' list of West Virginia's 50 Greatest Athletes. On November 24, 2005, Huff's uniform number 75 was retired by West Virginia University.

Horse breeding

In 1986 Huff began breeding Thoroughbred racehorses at Sporting Life Farm in Middleburg, Virginia. His filly, Bursting Forth, won the 1998 Matchmaker Handicap. He is currently the Co-President of Golden Dreams Riding center in Middleburg, Virginia.

Politics

In 1970, Huff ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but lost in the West Virginia Democratic primary against Bob Mollahan by more than 19,000 votes.

Personal

Huff is divorced from Mary Helen Fletcher. They have three children, Robert Lee ("Sam") Huff Jr., Catherine Ann, J.D. and three grandchildren Nicholas, Mary Carmen and Robert Lee ("Bobby") Huff III.

References

External links

Sam Huff Q&A;

Images of Sam Huff's football cards

Category:1934 births Category:Living people Category:American football linebackers Category:American racehorse owners and breeders Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees Category:Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players Category:National Football League announcers Category:New York Giants broadcasters Category:New York Giants players Category:People from Marion County, West Virginia Category:People from Morgantown, West Virginia Category:Players of American football from Pennsylvania Category:Players of American football from West Virginia Category:Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Category:Sportspeople from Pennsylvania Category:Washington Redskins broadcasters Category:Washington Redskins players Category:West Virginia Mountaineers football players

de:Sam Huff he:סאם הוף pt:Sam Huff

Coordinates	52°05′36″N5°7′10″N
name	Big Bill Broonzy
background	solo_singer
birth name	William Lee Conley Broonzy
alias	Big Bill Broonzy, Big Bill Broomsley
born	June 26, 1898, Lake Dick, Arkansas, U.S. or Bolivar County, Mississippi, U.S.
died	August 14, 1958, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, guitar, fiddle
genre	Folk music, country blues, Chicago blues, spirituals, protest songs
occupation	Musician, songwriter, sharecropper, preacher
years active	1927–1958
label	Paramount, A.R.C., Bluebird, Vocalion, Folkways
associated acts	Papa Charlie Jackson, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger
notable instruments	}}

Big Bill Broonzy (26 June 1898 – 15 August 1958) was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences. In the 1950s a return to his traditional folk-blues roots made him one of the leading figures of the emerging American folk music revival and an international star. His long and varied career marks him as one of the key figures in the development of blues music in the 20th century.

Broonzy copyrighted more than 300 songs during his lifetime, including both adaptations of traditional folk songs and original blues songs. As a blues composer, he was unique in that his compositions reflected the many vantage points of his rural-to-urban experiences.

Life and career

Early years

Born Lee Conley Bradley, "Big Bill" was one of Frank Broonzy (Bradley) and Mittie Belcher's 17 children. His birth site and date are disputed. While he claimed birth in Bolivar County, Mississippi, an entire body of emerging research suggests that Broonzy was actually born in Jefferson County, Arkansas. Broonzy claimed he was born in 1893 and many sources report that year, but after his death, family records reported that the year was actually 1903, the currently accepted date. Soon after his birth the family moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where Bill spent his youth. He began playing music at an early age. At the age of 10 he made himself a fiddle from a cigar box and learned how to play spirituals and folk songs from his uncle, Jerry Belcher. He and a friend named Louis Carter, who played a homemade guitar, began performing at social and church functions. These early performances included playing at "two-stages": picnics where whites danced on one side of the stage and blacks on the other.

In 1915, 17-year-old Broonzy was married and working as a sharecropper. He had decided to give up the fiddle and become a preacher. There is a story that he was offered $50 and a new violin if he would play four days at a local venue. Before he could respond to the offer, his wife took the money and spent it, so he had to play. In 1916 his crop and stock were wiped out by drought. Broonzy went to work locally until he was drafted into the Army in 1917. Broonzy served two years in Europe during the first world war. Then after his discharge from the Army in 1919, Broonzy returned to Pine Bluff, Arkansas where he is reported to have been called a racial epithet and told by a white man he knew before the war that he needed to "hurry up and get his soldier uniform off and put on some overalls." He immediately left Pine Bluff and moved to the Little Rock area but a year later in 1920 moved north to Chicago in search of opportunity.

1920s

After arriving in Chicago, Broonzy made the switch to guitar. He learned guitar from minstrel and medicine show veteran Papa Charlie Jackson, who began recording for Paramount Records in 1924. Through the 1920s Broonzy worked a string of odd jobs, including Pullman porter, cook, foundry worker and custodian, to supplement his income, but his main interest was music. He played regularly at rent parties and social gatherings, steadily improving his guitar playing. During this time he wrote one of his signature tunes, a solo guitar piece called "Saturday Night Rub".

1930s

In 1930 Paramount for the first time used Broonzy's full name on a recording, "Station Blues" – albeit misspelled as "Big Bill Broomsley". Record sales continued to be poor, and Broonzy was working at a grocery store. Broonzy was picked up by Lester Melrose, who produced acts for various labels including Champion and Gennett Records. He recorded several sides which were released in the spring of 1931 under the name "Big Bill Johnson". In March 1932 he traveled to New York City and began recording for the American Record Corporation on their line of less expensive labels: (Melotone, Perfect Records, et al.).

In 1934 Broonzy moved to Bluebird Records and began recording with pianist Bob "Black Bob" Call. His fortunes soon improved. With Call his music was evolving to a stronger R&B; sound, and his singing sounded more assured and personal. In 1937, he began playing with pianist Josh Althiemer, recording and performing using a small instrumental group, including "traps" (drums) and Double bass as well as one or more melody instruments (horns and/or harmonica). In March 1938 he began recording for Vocalion Records. Broonzy's reputation grew and in 1938 he was asked to fill in for the recently deceased Robert Johnson at the John H. Hammond-produced From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall. He also appeared in the 1939 concert at the same venue. His success led him in this same year to a small role in ''Swingin' the Dream'', Gilbert Seldes's jazz adaptation of Shakespeare's ''Midsummer Night's Dream'', set in 1890 New Orleans and featuring, among others, Louis Armstrong as Bottom and Maxine Sullivan as Titania, with the Benny Goodman sextet.

Broonzy's own recorded output through the 1930s only partially reflects his importance to the Chicago blues scene. His half-brother, Washboard Sam, and close friends, Jazz Gillum, and Tampa Red, also recorded for Bluebird. Broonzy was credited as composer on many of their most popular recordings of that time. He reportedly played guitar on most of Washboard Sam's tracks. Due to his exclusive arrangements with his own record label, Broonzy was always careful to have his name only appear on these artists' records as "composer".

1950s

At the start of the 1950s, Broonzy became part of a touring folk music revue formed by Win Stracke called ''I Come for to Sing'', which also included Studs Terkel and Lawrence Lane. Terkel called him the key figure in this group. The group had some success thanks to the emerging folk revival movement. The exposure made it possible for Broonzy to tour Europe in 1951.

In Europe, Broonzy was greeted with standing ovations and critical praise wherever he played. The tour marked a turning point in his fortunes, and when he returned to the United States he was a featured act with many prominent folk artists such as Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. From 1953 on his financial position became more secure and he was able to live quite well on his music earnings. Broonzy returned to his solo folk-blues roots, and travelled and recorded extensively.

While in Holland, Broonzy met and fell in love with a Dutch girl, Pim van Isveldt. Together they had a child named Michael who still lives in Amsterdam.

In 1953, Dr. Vera (King) Morkovin and Studs Terkel took Broonzy to Circle Pines Center, a cooperative year-round camp in Hastings, Michigan, where he was employed as the summer camp cook. He worked there in the summer from '53–'56. On 4 July 1954, Pete Seeger travelled to Circle Pines and gave a concert with Bill on the farmhouse lawn, which was recorded by Seeger for the new fine arts radio station in Chicago, WFMT-FM.

In 1955, with the assistance of Belgian writer Yannick Bruynoghe, Broonzy published his autobiography, entitled ''Big Bill Blues''. He toured worldwide to Africa, South America, the Pacific region and across Europe into early 1956. In 1957 Broonzy was one of the founding faculty members of the Old Town School of Folk Music. At the school's opening night on 1 December, he taught a class "The Glory of Love".

By 1958 Broonzy was suffering from the effects of throat cancer. He died 15 August 1958, and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Illinois.

Style and influence

Broonzy's own influences included the folk music, spirituals, work songs, ragtime music, hokum and country blues he heard growing up, and the styles of his contemporaries, including Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Blake, Son House, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Broonzy combined all these influences into his own style of the blues that foreshadowed the post-war Chicago blues sound, later refined and popularized by artists such as Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.

Although he had been a pioneer of the Chicago blues style and had employed electric instruments as early as 1942, his new, white audiences wanted to hear him playing his earliest songs accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar, since this was considered to be more "authentic".

A considerable part of his early ARC/CBS recordings have been reissued in anthology collections by CBS-Sony, and other earlier recordings have been collected on blues reissue labels, as have his later European and Chicago recordings of the 1950s. The Smithsonian's Folkways Records has also released several albums featuring Big Bill Broonzy.

In 1980, he was inducted into the first class of the Blues Hall of Fame along with 20 other of the world's greatest blues legends. In 2007, he was inducted into the first class of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame along with 11 other musical greats including Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Gene Autry, Lawrence Welk and others.

Broonzy as an acoustic guitar player, inspired Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, Ray Davies, John Renbourn, Rory Gallagher, Ben Taylor, and Steve Howe

In ''Q Magazine'' (September 2007) it is reported that Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones claims that Bill Broonzy's track, "Guitar Shuffle", is his favorite guitar music. Wood said, "It was one of the first tracks I learnt to play, but even to this day I can't play it exactly right."

During the benediction at the 2009 inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama, the civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery paraphrased Broonzy's song "Black, Brown and White Blues".

Discography

Between 1927 and 1942, Broonzy recorded 224 songs, making him the second most prolific blues recording artist during that period. These were released before blues records were tracked by recording industry trade magazines. By the time ''Billboard'' instituted the first of its "race music" charts in October 1942, Broonzy's recordings were less popular and none appeared in the charts.

Selected singles

Many of Broonzy's singles were issued by more than one record company, sometimes under different names. Additional versions of some songs were also released. These are marked with a "⁺".

Date	Title	Label & Cat. no.	Comments
	"Big Bill's Blues"		as Big Bill and Thomps
"House Rent Stomp"	Paramount 12656	as Big Bill and Thomps
	"Saturday Night Rub"		as Famous Hokum Boys
"Station Blues"	Paramount 13084	as Big Bill Broomsley
1932	"Mistreatin' Mama"		as Big Bill Johnson
	"At the Break of Day"
"C. C. Rider"
			as State Street Boys
"Bricks In My Pillow"
1936		ARC 6–05–56+
1937	"Mean Old World"	Melotone 7–07–64+
1937	"Louise Louise Blues"	Vocalion 3075+
	"New Shake 'Em on Down"	Vocalion 4149+
"Night Time Is the Right Time No. 2"	Vocalion 4149+	electric guitar by George Barnes
	"Just a Dream"	Vocalion 4706+
"Too Many Drivers"	Vocalion 5096
	"You Better Cut That Out"
"Lonesome Road Blues"	Okeh 6031
	Okeh 6116+
	"All By Myself"	Okeh 6427+
"Key to the Highway"	Okeh 6242+
"Wee Wee Hours"	Okeh 6552
"I Feel So Good"	Okeh 6688+
1942	"I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town"	Okeh 6651	as Big Bill & His Chicago 5
1951	"Hey Hey"

Big Bill Broonzy also appeared as a sideman on recordings by Lil Green, Sonny Boy Williamson I, Washboard Sam, and Jazz Gillum.

Albums

Big Bill Broonzy and Roosevelt Sykes DVD (1956)

"His Story" (Folkways Records) 1957

"Blues with Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee" (Folkways Records) 1959

"Big Bill Broonzy Sings Folk Songs" (Smithsonian Folkways) 1989

Best of the Blues Tradition (1991)

Do That Rag Guitar (1928–1935) (1991)

"Trouble In Mind" (Smithsonian Folkways) 2000

Broonzy Volume 2: 1945–1949: The Post War Years (2000)

Big Bill Broonzy In Concert (2002)

Big Bill Broonzy On Tour In Britain: Live In England & Scotland (2002)

Big Bill Blues: His 23 Greatest Songs 1927–42 (2004)

Big Bill Amsterdam Live Concerts 1953 (2006)

Keys to the Blues (2009)

References

External links

Big Bill Broonzy CD reissue discography

Broonzy.com series of tribute pages including bio, discography, sound clips

Big Bill Broonzy: Interviews and performances with Studs Terkel at Smithsonian Folkways

Big Bill Broonzy research at the Mississippi Blues Trail

Category:1898 births Category:1958 deaths Category:People from Bolivar County, Mississippi Category:People from Pine Bluff, Arkansas Category:Acoustic blues musicians Category:African American musicians Category:American buskers Category:American blues musicians Category:Country blues singers Category:American folk singers Category:American male singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American songwriters Category:Folk musicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:Old Town School of Folk musicians Category:American blues guitarists Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Country blues musicians Category:Musicians from Arkansas Category:Musicians from Mississippi Category:Deaths from esophageal cancer Category:GNP Records artists Category:Gennett recording artists Category:Chess Records artists Category:Vocalion Records artists Category:Cancer deaths in Illinois

cs:Big Bill Broonzy de:Big Bill Broonzy es:Big Bill Broonzy fr:Big Bill Broonzy it:Big Bill Broonzy he:ביג ביל ברונזי nl:Big Bill Broonzy ja:ビッグ・ビル・ブルーンジー pl:Big Bill Broonzy pt:Big Bill Broonzy fi:Big Bill Broonzy sv:Big Bill Broonzy tr:Big Bill Broonzy uk:Біг Біл Брунзі

Robert Brown (July 15, 1910 – November 6, 1966), known professionally as Washboard Sam, was an American blues singer and musician.

Biography

Born in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, and reputedly the half-brother of Big Bill Broonzy, Brown moved to Memphis, Tennessee in the 1920s, performing as a street musician with Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon. He then moved to Chicago in 1932, performing regularly with Broonzy, and appearing with him and other musicians including Memphis Slim and Tampa Red on innumerable recording sessions for Lester Melrose of Bluebird Records.

In 1935 he began recording in his own right for both Bluebird and Vocalion Records, becoming one of the most popular Chicago blues performers of the late 1930s and 1940s, selling numerous records and playing to packed audiences. Between 1935 and 1949 he recorded over 160 sides, including such popular numbers as "Mama Don't Allow", "Back Door" and "Diggin' My Potatoes." His strong voice and talent for creating new songs overcame his stylistic limitations.

By the 1950s, his audience began to shrink, largely because he had difficulty adapting to the new electric blues. His final recording session for RCA Victor was held in 1949, he retired from music for several years, and became a Chicago police officer. He recorded a session in 1953 with Broonzy and Memphis Slim, and in 1959 Samuel Charters included his "I've Been Treated Wrong" on the compilation ''The Country Blues'' for Folkways Records. Brown made a modest but short-lived comeback as a live performer in the early 1960s. He died of heart disease in Chicago, in November 1966, and was buried in an unmarked grave at the Washington Memory Gardens Cemetery in Homewood, Illinois.

A September 18, 2009 concert held by Executive Producer Steve Salter of the Killer Blues organization raised monies to place a headstone on Washboard Sam's grave. The show was a success and a headstone was placed in October 2009. The concert was held at the historic Howmet Playhouse Theater in Whitehall, Michigan and was recorded by Vinyl Wall Productions and filmed for television broadcast in the mid-Michigan area by a television crew from Central Michigan University. The concert featured musical artists Washboard Jo, R.B. and Co. and was headlined by the Big House Blues Band.

References

External links

Category:1910 births Category:1966 deaths Category:American blues singers Category:American blues musicians Category:People from Lawrence County, Arkansas Category:African American musicians Category:Chicago Police Department officers Category:Chess Records artists Category:Vocalion Records artists Category:Washboard players

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Coordinates	52°05′36″N5°7′10″N
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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