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Famous
Singers > James Brown
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James
Brown
James Brown (born May 3, 1933, Barnwell, South Carolina -
some sources list his year of birth as 1928 and his birthplace as
Pulaski, Tennessee) is one of the most important figures in twentieth-century
music and a prime influence in the evolution of gospel and rhythm-and-blues
into soul and funk. As a singer, dancer and bandleader, he has influenced
popular musicians since the 1960s. He has been cited as an influence
by musicians in many genres, including rock, soul, jazz, R&B,
and hip-hop. Amoung other things, his quick assent to icon status
in the musical community can be attributed to his rejection of industry
stereotypes. Also, Soul Brother Number One was a symbol of self-motivation
and acheivement in spite of racism for Black Americans.
James Brown's musical innovations, developed in tandem with the many
skilled musicians who passed through Brown's bands(the Flames, the
James Brown Band, the JBs), used the basic building blocks of earlier
African-American music; his career is a case study in change and self-determination.
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In the late 1960s and early 1970s, his irresistible sound spawned
countless imitators. By the mid- '70s, several of his key band members
(Bootsy Collins, Fred Wesley, and Maceo Parker), had left his employ
and joined forces with George Clinton, whose so-called P-Funk groups
(Funkadelic, Parliament, Parlet, the Brides of Funkenstein) were a
looser, wilder and more self-consciously counterculture version of
Brown's bands. With the advent of hip hop in the late '70s, James
Brown's grooves became the foundation for rap music and breakdancing,
as DJs such as Grandmaster Flash looped and extended the drum breaks
from earlier JB favorites like "Give It Up Or Turn It A Loose."
In the late 1980s, James Brown's music experienced a renaissance with
the rise of sampling by Hip Hop producers. Snippets of his 800-some
songs were recycled into hundreds of rap songs and continue to appear
in electronic music to this day.
Biographical
Information
Brown
grew up in the poverty of Depression era Augusta, Georgia. At 16,
he was convicted of armed robbery and made the acquaintance of Bobby
Byrd. He secured an early release after three years with the help
of Byrd's family under the condition that he not return to Augusta
or Richmond County and that he would try and get a job. After a brief
stint as a boxer and then baseball pitcher ended by a leg injury,
Brown turned his energy toward music, transforming the vocal band
The Gospel Starlighters into the first generation of The Famous Flames.
The
Sixties
He
began to tour relentlessly (Brown often calls himself The Hardest
Working Man In Show Business) and the band built a following with
their live shows. Brown's early hits, such as "Please Please
Please," recorded 1956, and "I'll Go Crazy," recorded
1959, were fairly straightforward gospel and R&B compositions
marked by a rhythmic acuity and sharpness of vocal and instrumental
attack that would later become even more pronounced and would lead
to the style called "funk". Brown's trademark screams and
stage act are renowned for generating a positive and highly excited
response from the audience. While these early singles were local hits,
and performed well on the R&B chart, the band was not nationally
successful until this live show was captured on record, on Brown's
self-financed Live at the Apollo in 1963. During this time Brown recorded
for the Cincinnati, Ohio-based King Records, presided over by Syd
Nathan.
Brown followed this success with a string of singles that, along with
the work of Allen Toussaint in New Orleans, essentially defined funk
music. 1964's "Out of Sight" was a harbinger of the new
James Brown sound. "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" and "I
Got You (I Feel Good)," both from 1965, featured the deceptively
simple riffs of guitarist Jimmy Nolen, which played off the bass guitar
and drums. In addition, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" saw
Brown utilizing technology; the released version of the single was
sped up to make the song more commercial. "Cold Sweat" (1967)
marked a radical departure into more abstract music, and critics have
come to see this recording as a high mark in the music of the 1960s,
although at the time the innovations of Brown were overshadowed by
the work of the Beatles. Brown employed musicians and arrangers who
had come up through the jazz tradition. He was noted for his ability
as a bandleader and songwriter to marry the simplicity and drive of
R&B to the rhythmic complexity and precision of jazz. Mixed in
with his more famous rhythmic essays of the era were ballads and even
Broadway show tunes. As the 1960s progressed, Brown would refine this
style further with "Licking Stick-Licking Stick" (recorded
in 1968), and "Funky Drummer" (recorded in 1969). He would
also add socio-political commentary on songs like "Say It Loud
(I'm Black and I'm Proud)" (1968) and "I Don't Want Nobody
to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door I'll Get It Myself)" 1970).
The
Seventies
By
1970 and his "Get Up (I Feel Like Being) a Sex Machine"
(recorded in Nashville, Tennessee), his "classic" '60s band,
featuring guitarist Jimmy Nolen, saxophonist Maceo Parker, and trombonist
Fred Wesley, had left him, and he employed a new band that included
Bootsy Collins, and later, Fred Wesley (as trombonist and musical
director). As Brown's musical empire grew (he bought radio stations
in the late 1960s), his desire for financial and artistic independence
grew as well. In the early 70s he began recording for Polydor Records,
and many of his sidemen and supporting players, such as Fred Wesley
(and the JB's, Brown's backing group), Bobby Byrd, Lyn Collins, Myra
Barnes and Hank Ballard, released records on Brown's subsidiary label,
People, which started up in 1971. These recordings are as much a part
of Brown's legacy as those released under his own name, and most are
noted examples of what might be termed James Brown's "house"
style. The early 70s marked the first real awareness, outside the
African-American community, of Brown's achievements; Miles Davis and
other jazz musicians began to cite Brown as a major influence on their
styles.
By the mid-70s Brown's star-status was on the wane. His 70s Polydor
recordings were a summation of all the innovation of the last twenty
years, and while some critics maintain that he declined artistically
during this period, compositions like "Funky President,"
"The Payback," and "Stoned to the Bone" are among
his best. Nevertheless, key musicians such as Bootsy Collins began
to depart. Ironically, the disco movement, which Brown anticipated,
and some say originated, found relatively little room for Brown; his
1976 albums Get Up Offa That Thing and Bodyheat were his first flirtations
with disco-fied rhythms incorporated into his funky repitoire. While
1977's Mutha's Nature and 1978's Jam 1980's generated no charted hits,
1979's The Original Disco Man LP is nonetheless a worthy late addition
to his ouvre, containing the song "It's Too Funky in Here,"
which was his last top R&B hit of the 70s.
The
Eighties to the Present
In
1985 he managed another hit single, "Living In America,"
but in 1988, he was arrested following a high-speed car chase through
the streets of Augusta. Imprisoned for firearms and drugs offences,
as well as for the repercussions of his flight, he was released in
1991 to find the sampled rhythms and drum beats from his records almost
ubiquitous in rap music; a 20-second drum solo near the end of the
song "Funky Drummer" is perhaps the single most sampled
piece of music in history. Brown still makes his home in the Augusta
area, and is a prominent figures in that community. A street in downtown
Augusta is named James Brown Boulevard in his honour.
Brown was a recipient of Kennedy Center Honors for 2003, and a scheduled
2004 unveiling of a statue of Brown in Augusta was delayed because
of James Brown's ongoing legal problems.
The 1991 four-CD retrospective Star Time is a synopsis of his career;
nearly all his earlier LPs have been re-released on CD, often with
additional tracks and informed commentary by scholars familiar with
Brown. In short, James Brown's reputation as an innovator is now commonplace,
and his personal appearances still draw crowds; a testament to his
stature as both musician and entertainer. |
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