The Godfather Of Soul. Born in Barnwell, Georgia on 3 May 1933. James Brown was born as an only child in a poor family. At the age of five, he went to live in a brothel in Augusta, Georgia with his aunt. At the nearby army camp, he entertained the soldiers by dancing and singing for them. He earned money by picking cotton and shining shoes. He often managed to recruit soldiers for the brothel.
At nineteen, he went to prison after a failed robbery. With the help of Bobby Byrd, he was released on parole and joined Byrd's gospel group Starlighters. After his arrival, the group focused more on R&B and James became the frontman. The name also changed to James Brown & The Famous Flames. In 1955, they recorded their first single 'Please, Please, Please'.
Brown wanted to further develop his own style, but there seemed to be little room for that in the record industry. His determination to make it in music ultimately helped him. By playing a lot and refining his characteristic sound, he finally scored a hit in 1958 with 'Try Me'. And just in time, as his record company had lost faith in him by then.
More singles followed and James became a frequent visitor to the top ten charts with songs like 'Think' and 'Nighttrain'. His performances were notorious for his energetic dancing and rousing shouts. With Out Of Sight, he broke through definitively. The only downside to this record was that it was not recorded and released by his regular record company, but by a competitor.
The legal wrangling lasted a year, during which James did not record new albums. He eventually returned to his old record label and gained more control over the music. At some point, his lyrics contained as many words as shouts and cries. The number of brass players in the band also increased. Funk gradually took shape. 'Papa's Got A Brand New Bag' from 1965 is a fine example. The follow-up 'I Got You' is also full of funk.
Disco beats soul
His success continued until the early seventies, but with the arrival of disco, James' record sales stagnated. He continued to release successful soul songs, but these no longer reached the top of the pop charts. In the mid-seventies, James ran into trouble with the tax authorities and was not in a good financial position. Now and then he still scored a hit, such as in 1975 with the re-released 'Sexmachine', but by the end of the seventies, James was without a record company.
Success thanks to rap
In 1980, he had a guest role in the legendary music film The Blues Brothers with Dan Akroyd and John Belushi. But this did not make much difference. His live performances remained spectacular. The rise of rap did not harm 'Mr Dynamite'. His shouts were frequently used in samples for rap songs. But it was only in 1985 that James managed to score an international hit on his own again. In Rocky IV by Sylvester Stallone, he performed the song 'Living In America', which proved as successful as the film.
Prison again
In 1988, he was once again locked up due to various legal offences. He was caught and arrested after a wild car chase for drug possession, assaulting his wife and various traffic violations. He was also said to have threatened people with a gun. The sentence was six years in prison, but he was released in 1991 for good behaviour.
The end
'The Hardest Working Man In Showbusiness' performed until a very old age. For example, he was on stage in Paris during Live 8 on 2 July 2005. On the night of 24 to 25 December 2006, James Brown died of pneumonia. He was 73 years old.
During his life, Brown released a treasure trove of music. We have shown his 11 best albums below. If you have an album you prefer, please let us know. We would be happy to add your choice!
Sunday Morning Classic: Bodyheat
On 16 May 2021, James was in the spotlight as Sunday Morning Classic with the album Bodyheat.
Bodyheat is just another James Brown album. After the brief revival of Get Up Offa That Thing, the weaknesses of this album are more signs that Brown's decline was soon to come. Disco was hugely popular and Brown began incorporating it into his music to survive.
Fortunately, this is still James Brown funk, apart from a noticeably slicker production than previously seen, albeit nowhere near as good as before. The biggest problem with this disc is that the levels of creativity are very low and Brown doesn't know what else to do but stick to his formula and slowly add disco. 'Bodyheat' is, as is the norm with title tracks on Brown's albums, the best here, a great funky groove with decent brass, but it is vastly inferior to the hits he had just two years earlier. The only other really good track here is 'I'm Satisfied', an energetic funk workout almost on par with 'Bodyheat', supported by beautiful bass playing. Apart from that, 'Don't Tell It' is okay, but it really only starts cooking about three minutes and forty seconds into the track.
The worst tracks include the symbolic remake of the album, the terrible 'Woman', which is a complete failure as it is a half-hearted rewrite/rip-off of 'It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World' that sounds too confused to be convincing. 'What the World Needs Now is Love' is a slow ballad that is too preachy, a filler with a message that sounds terribly outdated and badly written.
All in all, this album shows that the comeback of Get Up Offa That Thing was only a one-off, and that Brown was becoming outdated. Bodyheat is not as bad as it could have been if he had tried to do full disco, but it is still quite hard to recommend.
source: NPO and Jan Liebregts photo: Heinrich Klaffs and Robbie Drexhage
