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James Brown
American musician (1933–2006)
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by various nicknames, among them "Mr.
Dynamite", "the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business", "Minister of New Super Heavy Funk", "Godfather of Soul", "King of Soul", and "Soul Brother No. 1". In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres.
Brown was one of the first ten inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 23, 1986. His music has been heavily sampled by hip-hop musicians and other artists.
labels: Federal Records, King Records, Polydor Records, Philips Records
genres: soul, funk, doo-wop, blues, gospel music
awards: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honors, star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, MOJO Awards, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
plays: guitar, organ, voice, drum kit
member of: James Brown & The Famous Flames
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
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Radio Free Elsewhere BulletinExtra
Early life
James Joseph Brown was born on May 3, 1933, in a small wooden shack located in Barnwell, South Carolina, to a 16-year-old young American Black woman named Susie (née Behling; 1916–2004), and 21-year-old American Black and Native-American Joseph Gardner Brown (1912–1993). Brown's name was supposed to have been Joseph James Brown, but his first and middle names were mistakenly reversed on his birth certificate. The Brown family lived in poverty in Elko, South Carolina, which was an impoverished town in 1933. They moved to Augusta, Georgia when James was four or five. His family first settled at one of his aunts' brothels and later moved into a house shared with another aunt. Brown's mother eventually left the family after a contentious and...
Although his records were mainstays of the vanguard New York underground disco scene, exemplified by DJs such as David Mancuso and Francis Grasso, from 1969 onwards, Brown did not consciously yield to the trend until 1975's Sex Machine Today. By 1977, he was no longer a dominant force in R&B. After "Get Up Offa That Thing", thirteen of Brown's late 1970s recordings for Polydor failed to reach the Top 10 of the R&B chart, with only "Bodyheat" in 1976 and the disco-oriented "It's Too Funky in Here" in 1979 reaching the R&B Top 15 and the ballad "Kiss in 77" reaching the Top 40.
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 is a representative example:
Brown received awards and honors throughout his lifetime and after his death. In 1993, the City Council of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, conducted a poll of 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 Soul Center of the Universe Bridge". The bridge was officially dedicated in September 1993, and Brown appeared at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the event. A petition was started by local ranchers to return the name to "Stockbridge" for historical reasons, but they 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 festival,...
American singer, songwriter, and musician (born 3 May 1933 near Barnwell, South Carolina; died 25 December 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia (aged 73).
Raised in poverty in Augusta, Georgia. Prior to his career in music, he worked as a shoe-shiner, car washer, and cotton-picker.
1950s: Joined the Gospel Starlighters in 1953, a vocal quartet led by Bobby Byrd, after completing a four-year stint in prison for robbery. As Brown became the focal point of the act, the group changed its name to 'The Famous Flames' and its focus from gospel to R&B. In 1955 The Famous Flames record "Please Please Please" at the studio of WIBB in Macon, Georgia. In 1958 James Brown's first #1 hit, "Try Me", is released. It was the best-selling R&B single of 1958, and the first of 17 chart-topping R&B singles by Brown over the next two decades.
1965: Records "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", a revolutionary single that ushers in a whole new era of soul music. Released that summer, it tops the R&B chart for eight weeks and even cracks the pop Top Ten.
1971: Signs with Polydor Records, for which he recorded extensively throughout the decade.
1974: The Payback, the most successful of James Brown's seventies albums—many
Also known as: A James Brown Production, B. Brown, Babbitt, Brow, Browin
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
James Brown, the records, oldest first
Twist Around
1961 album
Prisoner of Love
1963 album
Grits & Soul
1964 album
Showtime
1964 album
Sings Out of Sight
1965 album
James Brown Plays James Brown: Yesterday and Today
1965 album
Handful of Soul
1966 album
James Brown Plays New Breed
1966 album
James Brown Plays the Real Thing
1967 album
James Brown Sings Raw Soul
1967 album
Thinking About Little Willie John and a Few Nice Things
1968 album
I Got the Feelin’
1968 album
A Soulful Christmas
1968 album
It’s a Mother
1969 album
Say It Loud: I’m Black and I’m Proud
1969 album
Gettin’ Down to It
1969 album
The Popcorn
1969 album
Ain’t It Funky
1970 album
Soul on Top
1970 album
Hey America
1970 album
It’s a New Day - Let a Man Come In
1970 album
Hot Pants
1971 album
Sho Is Funky Down Here
1971 album
There It Is
1972 album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
"Try Me", titled "Try Me (I Need You)" in its original release, is a song recorded by James Brown and the Famous Flames in 1958. It was a #1 R&B hit and charted #48 Pop—the group's first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100.
It was Brown and the Flames' second charting single, ending a two-year dry spell after the success of "Please, Please, Please".
Background
By 1958, James Brown's career was faltering. After disputes over royalties, songwriting credit, and the indignity of having been relegated to backup singers on the billing of "Please, Please, Please", most of the original Famous Flames (including founder Bobby Byrd) had walked out on him; only Johnny Terry remained. Brown continued to perform with a backing band and a new Flames lineup consisting of members of Little Richard's former vocal group, the Dominions. ("Big Bill" Hollings, Louis Madison, and J.W. Archer). They recorded more songs for Federal Records, but nine of their singles in a row failed to chart.
Reception
Released in October 1958, the song became their first to crack the R&B charts in three years and their first ever to crack the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1958 after their relative failure of "Please, Please, Please" peaking at number 5 on Billboard's Bubbling Under chart (or #105). The song peaked at number one on the R&B chart in February of 1959 and reached number 48 on the Hot 100. It would stay on the Billboard Hot 100 for 13 weeks. The song sold over a million copies and saved the Famous Flames from having their contract dropped due to lack of hits following the original Famous Flames disbanding and Brown's struggles to deal with the group and their performances on the chitlin' circuit. The song was also the best-selling R&B single...
