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James Brown & The Famous Flames

soul, funk, disco, rhythm & blues

Not much is written down about them yet. What we know is pinned below.

From the station's own files.
Admit one
James Brown & The Famous Flames
what
a band
from
United States
since
1953
until
1968
on the air here
0 songs
still after
2 songs

File card: James Brown & The Famous Flames

members: James Brown, Johnny Terry

Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.

soulfunkdiscorhythm & blues
For credits that explicitly omit James Brown (e.g. "backing band" credits, post-1968 group-only releases) please use . James Brown and changing cast of back-up musicians, singers and dancers. The group played gospel and rhythm & blues, playing at juke joints, and later when they became better known, they performed at various colleges. Prior to their first recording, "Please, Please, Please", The Famous Flames were billed simply as The Flames, and Brown himself was billed as a member of the group. In later concerts and recordings Brown and the group were billed as James Brown and The Famous Flames, or sometimes as James Brown and His Famous Flames. During the earliest phase of the Flames' career, before they had a recording contract, each member of the group played an instrument; Bobby Byrd played the piano, while Brown himself played drums. However, in later years (aside from the brief exception of guitarist Nafloyd Scott) The Famous Flames consisted specifically of the singers who backed Brown, not the instrumentalists in his band. (During the 50s and 60s the band was billed separately as the James Brown Band, the James Brown Orchestra, or The Poets depending on the con Also known as: James Brown, James Brown & Famous Flames, James Brown & His Blue Flames, James Brown & His Famous Flames, James Brown & The Famous Blue Flames From Discogs (free to use). Their entry

Liner notes

James Brown & The Famous Flames, the records, oldest first
  1. Please, Please, Please
    1958 album
  2. Try Me!
    1959 album
  3. Please, Please, Please
    1959 ep
  4. Think!
    1960 album
  5. The Amazing James Brown
    1961 album
  6. Good Good Twistin'
    1962 album
  7. Tour the U.S.A.
    1962 album
  8. Mighty Instrumental’s
    1966 album
  9. Sings Christmas Songs
    1966 album
  10. Cold Sweat
    1967 album
  11. I Can't Stand Myself When You Touch Me
    1968 album
  12. James Brown Plays Nothing But Soul
    1968 album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.

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The Elsewhere Gazette1963

Try Me

1958 single by James Brown and The Famous Flames

"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...

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