'Godfather of Soul' James Brown dies
James Brown, the singer known as the “Godfather of Soul”, has died, his agent said today. He was 73.
Brown went into Emory Crawford Long Hospital, in Atlanta, Georgia, in the US, with pneumonia yesterday and died around 6.45am UK time today, said agent Frank Copsidas.
Long-time friend Charles Bobbit was by his side, Mr Copsidas said.
The agent said Brown’s family was being notified of his death and the cause was still uncertain.
“We really don’t know at this point what he died of,” Mr Copsidas said.
Brown was one of the major musical influences of the past 50 years.
His rapid-footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson among others. Songs such as David Bowie’s Fame, Prince’s Kiss, George Clinton’s Atomic Dog and Sly and the Family Stone’s Sing a Simple Song were clearly based on Brown’s rhythms and vocal style.
If Brown’s claim to the inventor of soul can be challenged by fans of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, then his rights to the genres of rap, disco and funk are beyond question. He was to rhythm and dance music what Dylan was to lyrics: the unchallenged popular innovator.
Rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy said: “James presented obviously the best grooves. To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one’s coming even close.”
His hit singles include such classics as Out of Sight, (Get Up I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine, I Got You (I Feel Good), and Say It Out Loud – I’m Black And I’m Proud, a landmark 1968 statement of racial pride.
He said In 2003: “I clearly remember we were calling ourselves coloured, and after the song, we were calling ourselves black. The song showed even people to that day that lyrics and music and a song can change society.”
He won a Grammy award for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag (best R&B recording) and for Living In America in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.)
He was one of the initial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and other founding fathers.
He triumphed despite an often unhappy personal life. Brown, who lived in Beech Island, South Carolina, spent more than two years in prison for aggravated assault and failing to stop for a police officer. After his release on in 1991, Brown said he wanted to “try to straighten out” rock music.
From the 1950s, when Brown had his first R&B hit, Please, Please, Please in 1956, through the mid-1970s, Brown went on a frenzy of touring. He earned the nickname “the hardest working man in showbusiness”.
With his tight trousers, shimmering feet, eye make-up and outrageous hair, Brown set the stage for younger stars such as Michael Jackson and Prince.
Rap stars of recent years have borrowed his lyrics with a digital technique called sampling.
Brown’s work has been replayed by the Fat Boys, Ice-T, Public Enemy and a host of other rappers.
Brown joked in a 1989 interview with Rolling Stone magazine:“The music out there is only as good as my last record.”
In 2003 he said: “Disco is James Brown, hip-hop is James Brown, rap is James Brown; you know what I’m saying? You hear all the rappers, 90% of their music is me.”
