RIP_James Brown

[fable]

Singer James Brown, the self-proclaimed "godfather of soul", who billed himself as the hardest-working man in show business, has died. He was 73.

Brown was taken to hospital on Sunday at Emory Crawford Long hospital in Atlanta for treatment of severe pneumonia and died at 1:45am on Monday (06:45GMT), Frank Copsidas, his agent, said.
The singer, also known as "Mr Dynamite", is credited with bringing the word "funk" into mainstream musical vernacular and influencing a generation of black music that spawned rap and hip-hop.
Brown's hit Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud) became a civil rights anthem during the 1960s and he performed the song at Richard Nixon's inaugural ceremony in 1968, an act that temporarily hurt his popularity among young blacks.

He had more than 119 chart singles and recorded more than 50 albums, was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and received a lifetime achievement Grammy award in 1992.
Brown also built a successful business empire, including a string of radio stations and a production company, and owned a fleet of cars and an aircraft.

Diverse career

In 1980, he played the role of a manic preacher in the hit film The Blues Brothers.

"Soul is all the hard knocks, all the punishment the black man has had ... all the unfulfilled dreams that must come true," he once said.

He was chosen to be a member of President Reagan's Council Against Drugs, but was arrested several times in the mid-1980s and 90s and charged with drug and weapons possession.


Brown was arrested several times and charged
with drug and weapons possession [AFP]
By 1988 Brown, who had begun his music career in jail as a juvenile offender, was back behind bars, sentenced to six years for drug, weapons and driving charges after a car chase through Georgia and South Carolina, which ended with police shooting out the tyres of his vehicle. He left prison in 1991.

Brown emerged from a boyhood of extreme poverty and petty crime to become one of the biggest record-sellers in rhythm and blues.

Lively shows

"Feeling and flamboyance fused into calculated spontaneity," a critic wrote of a Brown performance. He said that Brown danced like a dervish and sang with "an astounding range of primitive emotional sounds - grunts, groans, screeches, screams, wails".

"Soul is all the hard knocks, all the punishment the black man has had ... all the unfulfilled dreams that must come true"

James Brown

Every record he made during 1960-77 reached the top-100. Big hits included Please, Please, Please, Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, I Got You (I Feel Good), Get Up (I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine) and It's a Man's World.

His 1985 hit Living in America,which was featured in the film Rocky IV, brought him a whole new generation of fans and his first Grammy.

He combined his music with a theatrical delivery. He also developed a trademark routine in which he would keep coming back on stage after a show and sing a few lines of Please, Please, Please with the sweat pouring from his bare-chested body.

His stage crew would throw a cape over his back and he would leave, only to reappear seconds later on his knees, moaning the song into the microphone. The routine would sometimes go on for 30-40 minutes and send his fans delirious.

some sad shit :(

[B-rizzo]

wow.. my jaw dropped reading that

RIP :(

[tiedye]

I guess he really did hurt himself.

He will be missed.

[Pennywise]

holy wow.

RIP:(

he had a few dates coming up here in vancouver to:(

[Apple Jaxx]

Shitty man....on Christmas day too? RIP Godfather of soul

[djmarkpaul]

Jesus wanted him in heaven for a day to sing I feel good one last time.

MODS MERGE DA THREADS.

[wigglesworth]

the most influential person in music in the last 100 years.
im glad i got to see him twice before he died, but this is still very sad.

cant wait for the movie about his life.

[Kraig]

I'm with Wiggles on this one.

SPECTRUM EVENTS -- similar to what you do with Stevie Wonder, you should throw a James Brown themed night!

[Dr. Doom]

:( James brown is dead...

[*SunShyne*]

wow...

RIP

[Séguin]

I heard about this earlier this morning. RIP funk master Brown.

[guy smiley]

oh no that sucks rest in peace James Brown.

[inside]

RIP bro. Probly the biggest contribuiter to what most of us listen to today.

[ash1ee]

i had to find this out over xmas dinner.
worst xmas dinner news.
saddest face ever.

a great xmas mix on the mad decent blog with some classic jb toons...

http://www.maddecent.com/blog

[·dıesel·]

Rip :(