just a sad note-James Brown, RIP - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Paq · 12-25-2006, 12:20 AM

The Godfather of soul, James Brown died christmas morning at 1:45 am.

I'll miss him

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061225/..._mu/obit_brown

Quote:

ATLANTA -
James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured "Godfather of Soul," whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday, his agent said. He was 73.
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Brown was hospitalized with pneumonia at Emory Crawford Long Hospital on Sunday and died around 1:45 a.m. Monday, said his agent, Frank Copsidas of Intrigue Music. Longtime friend Charles Bobbit was by his side, he said.

Copsidas said Brown's family was being notified of his death and that the cause was still uncertain. "We really don't know at this point what he died of," he said.

Along with
Elvis Presley,
Bob Dylan and a handful of others, Brown was one of the major musical influences of the past 50 years. At least one generation idolized him, and sometimes openly copied him. 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 invention 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.

"James presented obviously the best grooves," rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy once told The Associated Press. "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.

"I clearly remember we were calling ourselves colored, and after the song, we were calling ourselves black," Brown said in a 2003 Associated Press interview. "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 Presley,
Chuck Berry and other founding fathers.

He triumphed despite an often unhappy personal life. Brown, who lived in Beech Island near the Georgia line, spent more than two years in a South Carolina 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 cross-country tours, concerts and new songs. He earned the nickname "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business."

With his tight pants, shimmering feet, eye makeup and outrageous hair, Brown set the stage for younger stars such as Michael Jackson and Prince.

In 1986, he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And rap stars of recent years overwhelmingly 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. "The music out there is only as good as my last record," Brown joked in a 1989 interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

"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 percent of their music is me," he told the AP in 2003.

Born in poverty in Barnwell, S.C., in 1933, he was abandoned as a 4-year-old to the care of relatives and friends and grew up on the streets of Augusta, Ga., in an "ill-repute area," as he once called it. There he learned to wheel and deal.

"I wanted to be somebody," Brown said.

By the eighth grade in 1949, Brown had served 3 1/2 years in Alto Reform School near Toccoa, Ga., for breaking into cars.

While there, he met Bobby Byrd, whose family took Brown into their home. Byrd also took Brown into his group, the Gospel Starlighters. Soon they changed their name to the Famous Flames and their style to hard R&B.

In January 1956, King Records of Cincinnati signed the group, and four months later "Please, Please, Please" was in the R&B Top Ten.

While most of Brown's life was glitz and glitter, he was plagued with charges of abusing drugs and alcohol and of hitting his third wife, Adrienne.

In September 1988, Brown, high on PCP and carrying a shotgun, entered an insurance seminar next to his Augusta office. Police said he asked seminar participants if they were using his private restroom.

Police chased Brown for a half-hour from Augusta into South Carolina and back to Georgia. The chase ended when police shot out the tires of his truck.

Brown received a six-year prison sentence. He spent 15 months in a South Carolina prison and 10 months in a work release program before being paroled in February 1991. In 2003, the South Carolina parole board granted him a pardon for his crimes in that state.

Soon after his release, Brown was on stage again with an audience that included millions of cable television viewers nationwide who watched the three-hour, pay-per-view concert at Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.

Adrienne Brown died in 1996 in Los Angeles at age 47. She took PCP and several prescription drugs while she had a bad heart and was weak from cosmetic surgery two days earlier, the coroner said.

More recently, he married his fourth wife, Tomi Raye Hynie, one of his backup singers. The couple had a son, James Jr.

Two years later, Brown spent a week in a private Columbia hospital, recovering from what his agent said was dependency on painkillers. Brown's attorney, Albert "Buddy" Dallas, said singer was exhausted from six years of road shows.

Manic_Skafe · 12-25-2006, 02:15 AM

It's a shame to see another one of the greatest entertainers of all time gone.

mixedmedia · 12-25-2006, 04:27 AM

James Brown lived the life of at least three men. It is sad to see him go, it's always sad when you realize one more of the great ones is gone, but the legacy of his music will live on.

RIP, you Sex Machine...

The_Jazz · 12-25-2006, 07:00 AM

He created a unique sound that was copied by a lot of others. I for one will miss him.

jth · 12-25-2006, 08:11 AM

i woke up from my sleep at exactly 2:45 atl time which was his time of death... I'm wondering what that means?

GET UP!

silent_jay · 12-25-2006, 08:40 AM

Wow this is sad to hear, James Brown was a legend who will be missed by all....RIP.

Bacchanal · 12-25-2006, 09:31 AM

Terrible, terrible news.

May the Godfather rest peacefully.

Telluride · 12-25-2006, 12:31 PM

I have to admit that I've never been a big fan of soul or R&B, but James Brown's tremendous influence on music is undeniable. He did more than enough to earn his spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

RIP, James.

roachboy · 12-25-2006, 02:32 PM

james brown.
what a drag that he died.
what a fucking drag.

as a musician and composer, he was more important and influential than the beatles ever were or could have hoped to be.
but curiously, folk don't seem to see him that way. even now.
think about it.

opus123 · 12-25-2006, 02:42 PM

He lived hard and fast. Perhaps too hard. He will be missed by many people who saw him in concert.

Jonathan

Lizra · 12-25-2006, 03:20 PM

He was an extremely controversial person back in the sixties....he was "Soul Brother #1"....and that meant something. Racism was really up front and ugly then...and James Brown stepped right up and said/chanted "Say it loud! I'm black and I'm proud!" Racist white people like Alabama gov George Wallace hated him. Thankfully, times slowly changed, mellowed...Then he became the "Hardest Working Man in Show Business" (cause he gigged so much) and finally "The Godfather of Soul"....

Lady Sage · 12-25-2006, 04:25 PM

He led a full life and probably had few regrets. Rock on in the after life James.

12-25-2006, 02:15 AM	#2 (permalink)
Manic_Skafe More Than You Expect Location: Queens	It's a shame to see another one of the greatest entertainers of all time gone. __________________ "Porn is a zoo of exotic animals that becomes boring upon ownership." -Nersesian

12-25-2006, 04:27 AM	#3 (permalink)
mixedmedia has all her shots. Location: Florida	James Brown lived the life of at least three men. It is sad to see him go, it's always sad when you realize one more of the great ones is gone, but the legacy of his music will live on. RIP, you Sex Machine... __________________ Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

12-25-2006, 07:00 AM	#4 (permalink)
The_Jazz Asshole Administrator Location: Chicago	He created a unique sound that was copied by a lot of others. I for one will miss him. __________________ "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin "There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush "We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

12-25-2006, 08:11 AM	#5 (permalink)
jth Insane Location: HRM	i woke up from my sleep at exactly 2:45 atl time which was his time of death... I'm wondering what that means? GET UP! __________________ "A real leader faces the music, even if he doesn't like the tune." - unknown quote

12-25-2006, 08:40 AM	#6 (permalink)
silent_jay Her Jay Location: Ontario for now....	Wow this is sad to hear, James Brown was a legend who will be missed by all....RIP. __________________ Absence makes the heart grow fonder

12-25-2006, 09:31 AM	#7 (permalink)
Bacchanal Laid back Location: Jayhawkland	Terrible, terrible news. May the Godfather rest peacefully. __________________ Universal Truth Is Not Measured In Mass Appeal

12-25-2006, 12:31 PM	#8 (permalink)
Telluride Browncoat Location: California	I have to admit that I've never been a big fan of soul or R&B, but James Brown's tremendous influence on music is undeniable. He did more than enough to earn his spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. RIP, James. __________________ "I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice." - Friedrich Hayek

12-25-2006, 02:32 PM	#9 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	james brown. what a drag that he died. what a fucking drag. as a musician and composer, he was more important and influential than the beatles ever were or could have hoped to be. but curiously, folk don't seem to see him that way. even now. think about it. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite

12-25-2006, 02:42 PM	#10 (permalink)
opus123 Crazy Location: Shoreline, WA, USA	He lived hard and fast. Perhaps too hard. He will be missed by many people who saw him in concert. Jonathan __________________ "We are sure to be losers when we quarrel with ourselves. It is a civil war, and in all such contentions, triumphs are defeats." Mr Colton ==================================

12-25-2006, 03:20 PM	#11 (permalink)
Lizra Insane Location: rural Indiana	He was an extremely controversial person back in the sixties....he was "Soul Brother #1"....and that meant something. Racism was really up front and ugly then...and James Brown stepped right up and said/chanted "Say it loud! I'm black and I'm proud!" Racist white people like Alabama gov George Wallace hated him. Thankfully, times slowly changed, mellowed...Then he became the "Hardest Working Man in Show Business" (cause he gigged so much) and finally "The Godfather of Soul".... __________________ Happy atheist Last edited by Lizra; 12-25-2006 at 03:23 PM..

12-25-2006, 04:25 PM	#12 (permalink)
Lady Sage Mistress of Mayhem Location: Canton, Ohio	He led a full life and probably had few regrets. Rock on in the after life James. __________________ If only closed minds came with closed mouths. Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open. It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch.