James Brown Biography

James Joseph Brown was a very prominent American musician who contributed immensely to the development of several musical genres including soul music, funk music and rap music. Over a career spanning six decades this highly influential artist redefined the way music was created in America. Regarded as one of the founding fathers of funk music, he has earned many epithets: ‘The Godfather of Soul’, ‘The Original Disco Man’, and ‘Mr. Dynamite’. Brown’s life story is a typical rags-to-riches tale—born into abject poverty during the Great Depression, he had a difficult childhood and became involved in street violence and crimes as a youth. After a jail term he turned to music and joined Bobby Byrd’s vocal group, The Gospel Starlighters. Blessed with an emotive and powerful voice he easily became one of the group’s leaders. The group was renamed as ‘The Famous Flames’ and performed at nightclubs and became popular with the song ‘Please, Please, Please’. By the 1960s, the unique music which Brown created was becoming known as “funk” music—his song ‘Cold Sweat’ which hit No.1 on the R&B Chart was cited as the first true funk song by music critics. Brown’s touring shows were the most extravagant production in American pop music and he could perform more than 330 shows in a year.