1928 or 33?-2006

African-American musician

Brown was born into a poverty-stricken backwoods family in South Carolina (different sources give his year of birth as 1928 and 1933). His parents separated and when he was five he was sent to live with an aunt in Augusta, George, who ran a brothel.

He earned money by entertaining soldiers at nearby Camp Gordon with his buckdancing and touting for business for his aunt. He also sang gospel music and played the piano, drums and guitar.

In 1949 he was sentenced to four years in the Alto Reform School for breaking into cars. In 1952 he joined the Gospel Starlighters, which evolved into a rhythm and blues group named the Flames. The group had their first hit in 1955, but Brown did not really make it big until the 1959 hit "Try Me." His first national No. 1 hit record was "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," in 1965. In 1992 he was awarded a lifetime achievement Grammy Award, but since the mid-1980s he has had a number of brushes with the law and the tax authorities. He spent three years in prison for assault and illegal possession of weapons and was arrested 1998 for possession of marijuana.

References

Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
Guinness Book of Rock Stars, 2nd edition, edited by Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton. (Enfield: Guinness Publishing, 1991)
Pickering, David. Brewer's Twentieth-Century Music. (London: Cassell, 1994)
Hardy, Phil, and Laing, Dave. The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music. (London: Faber and Faber, 1995)
Tee, Ralph. Who's Who in Soul Music. (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1991)
Brown, Geoff. James Brown: Doin' It to Death. (London: Omnibus, 1996)
Brown, James, and Tucker, Bruce. James Brown: The Godfather of Soul. (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1990)
Rose, Cynthia. Living in America: The Soul Saga of James Brown. (London: Serpents Tail, 1990)
Online Talent Agency. "James Brown Home Page." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.onlinetalent.com/MRBrown_homepage.html

Indexes

African
USA
20th Century
21st Century
Criminal Convictions, Imprisonment
School-age Years, Adolescence
Parental Relationship Breakdown, Divorce
Uncles and Aunts, Parents' Uncles and Aunts