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The reach of Brown's influence extended to many different musical genres, including rap. Chuck-D of Public Enemy once said of him ... "there never has been no one near as funky. No one's coming even close".

Funk isn't an easy R&B sub-genre to play well. It can come off as brash, lacking in style. Kind of like a runaway musical freight train. It took a master like James Brown to work the groove and produce the intricate rhythms that later inspired a host of other musicians.

James Brown was a gutsy performer who wasn't afraid to challenge social taboos. In an era when African Americans were referred to as "colored", it took the meteoric James to seize the microphone and electrify America with "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud". His sheer raw power commanded attention, and the tight rhythms his back-up musicians perfected, added to a primal power that was impossible to ignore.

JB was a small man with an outsize ego. When he appeared on-stage with his meticulously groomed pompadour hairdo and flash clothes, he was like some kind of attention magnet in the flesh. When he started up, he seemed possessed as he delivered wild yelps and moans. Like the rhythms of his music, his dance style went all the way from speedy foot movements to full body gyrations. There was little about it that seemed choreographed. It was all about soul and rhythmic intuition.

James Brown had a tough life. Born in 1933 in Barnwell, N. Carolina, and abandoned at age four, he was raised by family and friends. As a teen on the streets of Georgia, he turned to petty crime and was sent to a reform school for a few years.

His first break came when he joined the Gospel Starlighters, a group that later changed its name to the Famous Flames . In 1956 the Flames were signed by King Records and shortly after, the single "Please, Please, Please" made it to the R&B Top Ten.

In the early 1990's Brown was charged with assaulting his wife, Adrienne. Just another episode in a life that was marked with the same excess he brought to his stage performance. Prison time didn't dampen his enthusiasm for performing and when he was paroled he bounced back with shows on cable TV.

James Brown was in a class of his own. His stage presence and personal style influenced performers like Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and Prince.

In 1992 he won a Grammy for lifetime achievement.

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About The Author

Aidan Maconachy is a freelance writer and artist based in Ontario.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily
Up to the minute breaking news from the world of music, from the editors of Rolling Stone.

Top Stories: March 12, 2010
by Rolling Stone
Posted on 12 Mar 2010 at 1:33pm • Watch Lady Gaga, Beyoncé’s “Telephone” • News Ticker: The Clash, Metallica • Conan O’Brien Announces Bonnaroo, Tour • Pearl Jam Plot May Tour Dates • Corgan on Mayer’s Career-Destruction • Idol to Tackle Rolling Stones Songs • Pink Floyd Halt Single-Song Downloads • Strokes Confirm Lollapalooza Slot • Actor Corey Haim Dead at 38 • Kate Nash Talks My Best Friend Is You • [...]
News Ticker: The Clash, Ray Charles, Amy Winehouse, Metallica
by Rolling Stone
Posted on 12 Mar 2010 at 1:31pm The Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon both play on Gorillaz’s new Plastic Beach, and Spinner reports the pair might be considering joining Damon Albarn’s outfit on a brief tour. If true, it would mark the first time the former bandmates have shared a stage in public since 1983. Unchain My Heart, a musical about Ray [...]
Lady Gaga and Beyonce Unleash Orgy of Sex, Violence, Product Placement in ?Te...
by Caryn Ganz
Posted on 12 Mar 2010 at 4:43am Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s anxiously awaited video for their The Fame Monster collaboration “Telephone” has arrived as a nine-minute-and-thirty-second mash-up of lesbian prison porn, campy sexploitation flicks and insidery winks at the two divas’ public personas. If Quentin Tarantino and Russ Meyer remade Thelma & Louise as an orgy of product placement with fiercely choreographed [...]
Tour Tracker: Elton John, Diana Ross and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
by Daniel Kreps
Posted on 11 Mar 2010 at 10:45pm Photo: Venema/WireImage While Billy Joel takes the next few months off, Elton John soldiers on with a new round of April dates. Plus, Diana Ross announces her “More Today Than Yesterday” greatest-hits tour and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony reveal a fresh trek in support of their upcoming reunion album Uni5: The World’s Enemy. Full details for all [...]
Pearl Jam Announce May U.S. Tour Capped By Two MSG Gigs
by Daniel Kreps
Posted on 11 Mar 2010 at 6:33pm Photo: Dyson/WireImage Missed Pearl Jam live during the band’s run of Backspacer tour dates last year? Eddie Vedder and company are giving you another chance to see their legendary live show in action with a month-long slate of U.S. shows that kick off in May. The trek launches at New Orleans’ Jazz Festival on May 1st [...]
?American Idol? Set to Tackle Songs By the Rolling Stones
by Daniel Kreps
Posted on 11 Mar 2010 at 6:20pm Photo: AFP/Getty Two years ago American Idol celebrated the music of the Fab Four, and next week the show’s Top 12 will pick up that rockin’ tradition by belting out songs by “the Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World,” the Rolling Stones. Host Ryan Seacrest made the announcement of next week’s musical theme on [...]
Billy Corgan on John Mayer: ?He?s Trying to Destroy His Career?
by Rolling Stone
Posted on 11 Mar 2010 at 5:03pm Photo: Bedder/WireImage (Mayer), Mayer/WireImage(Corgan)After reading John Mayer’s controversial recent interviews, Billy Corgan is convinced Mayer is trying to self-destruct. “He’s trying to destroy his career,” Corgan told Rolling Stone’s Brian Hiatt in an interview outtake from RS‘ revealing new Corgan feature in the new issue, on sale now. “Rather than take a year off or [...]
Conan O?Brien Joins Bonnaroo, Announces ?Legally Prohibited? Tour
by Daniel Kreps
Posted on 11 Mar 2010 at 4:08pm Photo: Brown/Getty NBC may have stripped Conan O’Brien of his Tonight Show and contractually barred him from temporarily appearing on television, but the red-headed host has found another way to get in front of his legion of fans: Bonnaroo. O’Brien posted on his newborn Twitter page today to reveal he’s hitting the road. “Hey [...]
The Strokes Confirm Lollapalooza Slot, Report In on Next Album
by Daniel Kreps
Posted on 11 Mar 2010 at 3:07pm Photo: Bedder/Getty With the Strokes in the studio hard at work on their long-awaited follow-up to First Impressions of Earth, frontman Julian Casablancas has reiterated drummer Fab Moretti’s prediction about when the album will be released, telling the Chicago Tribune, “I think it’ll be out in September.” Casablancas added, “I’ve written a lot of melodies [...]
Pink Floyd Win Battle to Halt Single-Song Download Sales
by Daniel Kreps
Posted on 11 Mar 2010 at 2:02pm Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Pink Floyd have won their lawsuit over single-song downloads against EMI, effectively halting the digital sale of the band’s individual tracks. As Rolling Stone reported yesterday, under the terms of a 1999 contract that predated iTunes and other digital-music retailers, the band mandated its songs could not be offered outside the [...]

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