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Brown, James
4 articles on Brown, James
Brown, James
Source: Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century
Word Count: 1571 Includes: Bibliography(b. 3 May 1933; d. 25 December 2006), singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Born in Barnwell, South Carolina, to Joe Brown (né Gardner), a turpentine worker, and Susan Behlings, James Brown experienced extreme poverty in early childhood. His mother left the family when Brown was four. When he was six, he was sent to Augusta, Georgia, to live with an aunt who ran a brothel. In addition to picking cotton and shining shoes, the young Brown earned money by tap-dancing for World War II troops and by singing in talent contests.As a teenager Brown broke into a car to steal a coat and was sentenced to eight to sixteen years in prison. He served three years and was released in 1953. He then sang in a doo-wop and gospel ensemble headed by Bobby Byrd. Brown soon emerged as the lead singer, and the band, ...
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Source: Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition
Word Count: 6381933–2006
African American soul and funk singer who has been called the Godfather of Soul, Soul Brother Number One, Mr. Dynamite, and the Hardest Working Man in Show Business. James Brown was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia, where he picked cotton, shined shoes, danced, and served time for armed robbery. For a while Brown boxed and even played professional baseball, until an injury made him turn to music. After dabbling in gospel, he changed the name of his singing group from the Swanees to the Famous Flames. The group's local popularity attracted the attention of Federal Records, which signed them to a contract in 1956. Their first record, “Please Please Please,” did well, and “Try Me” topped the Rhythm-and-Blues (R&B) charts in 1958.As the group's fame spread beyond Georgia, Brown's ambition grew. He ...
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Source: African American National Biography
Word Count: 2108 Includes: Further Reading(3 May 1933–25 Dec. 2006), rhythm-and-blues singer, was born James Joe Brown Jr. in a country shack just outside Barnwell, South Carolina, to Joe Gardner and Susan Behlings. His father did various jobs, while nothing is known about his mother's occupation. Brown was raised in extreme poverty, and his parents separated when he was four; two years later he went to live with his great-aunt, Minnie Walker, in Augusta, Georgia.Brown's father often sang blues songs in the evening, and when Brown was four, his father gave him a ten-cent harmonica. His earliest years were spent tap dancing in the street for spare change. He claimed that his formidable sense of rhythm stemmed from such humble beginnings. A self-taught musician, Brown began to play organ at the age of eight and later acquired a rudimentary knowledge of bass, guitar, saxophone, and trumpet. At eleven Brown ...
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Source: Grove Music Online
Word Count: 1141 Includes: Bibliography(b. Barnwell, SC, 3 May 1928). American soul and funk singer, composer, arranger and bandleader. Born into extreme poverty in the rural South, he began his career as a professional musician in the early 1950s with the gospel-based group, the Flames. By 1956 the group had recorded the rhythm and blues hit Please, Please, Please(Federal, 1956) and changed their name to James Brown and the Famous Flames. This early recording established what was to become a stylistic trademark: insistent repetition of a single phrase (in this case, the song's title) resulting in a kind of ecstatic trance. This approach and Brown's characteristic raspy vocal timbre and impassioned melismas display his debt to the black American gospel tradition. His stage shows, dancing and inspired call-and-response interactions with the audience also convey the fervour of a sanctified preacher. ...
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