Over
a 39 year period, James Brown amassed an amazing total of 98 entries on Billboard's top 40
R&B Singles Charts, a record unsurpassed by any other artist. Seventeen of them
reached number one, a feat topped only by Stevie Wonder and Louis Jordan, and equaled only
by Aretha Franklin.
The only child of a poor
backwoods family, he was sent to Augusta, Georgia at age five to live at his aunt's
brothel. He earned his keep by running errands for soldiers at nearby Camp Gordon,
entertaining them with his dancing and enticing them into his aunt's business. Singing
gospel music and playing piano, drums, and guitar served as an emotional outlet for the
young Brown.
In 1952, Brown settled in
Georgia and joined the Gospel Starlighters. The group’s southern gospel style was
inspired by Julius Cheeks,The Sensational Nightingales, Reverend Rueben Willingham and the
Swanee Quintet. The Starlighters changed their name to the Flames.
In November 1955, while based in Macon, Georgia, the Flames
cut a demonstration record of a tune titled "Please, Please, Please". While
passing through Atlanta, record producer Ralph Bass heard the demo and was so impressed
with Brown's impassioned lead and the group's hard harmonies that he immediately drove to
Macon and signed them to King Records. A session was held in Ohio the following week and
the single was released on King's Federal label two months later.In March of 1956,
"Please, Please, Please" reached Number Five on the Billboard's R&B chart.
James Brown was on his way.
Brown's boyhood dream of escaping poverty was not
immediately realized, however. Although he and the Flames continued to make records for
Federal, it would be nearly three years before they again hit the national charts.
"Try Me", produced by Andy Gibson, hit big during the winter of 1958-59, giving
the group its first Number One R&B record and enabling Brown to hire a steady backup
band. Through hard work, Brown developed the band into the hottest R&B unit in the
land. His stunning acrobatics and the band's precision timing made every show
entertaining. They became the centerpiece and trademark of the group.
While he continued scoring hit singles during the early
1960's, now issued on the King Label, Brown came up with the idea that if the hysteria he
was generating in person could be captured on an album, people who hadn't seen him yet
could at least hear and feel the excitement of him screaming and hollering. King Records
was convinced that such an album wouldn't sell, so Brown put up his own money to record a
performance at the Apollo Theater in October 1962.
Released nearly a year later, Live At The Apollo went to
Number Two on Billboard's album chart, an unprecedented feat for a live R&B album.
Radio stations played it with a frequency formerly reserved for singles, and attendance at
Brown's concerts mushroomed.
Brown scored his first Top 10 pop single in 1965 with
"Papa's Got A Brand New Bag", and the hits kept coming for the next decade, one
after another at an unheard-of rate. His innovations during this period had a profound
influence on popular music styles around the world, including funk, rock, Afro-pop, disco
and eventually rap.
James Brown's status as "The Godfather Of Soul"
remains undiminished. He has picked up a new generation of fans who have become familiar
with his funk grooves through their frequent use as samples on rap records. A charter
member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Brown added to his collections of accolades when
he received a special lifetime achievement Grammy Award in 1992.
Brown's rise from juvenile delinquent to Soul Brother
Number One is among the great modern day American success stories.
Over
a 39 year period, James Brown amassed an amazing total of 98 entries on Billboard's top 40
R&B Singles Charts, a record unsurpassed by any other artist. Seventeen of them
reached number one, a feat topped only by Stevie Wonder and Louis Jordan, and equaled only
by Aretha Franklin.
In 1952, Brown settled in
Georgia and joined the Gospel Starlighters. The group’s southern gospel style was
inspired by Julius Cheeks,The Sensational Nightingales, Reverend Rueben Willingham and the
Swanee Quintet. The Starlighters changed their name to the Flames.
