• James Brown: 1979: I'm back, Monterey, California.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZijAu2EIE&feature=related
• James Brown & Luciano Pavarotti - It's a Man's World
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Febr_t_qa9U&feature=related
• Get Up ::
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fav0cE3JnDQ&feature=player_em...!
James Brown was a hugely influential figure in black American music. He was a driving force in the development of soul music in the early sixties, and funk in the early seventies. He has had more R 'n' B hits in the US than any other artist and has charted singles in countries around the world. Here he is captured at his very best, taken from Live at Montreux, France.
• "Soul Brother Number One", James Brown was perhaps the best known and clearly the most successful black artist of the '60s and early '70s; his polyrhythmic funk vamps virtually reshaped dance music. With some 800 songs in his repertoire, the astonishingly prolific James Brown has influenced a wide range of contemporary artists from every genre... Number one rock, soul, jazz, R&B, and hip-hop. And his adamant refusal to conform to anyone's vision other than his own bolstered his icon status
• Brown's Live at the Apollo, recorded in Harlem in 1962 and patterned after Ray Charles' live In Person, sold a million copies, unprecedented for a black music album. In 1963, frustrated by King's failure to reach into the white market, Brown and Bart formed Fair Deal Productions. "Out of Sight" which Fair Deal released through Smash Records, hit Number One R&B, Number 24 pop.
• Brown's revised contract with King in 1965 gave him complete artistic control. He revamped his band under the leadership of Nat Jones, and with his "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" became a world-class force in popular music. Disposing of the conventional verse and chorus structure, eliminating even chord progressions, he distilled his sound to its essence: rhythm and, more specifically, "Brand New Bag"; topped the R&B chart, as did".
"I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World." After Alfred "Pee Wee": Ellis replaced Jones as bandleader, Brown continued to score with "Cold Sweat", "Got the Feelin'" "Say It Loud", "I'm Black and I'm Proud," "Give It Up or Turn It A-Loose" and "Mother Popcorn"; which were all Top 20 (many of them Top 10) pop hits. Concurrently, he recorded instrumental albums (a total of 11 between 1961 and 1971) that never attained great commercial success but, featuring his organ and piano work, continued his rhythmic explorations (tracks from the best of these can be found on the 1993 anthology, Soul Pride).
• The late '60s found James Brown a cultural hero, "Soul Brother Number One." As a black man of wealth, independence, and influence, he was a symbol of self-determination and triumph over racism. He took that responsibility seriously. Songs such as " Don't Be a Drop-Out", and "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing" (Open Up the Door I'll Get It Myself)", contained direct social messages. He sponsored programs for ghetto youth, spoke at high schools, invested in black businesses, performed for troops in Vietnam.
• Around 1975 Brown's popularity began to wane. Because of financial difficulties, Brown was forced to sell his three black radio stations and his jet. The Internal Revenue Service claimed he owed $4.5 million in back taxes.
• With Brown inducted as a charter member into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, his revival was bolstered by "Living in America," the theme song to Rocky IV. Recorded at the request of director Sylvester Stallone, the single (Number 4, 1986), included on the album Gravity (with guest stars Alison Moyet and Steve Winwood), won a Grammy in 1987 for Best R&B Performance. In 1989 Brown (with writer Bruce Tucker) published an autobiography, James Brown: The Godfather of Soul.
• He continued making music, however, releasing I'm Back in 1998, his first studio album in four years. On Christmas Day, 2006, James Brown passed away from congestive heart failure due to complications from pnuemoina.
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