A day after James Brown died of a heart attack, admirers — from Rolling Stones' frontman Mick Jagger to the U.S. president to rapper Snoop Dogg — have been paying tribute to the man known as the Godfather of Soul.
James Brown belts out a song in 1972 at a rock festival held at in Westbury, N.Y. Brown profoundly influenced generations of musicians, from Mick Jagger, Prince, David Bowie and Michael Jackson to dozens of rappers who sampled his tracks.
(Allan Green/Associated Press)
"His passing is a huge loss to music," said Jagger, who admits he was inspired by Brown's rapid footwork on stage.
"He was a whirlwind of energy and precision, and he was always very generous and supportive to me in the early days of The Stones. I've always been a huge admirer of him as a performer and a band leader."
Brown died in Atlanta on Monday at age 73, after being admitted to hospital two days earlier because of pneumonia.
U.S. President George W. Bush said Brown was "an American original — his fans came from all walks of life and backgrounds. James Brown's family and friends are in our thoughts and prayers this Christmas."
On Tuesday, fans left candles on Brown's Hollywood Walk of Fame star in Los Angeles and left mementos and flowers at his statue in his boyhood hometown of Augusta, Ga.
Brown, one of the major musical figures of the past five decades, was among the initial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry.
'He'll be missed, but his music and his legacy will live on through me, in every way you can imagine. Soul Brother No. 1 … we miss you, James Brown.'-Rapper Snoop Dogg
A founding father of rap, funk and disco, Brown was known for hits such as I Got You (I Feel Good), Get Up (I Feel Like Being Like A) Sex Machine and It's a Man's Man's Man's World.
A musical innovator throughout his career, Brown's revolutionary rhythms — not to mention his flamboyant outfits, shimmering footwork and wild hairstyles — profoundly influenced generations of musicians, from Jagger, Prince, David Bowie and Michael Jackson to Public Enemy, Ice-T and the dozens of other rappers who sampled his tracks.
He won a Grammy award for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for Papa's Got a Brand New Bag (best R&B recording) and for Living In America in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.)
Brown's Say It Loud — I'm Black and I'm Proud, released at the height of the civil rights movement in the United States in 1968, was an inspirational message for a generation of black musicians, both in the country and beyond its borders.
|
GOT TO BE FUNKY | |
|---|---|
| I Got You (I Feel Good) | This 1965 tune may be Brown's most famous; it's certainly one of the all-time greatest songs in rock's canon. A buoyant, joyful jam that is an instant party starter. |
| Get Up (I Feel Like Being Like A) Sex Machine |
Despite its somewhat risqué title, this frenetic 1970 groove is another call to move your feet. Perhaps known second-best of all of Brown's songs, its signature is its slamming rhythm section. |
| Say it Loud — I'm Black and I'm Proud | Released in 1968 at the height of the civil rights movement, this anthem boldly asserted pride in being black at a time when African-Americans were still fighting for basic rights. |
| Cold Sweat | A smoking, sultry mid-tempo jamfrom 1967 that features Brown singing about a woman that makes him weak-kneed. It was sampled by dozens, perhaps hundreds of 1980s rap songs. |
| It's a Man's Man's Man's World | Though the title may suggest a chauvinistic ode, this passionate, downbeat track from 1966 really pays homage to a man's eternal need for a woman by his side. |
| Papa's Got a Brand New Bag | This 1965 is another classic dance track about — what else? — dancing. |
| Night Train | This 1962 track was one of the first songs to feature the tight, jumping horn section that would become a cornerstone of most of his major hits. Brown's rough-edged voice shouts out cities nationwide on the Night Train route. |
| Living in America | This rousing, patriotic song from the fourth installment of the Rocky movie franchise in 1985 re-established Brown as a hitmaker in his fifth decade. |
| Please, Please, Please | His first R&B hit, from 1956, was this begging ballad about a man trying to keep his woman. It took on a raw, sensual tone as Brown growled and yelped through the burning track. |
| Make It Funky | This 1971 track could be the theme song of Brown's entire career. It begins with Brown saying what would become his motto: 'Whatever I play, it's got to be funky!' |
| Source: The Associated Press | |
"I am hurt," rapper Snoop Dogg said after hearing of Brown's death.
"That's my godfather, my soul inspiration, the hardest working man in show business of all time. He'll be missed, but his music and his legacy will live on through me, in every way you can imagine. Soul Brother No. 1 … we miss you, James Brown."
"Y'all lost the Godfather of Soul, but I lost my father," Brown's daughter, Venisha Brown, told the Augusta Chronicle.
"I know the whole world loved him just as much as we loved him, so we're not mourning by ourselves."
Refunds for Canadian shows
Often termed "the hardest working man in show business," Brown was scheduled to perform in Times Square in New York on New Year's Eve.
He had a tour of Canada planned in early January that would have taken him to Montreal, Ottawa, Orillia, Ont., Edmonton, Calgary and the B.C. cities Coquitlam and Prince George.
People who planned to attend these shows have been promised refunds where they bought their tickets.
Sharpton to conduct funeral
Brown's funeral arrangements have yet to be determined.
Rebeca Garcia, 7, places flowers on the Hollywood Walk of Fame star of James Brown.
(Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press)
"He made soul music a world music," said Rev. Al Sharpton, a friend and admirer of Brown's who will officiate at the funeral.
"What James Brown was to music in terms of soul and hip hop, rap, all of that, is what Bach was to classical music. This is a guy who literally changed the music industry. He put everybody on a different beat, a different style of music. He pioneered it."
Brown's wife locked outThe controversy that often dogged Brown's personal life continued after his death, as his attorneys locked the gates to his home, barring his wife, Tomi Rae Hynie, and their son from the property.
The couple had had a sometimes tumultuous relationship. Brown pleaded guilty in 2004 to a domestic violence charge stemming from an argument with Hynie and paid a fine.
'I don't have any money. I don't have anywhere to go.'-Brown's partner, Tomi Rae Hynie
Hynie, 36, returned to Brown's home in Beech Island, S.C., on Monday to find it padlocked.
Brown's lawyer said Tuesday she was locked out of the home for estate legal reasons.
"It's not a reflection on her as an individual," lawyer Buddy Dallas said. "I have not even been in the house, nor will I until appropriate protocol is followed."
The lawyer said Brown and Hynie were not legally married and the estate has been left in trust to his children.
Hynie, who was one of Brown's backup singers, was already married to a Texas man when she married Brown in 2001, making her marriage to Brown null, Dallas said. She later annulled the previous marriage, but she and Brown never remarried.
"I suppose it would mean she was, from time to time, a guest in Mr. Brown's home," Dallas said.
But Hynie argued that she has a legal right to live in the home with the couple's five-year-old son.
"I don't have any money. I don't have anywhere to go," she told a reporter outside the house.
Dallas said Hynie had another home nearby and the couple had not seen each other for several weeks before Brown's death. Hynie said she was at a retreat at the time of his death.
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