James Brown

James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 23, 1986. Brown recorded 17 singles that reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B charts. He is ranked No. 7 on Rolling Stone’s list of its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

About James Brown in brief

Summary James BrownJames Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 23, 1986. Brown recorded 17 singles that reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B charts. He is ranked No. 7 on Rolling Stone’s list of its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He died of pneumonia in 2006 at the age of 83. He had Chinese and Native American ancestry and his father was of mixed African American andNative American descent, while his mother was of Mixed American and Asian descent. Brown’s name was supposed to be Joseph James Brown Jr., but his first and middle names were mistakenly reversed on his birth certificate. He later legally changed his name to remove the’Jr.’ from his first name. He performed in talent shows as a young child, first appearing at Augusta’s Lenox Theater in 1944, winning the show after singing the ballad \”So Long\”. While in Augusta, he performed buck dances to entertain troops from Camp Gordon at the start of World War II as their entertainer. He became inspired to become an entertainer after hearing Louis Jordan and Tympany Jordan play harmonica. Brown briefly had a career as a boxer and was convicted of robbery at 16. In his teen years, he formed a gospel quartet with fellow cellmates, including Johnny Terry Byrd. There, he discovered that he could sing like a guy and could sing gospel songs too.

He also learned to play the piano, guitar, and harmonica during this period. In the late 1960s, Brown moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly \”Africanized\” approach to music-making, emphasizing stripped-down and interlocking rhythms, that influenced the development of funk music. By the early 1970s, he had fully established the funk sound after the formation of the J. B. s with records such as \”Get Up Sex Machine\” and \”The Payback\”. He also became noted for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit \”Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud\”. Brown continued to perform and record until his death from pneumonia in2006. He has been inducted to the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of fame in 2013 as an artist and then in 2017 as a songwriter. He received honors from several other institutions, including inductions into the Songwriters Hall of Famer. Brown is ranked no. 1 in The Top 500 Artists of the 20th century by Joel Whitburn’s analysis of the billboard R&b charts from 1942 to 2010, and No. 2 in Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. His career lasted over 50 years, and he is survived by his wife, two daughters, two sons and two step-daughters, and a step-great-grandchildren. Brown was married three times and had three step-granddaughters.