James Brown

Singer, songwriter, producer, musician, “Soul Brother No. 1” and “Mr Dynamite,” James Brown emerged as a distinctive force in popular music in 1956 with “Please, Please, Please” backed by his Famous Flames. Born in South Carolina, Brown rose from rural poverty a childhood as a shoeshine boy and convicted juvenile delinquent to fashion a unique form of gritty gospel-influenced R&B. The James Brown Show Live at the Apollo (1963) is one of the great popular music albums of all time. Brown pioneered funk music and crossed over to white audiences with the hit “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” (1965). Brown combined his grainy deep throated shrieking and shouting with pulsing polyrhythms, staccato horns and guitars, and an exhilarating stage show to earn the title of “the hardest working man in show business.”