Biography of James Brown
When the smoke clears, James Brown will be seen as probably the most influential African-American singer of recent times. Certainly, he is preeminent in terms of chart placings, and his influence on today's Black music is beyond question -- it's literally in the grooves, thanks to the magic of sampling.Brown's career stretches across forty years -- thirty-five or more as a recording artist -- so it makes no sense to talk about his style, because it inevitably evolved. He knew something different from the beginning, though ("Please, Please, Please" was not an ordinary record ca. 1956). The difference was urgency; he went back beyond the gospel progressions of Ray Charles to primordial rhythms and wordless vocals. It was African-American music in the purest sense.By the mid-'60s, with hits like "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You," Brown had ceased fooling with conventional R&B and trying to cross over into the pop market (as he had with "Prisoner of Love," etc.) He found his groove and he turned it loose. The creative juices began to get a little watered down as the disco era dawned, but, between the mid-'60s and the mid-'70s, James Brown was a force unto himself. Musically and politically, he was the dominant Black musician of the day, an importance that subsequent developments have only served to heighten. The going has been uneven for James Brown in the '80s and '90s. He left Polydor and cut "Rapp Payback" for TK in 1980, and made other recordings for Augusta South and Tommy Boy, among them the critically heralded "Unity," which paired him with Afrika Bambaataa, but failed commercially. Brown is arguably the most sampled performer by the hip-hop/rap generation, with his yells, shouts, screams, cries, and grunts incorporated on countless rap cuts. "Living in America" was on the soundtrack for Rocky IV and put Brown back into the spotlight, as did the LP Gravity, though neither could be favorably compared with his anthemic R&B, soul, or funk singles. "Living In America" gave him a Top Ten R&B and a pop hit in 1986. Brown had another R&B Top Ten song with "How Do You Stop" in 1987, and "I'm Real" from the Full Force-produced LP of the same name nearly topped the R&B charts in 1988. Brown enjoyed success in England, as Coldcut did a James Brown medley titled "Coldcut Meets the Godfather," and the previously unreleased "She's the One" made the Top 50. But after recording a duet with Aretha Franklin, "Gimme Your Love," for her Through the Storm LP, Brown ended up in jail on a reckless driving charge that escalated into something more serious in 1989. He was released a year later. His most recent CDs are Love Overdue in 1991, Universal James in 1992, and Can't Get Any Harder in 1993. ~ Colin Escott
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