Goodbye James.... Thank You!

What can I say? Merry Christmas? Not so Merry unless you focus on celebrating his life and his infinite contributions to music and the human race in general. No other person has ever had such a far reaching effect across all genres (not to mention the countless genres that he inspired). He re-defined music. He was the hardest working, most dedicated to his craft. He had the the most imitated sound & was my personal inspiration. The first 12" I ever owned was a white label remix of "Night Train" (all aboard!).

Not all public figures do good works - and few do so quietly. But, for James Brown, contributions to society are not limited to just music.

From lyrics with an edifying message - to delivering turkeys at
Thanksgiving - to playing Santa Claus at Christmas, James Brown has been a quiet, but effective, philanthropist. As someone who left school in the seventh grade, Mr. Brown
expressed his understanding of the value of education when he sang "Don't be a Drop-out" in a 1966 campaign to keep kids in school. And, in a nation where few public figures make a profound
contribution to the elimination of racism, James Brown used his personal stature to help calm riots in the wake of the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Examples of James Brown’s generous efforts include:

• Providing over 800 Thanksgiving turkeys to people in his
hometown of Augusta, Ga. This annual event has grown
during the past six years. Not only has Mr. Brown given his
own time and money, he has involved both local merchants
and prominent Georgians in donations that reflect the true
spirit of the holiday.

• Playing Santa Claus in red leather suit and cowboy boots for
hundreds of children in Augusta, Ga. Like his support for
Thanksgiving, his Christmas donations are personal (his own
money and live performances) and communal.

Again, his efforts have been a catalyst for local business involvement. " Mr. Brown does this every year because he grew up on the streets of Augusta, and he feels like the children of Augusta are like his own children,'' said Stacy Brown, general manager of Mr. Brown's radio station, WAAW (94.7). James Brown’s support for the elimination of violence in schools is best exemplified by his creation of the song “Killing's Out and School's In.” In pondering the recent loss of life in Santana, Jonesboro, and Columbine, he has shown not only an acute awareness of the challenge,but also a willingness to take time to contribute to the solutions. " We need to protect the kids by giving them something to do," Brown says. " (It's about) making them interested, making them love mom and dad more,love the family more, love themselves more and love their school. So there won't have to be killing in school." In the 1960’s, Mr. Brown’s commitment to the ideals of the American dream impelled him to give performances in Vietnam - despite the lack of popular domestic support for the war effort. Aside from donating 3,000 turkeys and 20,000 Christmas toys to underprivileged families this season, Mr. Brown gave a brand new Lincoln to a woman in Kansas who couldn't get to church on time because her car broke down. Mr. Brown was humble about his helpful act stating, " It was something that needed to be done. She's trying to get people to church and we need to go to church. I need to go more myself! Ha ha! I've been so busy, working so hard, but I don't put nothing before God. I'm always on my knees every night." It would seem that the influence of Gospel music had an impact on more than just James Brown's style and his interactive relationship with his concert audiences. It had an impact on the style of his off-stage life as well - his reciprocal relationship to his community. The term "soul music" is accurately linked to that part of humanity that shares a universal inner reality. And, James Brown, the " Godfather of Soul" can claim a profound understanding of not only soul music, but also soul living - contributions that enrich the quality
of our entire world.

"He was an innovator, he was an emancipator, he was an originator. Rap music, all that stuff came from James Brown," entertainer Little Richard, a longtime friend of Brown's

"James Brown changed music," said Rev. Al Sharpton, who toured with him in the 1970s and imitates his hairstyle to this day.

"He made soul music a world music," Sharpton said. "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."

He won a Grammy 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.) He was one of the initial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and other founding fathers.

Brown's stage act was as memorable, and as imitated, as his records, with his twirls and spins and flowing cape, his repeated faints to the floor at the end as band members tried in vain to get him to leave the stage. His "Live at The Apollo" in 1962 is widely considered one of the greatest concert records ever. And he often talked of the 1964 concert in which organizers made the mistake of having the Rolling Stones, not him, close the bill. He would remember a terrified Mick Jagger waiting offstage, chain smoking, as Brown pulled off his matchless show. "To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one's coming even close," rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy

Brown routinely lost two or three pounds each time he performed and kept his furious concert schedule in his later years even as he fought prostate cancer, Ross said. With his tight pants, shimmering feet, eye makeup and outrageous hair, Brown set the stage for younger stars such as Michael Jackson and Prince. And the early rap generation overwhelmingly sampled his music and voice as they laid the foundation of hip-hop culture. "Disco is James Brown, hip-hop is James Brown, rap is James Brown; you know what I'm saying? You hear all the rappers, 90 percent of their music is me," Brown told The AP in 2003. Born in poverty in Barnwell, S.C., in 1933, Brown was abandoned as a 4 year old to the care of relatives and friends. He grew up on the streets of Augusta, Ga., in an "ill-repute area," as he once called it, where he learned how to hustle to survive. "I wanted to be somebody," Brown said. By the eighth grade in 1949, Brown had served 3 1/2 years in Alto Reform School near Toccoa, Ga., for breaking into cars. While there, he met Bobby Byrd, whose family took Brown into their home. Byrd also took Brown into his group, the Gospel Starlighters. Soon they changed their name to the Famous Flames and their style to hard R&B. In January 1956, King Records of Cincinnati signed the group, and four months later "Please, Please, Please" was in the R&B Top Ten. Pete Allman, a radio personality in Las Vegas who had been friends with Brown for 15 years, credited Brown with jump-starting his career and motivating him personally and professionally. "He was a very positive person. There was no question he was the hardest working man in show business," Allman said. "I remember Mr. Brown as someone who always motivated me, got me reading the Bible.

Adrienne Brown died in 1996 in Los Angeles at age 47. She took PCP and several prescription drugs while she had a bad heart and was weak from cosmetic surgery two days earlier, the coroner said. More recently, he married his fourth wife, Tomi Raye Hynie, one of his backup singers. The couple had a son, James Jr. Two years later, Brown spent a week in a private Columbia hospital, recovering from what his agent said was dependency on painkillers. Brown's attorney, Albert "Buddy" Dallas, said the singer was exhausted from six years of road shows. Brown was performing to the end, and giving back to his community. Three days before his death, he joined volunteers at his annual toy giveaway in Augusta, and he planned to perform on New Year's Eve at B.B. King Blues Club in New York. "He was dramatic to the end - dying on Christmas Day," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a friend of Brown's since 1955. "Almost a dramatic, poetic moment. He'll be all over the news all over the world today. He would have it no other way."