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James Brown, 1933-2006: The Godfather of Soul Influenced Many Kinds of Music During His 50-Year Career |
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Brown was also called "the hardest working man in show
business."Transcript of radio broadcast: |
VOICE
ONE:
I'm
Steve Ember.
VOICE
TWO:
And I'm
Barbara Klein with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we
tell about James Brown, the musician called "The Godfather of Soul."
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
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James Brown |
That
was James Brown singing his famous hit song from nineteen sixty-five, "I
Got You (I Feel Good.)" With this song, Brown went from
a rhythm and blues singer to a pop music star. It helped him gain a huge
number of white fans as well as black ones. He became a famous and wealthy singer, songwriter and performer. But this
huge success was very different from the poverty of his early life.
VOICE
TWO:
James
Brown was born in nineteen thirty-three in a one-room house near Barnwell,
South Carolina. His father, Joe Brown, had a job removing fluids from pine
trees in the surrounding woods. He sold the sap for making
turpentine. The boy's mother left the family when he was seven years
old. James and his father moved to Augusta, Georgia.
Young
James had musical abilities. He learned to play the guitar, piano and
drums. He did this while picking crops in the fields and shining people's
shoes to earn money to survive.
VOICE
ONE:
James
loved the African-American church music called gospel. He loved it when
the church's religious leader would sing this music and
drop to his knees with emotional shouts and screams. Brown later
used this kind of emotional singing in his own performances.
He also
liked the sound of the jazz and rhythm and blues performer Louis Jordan.
Jordan had recorded a song called "Caldonia" and other popular songs
in the late nineteen forties and nineteen fifties.
VOICE
TWO:
By the
time he was thirteen, James Brown had formed his own music group. He
later joined a group called the Flames. The band played at drinking
places, restaurants, colleges and other places in the South.
These
young performers copied the sounds of successful rhythm and blues groups.
They also included in their shows a song co-written by James Brown. It
was called "Please, Please, Please."
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
This
was the song that launched James Brown's career. He was able to stop
doing low-paying jobs. He said the success of the song gave him the
chance to have some of the things he could not have dreamed of.
"Please, Please, Please" was recorded in nineteen fifty-six. It
sold more than one million copies. It made James Brown famous in the
United States. And it became part of his electrifying stage performances.
Brown
would be on stage with an eighteen-piece band and a group of dancers. His
emotional singing included unusual sounds and screams. He danced around
the stage performing movements that had not been seen before. He created
his own musical and performing style.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
TWO:
That
was another James Brown hit song, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" from
nineteen sixty-five. Brown said that song was one of the most important
things he ever did in the way of changing music rhythms. With that song, Brown
created the music he called "funk." This later came to be
called "soul" music. And James Brown became known as "The
Godfather of Soul." He followed this hit a few months later with "I
Got You (I Feel Good)", an even bigger hit.
VOICE
ONE:
James
Brown also became known as "the hardest working man in show
business." During the nineteen sixties, he performed his exciting show
almost non-stop in city after city in the United States and in other
countries.
At the
same time, Brown worked for civil rights for African-Americans. He
supported black business ownership as the most important way to what he called
"real black power." He urged black people to be proud of themselves. And he urged young people to continue their
education and not drop out of school. His message was positive instead of
angry. He recorded this song in nineteen sixty-eight, "Say it Loud ( I'm Black and I'm Proud.)"
(MUSIC)
VOICE
TWO:
Over
the years, James Brown had problems in business, with taxes and in his personal
life. During the nineteen seventies, his popularity decreased as disco
music became popular. But he made a comeback in the early nineteen
eighties, with "Living in America," his first hit in years.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
In
nineteen eighty-six, James Brown was one of the first performers invited into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He became one of the most successful recording
artists in history. With the exception of Elvis Presley, no pop artist had more
hit records. He had ninety-four songs in the Top One Hundred songs. And
he had more Top Twenty single records than any other recording artist up to
that time.
But, in
nineteen eighty-eight, he committed some crimes. He spent two and one-half
years in prison. He was pardoned of his crimes in two thousand three.
VOICE
TWO:
James
Brown received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in nineteen
ninety-two. He later talked about what he had tried to do to help young
people. He said he tried to teach through his music. He thought it
was very important to make young people proud of themselves and willing to work
for what they wanted. He said life is sometimes really hard, but you can make
it a lot better if you try to prepare for it.
VOICE
ONE:
James
Brown saw himself as an example of "the American dream." That
means that a person can rise from poverty to wealth and success if he or she
works hard. Brown influenced the music of his time and many performers
who came after him. He showed his personality and energy in his famous shout:
"If
you are an American or you're just a human being and got any blood going
through your veins -- AHHOOWW! I feel good!"
VOICE
TWO:
James
Brown performed until the very end of his life and continued to help his
community. Three days before his death, he joined volunteers at his
yearly event to give toys to needy children in Augusta, Georgia. He had planned
to perform on New Year's Eve at B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City.
James
Brown, "The Godfather of Soul," died December twenty-fifth, two
thousand six in Atlanta, Georgia. He was seventy-three. During his
fifty-year career, he made many music fans feel good.
(MUSIC:
"I Got You (I Feel Good)")
VOICE
ONE:
This program
was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm
Steve Ember.
VOICE
TWO:
And I'm
Barbara Klein. You can read scripts and download audio at our Web site,
voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for People in America in
VOA Special English.