BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : JAMES BROWN - GOD FATHER OF SOUL : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

James Joseph Brown was born on May 3rd 1933 and died 25th December 2006 was an American Singer Song Writer, Musician, and Recording Artist. He is one of the founding fathers of funk music and is a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance. In a career that spanned six decades Brown profoundly influnced the the development of many different musical genres. Brown moved on a continuum of blues and gospel based forms and styles to a profoundly Americanized   approach music making. First coming into national public attention in the mid 1950's as a member of the R & B singing group The Famous Flames, Brown performed in concerts first making his rounds across the Chithis Circuit and then across the country and later around the world, along with appearing in shows on television and in movies. Although he contributed much to the music world through his hitmaking. Brown holds the record as the Artist who charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting number one on that chart.

For many years Brown touring show was one of the most extravagant popular music. At the time of Browns death his band included three guitarists, two bass guitar players, two drums, three horns and a percussionist.
The band that he maintained during the late sixties and seventies, were of comparable size and the band also included a tree piece amplified string section that played during ballads. Brown employed between forty and fifty people for the James Brown Revue and members of the Revue traveled with him in a bus to cities and towns all over the country performing upwards to 330 shows a year with all of the shows as one nighties. In 1986 he was induced into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2000 into the Songwriter Hall Of Fame: Rank 70 in the Rolling Stone Magazine in a list of 100 greatest Artist of all Time.