JAMES BROWN
interviewsofrecordingartists.com
On the evening of May 3, James Brown was honored by his hometown of Augusta, Ga., for his 61st birthday. The James Brown Birthday Bash was held in the Augusta Civic Center to honor the Godfather of Soul, not only for his career as a legendary performer, but also for his community work with the Community Action Agency of Aiken, S.C. Actress Sharon Stone was one of the celebrities who attended the event and sang a number onstage with Brown for the show's finale. "It was magnificent to see all the people who showed up." Brown said in an interview. "The show was for entertainment, as well as a show of appreciation for all the community work I've done over the years. Times are hard right now, so I've really wanted to push for saving more jobs for the general public." For years whenever Brown, who has the reputation as "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business," would take a break from his 220 concert dates a year, he would perform social work on the streets of Augusta and in the small economically depressed communities of rural South Carolina. By making speeches on behalf of the Community Action Agency, Brown offered encouragement to the less fortunate. Sue Jones Ellis, director of the South Carolina Community Action Agency, originally encouraged Brown to become involved in the program. Ellis has worked with the singer in some of the most impoverished areas of South Carolina. "There was a little town called Blackville in South Caroline," Ellis said. "Blackville used to be a pretty good textile town and now it's very economically depressed." "The townspeople took an old building in Blackville and with the help of Mr. Brown, the community made a multipurpose center and a recreation center for the kids." "Mr. Brown had told me years ago he would come back to Blackville and do something for the town, so we're all extremely proud of him." In 1988, Brown was arrested as the result of an interstate car chase with police and charged with illegal possession of drugs, illegal possession of firearms, aggravated assault and failure to stop for police. The charges resulted in the singer being convicted and sentenced to 6 1/2 years in a South Carolina penitentiary. "I wrote Mr. Brown a letter while he was in prison," said Ellis. "I asked him if he would like to work with our Community Action Agency on a work release basis. He said he certainly would if it was allowed. So when I wrote to the prison warden at the prison, he granted Mr. Brown the work release privileges." "Everywhere we went people idolized him. It's ironic that his problems with the law received all the media attention and his work as a community man didn't receive more media attention." Brown was released from prison in 1991 and continued to work with Ellis when he took tome off from his touring schedule. His phenomenal success in the mid-'60's as one of the originators of soul music provided him with a lifestyle that the seventh grade dropout never dreamed possible. Classic James Brown songs such as "Sex Machine", and "Cold Sweat" have survived nearly 40 years of radio airplay. "What God put together man cannot separate," said Brown when asked why his music is still popular. "I never believed in the beginning that I would have the success that I've been blessed with. I just thank God every day and hope He keeps the lights on." Brown's material provided inspiration for the rap music explosion of the mid-'80's. Rap groups such as Run DMC and N.W.A. credited Brown's music as well as his attitude with inspiring their work. Brown feels there are good and bad points to the fact that the younger rap artists are paying tribute to him by using samples of his songs for their recordings. "I feel flattered that they wanted to use my songs," he said. "But there's the attorney's part of this business. Naturally, the rap singer's record companies have to pay to use my music. So a lot of people have now recognized that they owe a lot of money for using my songs. Hopefully it's working out pretty good now, so they'll begin to pay." Brown's music knows no cultural barriers. He's one of the few recording artists who regularly tours nearly every country in the world. Over the years, he has visited Africa, the Far East, Europe and South America on a regular basis. "They may not speak English but they speak James Brown," he said with a laugh. "I used to put money in every city I traveled to. Then wound up with about 60 or 70 different bank accounts." Brown earned the title of "Hardest Working Man in Show Business" by giving his fans some of the wildest and most outrageously inspired concert performances of the '60's. Long before Michael Jackson was working on "Moon Walk", Brown was mesmerizing crowds with his onstage theatrics. At 61, Brown continues to perform with an intensity that rivals the younger hip-hop and rhythm and blues artists. "I learned from my dad to work hard," said Brown. "On the professional side of the business, I believe in what The Bible says, 'A man or woman somewhere else should live by the sweat of their own eyebrows.' So I believe that even though I've been able to sustain myself with some of the things most people can't have, I still believe in giving that 200 percent when I get on stage".
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