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The Beatles

Background informationOrigin Liverpool, EnglandGenre(s)Rock
Pop
Psychedelic rock Years active1960—1970
1994—1996(Partial Reunion) Label(s)Parlophone, Capitol, Apple, Odeon, Vee-Jay, United Artists, Atco, Swan, Tollie, PolydorWebsiteBeatles.comFormer membersJohn Lennon (1960–1970)
Paul McCartney (1960–1970)
George Harrison (1960–1970)
Ringo Starr (1962–1970)
Pete Best (1960–1962)
Stuart Sutcliffe (1960–1961)
Jimmy Nicol (1964 fill-in for ailing Ringo)

The Beatles were a highly influential English rock band from Liverpool, Merseyside. They are the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful popular music band in history.^[1][2] The innovative music and style of John Lennon1940–1980), Paul McCartney (b. 1942), George Harrison1943–2001), and Ringo Starr (b. 1940) helped to define the 1960s, and they continue to be held in high regard for their artistic achievements, their huge commercial success, their role in the history of popular music, and their contributions to popular culture. Although their initial musical style was rooted in the sounds of 1950s rock and roll, the group explored a great variety of genres, ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. ( (

The Beatles were the best-selling popular musical act of the 20th century. In the United Kingdom alone, they released more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one. This commercial success was repeated in many other countries: EMI estimated that by 1985, the band had sold over one billion discs or tapes worldwide.^[3] The RIAA has certified The Beatles as the top selling artists of all time in America based on U.S. sales of singles and albums.^[4]

The Beatles were a major force behind the "British Invasion" of UK-based popular bands in the United States in the mid-1960s and they helped to pioneer more advanced, multi-layered arrangements in pop music. The Beatles' impact extended well beyond their music. Their clothes, hairstyles, and statements made them trend-setters from the 1960s to this day, while their growing social awareness — reflected in the development of their music — saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.

Contents

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History

Formation and early years

In March of 1957, John Lennon formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen (fleetingly known as The Blackjacks). On July 6 of that year, Lennon met Paul McCartney while playing at the Woolton Parish Church Fete. On February 6 1958, the young guitarist George Harrison was invited to watch the group (then playing under a variety of names) perform at Wilson Hall, Garston, Liverpool ^[5] and he was soon a regular player. Paul had become acquainted with George (a year younger) at school, the Liverpool Institute, and on the morning school bus-ride; they had also grown up in a common neighbourhood (Speke). A few primitive recordings of Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison from that era have survived. During this period, members continually joined and left the lineup; Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Stuart Sutcliffe (a classmate of Lennon at Liverpool Art College) emerged as the only constant members. Lennon and McCartney both played rhythm guitar, Harrison played lead guitar and Sutcliffe played bass. The group had a high turnover of drummers and McCartney played drums at gigs when they were drummerless.

The Quarrymen went through a progression of names — Johnny and The Moondogs, Long John and The Beatles, The Silver Beetles (derived from Larry Williams's suggestion "Long John and the Silver Beetles") — and eventually decided 17 August 1960 on "The Beatles". There are many theories as to the origin of the name and its unusual spelling; it is usually credited to John Lennon, who said that the name was a combination word-play on the insects "beetles" (as a nod/compliment to Buddy Holly's band, The Crickets) and the word "beat". He also later said that it was a joke, meaning a pun on "Beat-less". In her book John, Cynthia Lennon^[6] In addition to being a fan of the Crickets, Lennon is paraphrased as having said: "If you turn it round it was 'les beat', which sounded French and cool."^[6]tongue-in-cheek 1961 article in Mersey Beat magazine that "It came in a vision — a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, 'From this day on you are Beatles with an A'."^[7]. (This story was later the inspiration for the title of one of McCartney's solo albums, Flaming Pie.) suggests that John came up with the name Beatles at a "...brainstorming session over a beer-soaked table in the Renshaw Hall bar...". Lennon, who became famous for giving multiple versions of the same story, also joked in a

In May of 1960, The Beatles were hired to tour the north-east of Scotland as a back-up band with singer Johnny Gentle^[8], who was signed to the Larry Parnes agency. They met Gentle an hour before their first gig, and McCartney referred to that short tour as a great experience for the band.^{[citation needed][9]} The band's van (driven by Gentle) had a head-on crash with another vehicle on their way back from Scotland; Moore lost some teeth and had stitches after being hit in the mouth by a guitar.^{[citation needed]} Nobody else was seriously injured. (Shortly afterwards, feeling the age gap was too great — and following his girlfriend's advice — Moore left the band and went back to work in a bottling factory as a fork-lift truck driver.)^[10] For this tour the chronically drummerless group secured the services of Tommy Moore, who was considerably older than the others.

Hamburg

Norman Chapman was their next drummer, but it lasted only for a few weeks, as he was called up for National Service. This was a real problem as their unofficial manager, Allan Williams, had arranged for them to perform in clubs on the ReeperbahnHamburg, Germany.^[11] Paul McCartney has often said that if any of The Beatles had been individually called-up for National Service — had it been extended for just a few more weeks — the band would never have come into existence, because of the different ages of the key members.^[12] in

In August of 1960, McCartney invited Pete Best to become the group's drummer after watching Best playing with The Blackjacks ^[13] in the Casbah Club. This was a cellar club operated by Best's mother Mona, in West Derby, Liverpool, where The Beatles had played and often used to visit^[14]. In the documentary The Compleat Beatles, Williams described Best's drumming as "not too cleverly, but passable."

They started in Hamburg by playing in the Indra and Kaiserkeller bars. They were told to play six or seven hours a night, seven nights a week. They went back a second time and played the Top Ten club for three months (April until June 1961). During this time period, Stuart Sutcliffe decided to remain in Germany to concentrate on painting and left the group. Sutcliffe's departure led McCartney to switch from playing rhythm guitar to bass guitar. While they were playing at the Top Ten they were recruited by singer Tony Sheridan to act as his backing band on a series of recordings for the German Polydor Records label, produced by famed bandleader Bert Kaempfert.^[11] Kaempfert signed the group to its own Polydor contract at the first session in June 1961. On October 31 Polydor released the recording "My Bonnie^[15] Their third stay in Hamburg was April 13 – May 31, 1962, when they opened The Star Club.^[11]brain hemorrhage. (Mein Herz ist bei dir nur)", which made it into the German charts under the name "Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers", a collective name used for whomever were in Sheridan's backup band. That stay was dampened when they were informed upon their arrival of Sutcliffe's death from a

Upon their return from Hamburg, the group was enthusiastically promoted by Sam Leach, who presented them for the next year and a half on various stages in Liverpool forty-nine times^[16]. Brian Epstein, manager of the record department at NEMS, his family's furniture store, took over as the group's manager in 1962 and led The Beatles' quest for a British recording contract. In one now-famous exchange, a senior Decca Records A&R executive named Dick Rowe turned Epstein down flat and informed him that "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein."^[17]

Record contract

Epstein eventually met with producer George Martin of EMI's Parlophone label. Martin expressed an interest in hearing the band in the studio; he invited the quartet to London's Abbey Road studios for an audition on 6 June.^[18] Martin had not been particularly impressed by the band's demo recordings, but he instantly liked them as people when he met them. He concluded that they had raw musical talent, but said (in later interviews) that what made the difference for him that day was their wit and humour in the studio.

Martin did have a problem with Pete Best, whom he criticised in The Compleat Beatles for not being able to keep time. He privately suggested to Brian Epstein that the band use another drummer in the studio. Best had some popularity and was considered good-looking by many fans, but the three founding members had become increasingly unhappy with his popularity and his personality, and Epstein had become exasperated with his refusal to adopt the distinctive hairstyle as part of their unified look. Epstein sacked Best on 16 August 1962. They immediately asked Ringo Starr (real name: Richard Starkey), the drummer for one of the top MerseybeatRory Storm and the Hurricanes, to join the band. The Beatles had met and performed with Starr previously in Hamburg. In fact, the first recordings of John, Paul, George, and Ringo together were as early as 15 October 1960, in a series of demonstration records privately recorded in Hamburg as backing group for singer Lu Walters.^[19] Starr played on The Beatles' second EMI recording session on 4 September 1962, but Martin hired session drummer Andy White for their next session on 11 September. groups

Their recording contract — in common with how shabbily new artists were treated in that era — paid them only one penny^{[citation needed]} This amounted to one farthing per group member. This royalty rate was further reduced for overseas sales, on which they received half of one penny (split between the whole band) for singles sales outside of the UK. George Martin said later that it was a "pretty awful" contract.^[20] Their publishing contract with Dick James Music (DJM) was also standard for the time; each writer received the statutory minimum of 50% of the gross monies received, with the publisher retaining the other 50%.^{[citation needed]} for every single sold, which was split among the four Beatles.

The Beatles' first EMI session on 6 June did not yield any releasable recordings but the September sessions produced a minor UK hit, "Love Me Do", which peaked on the charts at number 17. [1] ("Love Me Do" reached the top of the U.S. singles chart over 18 months later in May 1964.) This was swiftly followed by their second single "Please Please Me". Three months later they recorded their first album (also titled Please Please Me). The band's first televised performance was on a programme called People and Places transmitted live from Manchester by Granada Television on 17 October 1962.^[21]

America

Although the band experienced huge popularity in the record charts in the UK from early 1963, Parlophone's American counterpart, Capitol Records (owned by EMI), refused to issue the singles "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You"^[22] in the United States, partly because no British act had ever yet had a sustained commercial impact on American audiences.^{[citation needed]}Vee-Jay Records, a small ChicagoWLS, placed "Please Please Me" into radio rotation in late February 1963, making it possibly the first time a Beatles record was heard on American radio. Vee-Jay's rights to The Beatles were cancelled for non-payment of royalties.^[23] label, is said by some to have been pressured into issuing these singles as part of a deal for the rights to another performer's masters. Art Roberts, music director of Chicago powerhouse radio station

In August 1963, the Philadelphia-based Swan label tried again with The Beatles' "She Loves You", which also failed to receive airplay. A testing of the song on Dick Clark's TV show American Bandstand resulted only in laughter and scorn from American teenagers when they saw the group's Beatle haircuts. The famous radio DJ, Murray the K (Kaufman) featured "She Loves You" on his 1010 WINS record revue in October, to an underwhelming response.^{[citation needed]}

After The Beatles' huge success in 1964, Vee-Jay Records and Swan Records took advantage of their previously secured rights to The Beatles' early recordings and reissued the songs that they had rights to, which all reached the top ten of the charts the second time around. (MGM and Atco also secured rights to The Beatles' early Tony Sheridan-era recordings and had minor hits with "My Bonnie" and "Ain't She Sweet".) Vee-Jay ended up issuing some odd LP repackagings of the limited Beatles' material they had: as well as Introducing... The Beatles, which was essentally The Beatles' debut British album with some minor alterations, Vee-Jay also issued an unusual LP called The Beatles Vs The Four Seasons which put together songs from The Beatles and The Four Seasons (another successful act that Vee-Jay had under contract) in a 'contest': the back cover featured a 'score card'. Another unusual release was the Hear The Beatles Tell All album, which mixed interviews with the same early Beatles' material. It has been claimed that both Vee-Jay and Swan attempted legal fights with Capitol/EMI to secure full American contractual rights to The Beatles, which may have contributed to the eventual demise of both labels. It has also been said this fight to secure The Beatles took attention away from each label's most successful artists, The Four Seasons (Vee-Jay) and Freddy Cannon (Swan), who decided to move to more-established labels. The Vee-Jay/Swan-issued recordings eventually ended up with Capitol, who promptly issued most of the Vee-Jay material on the American-only Capitol release The Early Beatles. Many of the early Vee-Jay and Swan Beatles' records command a high price on the record collectors' market.^{[citation needed]} The Swan material was issued on the Capitol LP The Beatles' Second Album.

Beatlemania

In November 1963, The Beatles appeared on the Royal Variety Performance and were photographed with Marlene Dietrich who also appeared on the show. In early November 1963, Brian Epstein persuaded Ed Sullivan to commit to presenting The Beatles on three editions of his show in February, and parlayed this guaranteed exposure into a record deal with Capitol Records. Capitol committed to a mid-January release for "I Want to Hold Your Hand",^[24] but a series of unplanned circumstances triggered premature airplay of an imported copy of the single on a Washington DC radio station in mid-December. Capitol brought forward release of the record to 26 December 1963.^{[citation needed]}

Several New York radio stations — first WMCA, then WINS and WABC — began playing "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on its release day, and the Beatlemania that had started in Washington was duplicated in New York and quickly spread to other markets. The record sold one million copies in just ten days, and by 16 January, Cashbox Magazine had certified The Beatles record number one (in the edition published with the cover-date 23 January).^{[citation needed]}

This contributed to the hysterical fan reaction at JFK Airport on 7 February 1964. A record-breaking seventy-three million viewers — approximately 40% of the U.S. population at the time — tuned in to the first Sullivan appearance on 9 February. During the week of 4 April, The Beatles held the top five places on the Billboard Hot 100 (see The Beatles record sales, worldwide charts) — a feat that has never been repeated. They had an additional 7 songs at lower positions: 12% of the chart consisted of Beatles songs.[2]

In the summer of 1964 the band undertook their first appearances outside of Europe and North America, touring Australia and New Zealand (notably without Ringo Starr who was ill and was temporarily replaced by session drummer Jimmy Nicol). When they arrived in Adelaide, The Beatles were greeted by what is reputed to be the largest crowd of their touring career, when over 300,000 people turned out to see them; at the time Adelaide's population was roughly 200,000. In September that year baseball owner Charles O. Finley paid the band the then unheard of sum of $150,000 to play in Kansas City, Missouri.^{[citation needed]}

In 1965 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II bestowed upon them the MBE, a civil honour nominated by Prime Minister Harold Wilson. The award, at that time primarily given to military veterans and civic leaders, sparked some conservative MBE recipients to return their awards in protest, which was widely reported in the British press and was even the lead item on the BBC television news. The first two were returned on 14 June, before The Beatles received theirs on 26 October 1965.^[25]

On 15 August that year, The Beatles performed the first stadium concert in the history of rock, playing at Shea Stadium in New York to a crowd of 55,600.^[26] The band later admitted that they had been largely unable to hear themselves play or sing, due to the screaming and cheering. This concert is generally considered the point at which began their disenchantment with performing live.^{[citation needed]}

Backlash and controversy

In July 1966, when The Beatles toured the Philippines, they unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had expected the group to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace^{[citation needed]}. When presented with the invitation, Brian Epstein politely declined on behalf of the group, as it had never been the group's policy to accept such "official" invitations. The group soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to accepting "no" for an answer. After the snubbing was widely broadcast on Philippine television and radio, all The Beatles' police protection disappeared. The group and their entourage had to make their way to Manila airport on their own, with the authorities throwing up every road block they could to harass them as much as possible. At the airport, roadie Mal Evans was beaten and kicked, and The Beatles themselves were pushed and jostled about by a hostile crowd. Once the group boarded the plane, Epstein and Evans were ordered off, and Evans said, "Tell my wife that I love her..." (showing how seriously he thought the danger was of them both being shot). Epstein was forced to give back all the money that the band had earned while they were there before being allowed back on the plane (Anthology).

Almost as soon as they returned from the Philippines, an earlier comment by John back in March of that year launched a backlash against The Beatles from religious and social conservatives in the Bible Belt of the United States. In an interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave, Lennon had offered his opinion that Christianity was dying and that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus now."^[27]

Afterwards, a radio station in Birmingham, Alabama, ran a bit on burning Beatles records because the comments, as a joke, in their opinion. Though many people affiliated with rural churches in the American South started taking this seriously. Towns across the United States and South Africa started to burn Beatles records in protest.

However, The Beatles observed wryly, "Hey, they've gotta buy 'em before they can burn 'em."^{[citation needed]} Under tremendous pressure from American media, Lennon apologised for his remarks at a press conference in ChicagoAugust 11, the eve of the first performance of what turned out to be their final tour.^{[citation needed]} on

The studio years

Ray Charles

Ray Charles
Background information Birth name Ray Charles Robinson Born September 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia Died June 10, 2004 in Beverly Hills, California Genre(s) R&B, Soul, Blues, Pop, Jazz Occupation(s) Vocalist, musician, songwriter, arranger Instrument(s) Piano and other keyboard instruments, vocals Years active 1951 - 2004 Associated
acts The Raelettes Website http://www.raycharles.com/

Ray Charles was the stage name of Ray Charles RobinsonSeptember 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004). He was a pioneering American pianist and soul musician who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues^{[citation needed]}. He brought a soulful sound to country music, pop standards, and a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the "definitive version of the song, an American anthem — a classic, just as the man who sang it."^[1] (

Frank Sinatra called him "the only true genius in the business."^[1][2]

Biography

Early years

Ray Charles Robinson was born in Albany, Georgia^[3] to Bailey and Aretha Robinson. Bailey had two more families, leaving Aretha to raise the family.

When Ray was five, his four-year-old brother George drowned in an outside washing tub.^[1] Not long after this event, Ray began to go blind, becoming totally blind by the age of seven.^[4] Charles never knew exactly why he lost his sight^[1], though there are sources which suggest Ray's blindness may have been due to glaucoma.^[4] He attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida, and he learned how to read braille there.^[4] He also learned how to write music and play various musical instruments.^[4] While he was there, his mother died. His father died two years later.

After he left school, Charles began working as a musician in Florida in several bands that played in various styles, including jazz and country music. Charles moved to Seattle in 1947^[4] or 1948^[5]. One of his first gigs was in a club called The Rocking Chair. He soon started recording, first for the label Swingtime Records, achieving his first hit with "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" in 1951, then signed with Ahmet ErtegunAtlantic Records a year later.^[4] When he entered show business, his name was shortened to Ray Charles to avoid confusion with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.^{[citation needed]} at

Middle years

Charles scored his first Atlantic hit in 1953 with the release of the Ahmet Ertegun-composed "Mess Around." He had another hit with his version of "It Should Have Been Me."

Charles' career went into high gear with the gospel drive of "I Got a Woman" (1955). This was followed by "This Little Girl of Mine," "Drown in My Own Tears," "Hallelujah I Love Her So," and "Lonely Avenue." Many of his songs at that time were gospel songs with secular lyrics. He also recorded many blues ballads.

Charles' landmark album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

The essence of this phase of his career^{[citation needed]} can be heard on his live album Ray Charles In Person, recorded before a mostly African American audience in Atlanta in 1956. This album also features the first public performance of "What'd I Say." It broke out as a hit in Atlanta from the tape, months before being recorded in the studio in a two-part version with better fidelity.

Shortly afterward, in an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival he achieved mainstream success with "The Night Time (Is the Right Time)" which appeared on Ray Charles at NewportWhat'd I Say". (1959) and his signature song, "

Charles had already begun to go beyond the limits of the blues-gospel synthesis while still at Atlantic. He recorded with very large orchestras and with jazz artists like Milt Jackson and even made his first country music cover song with Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On."

He then moved on to ABC Records in 1959^[4], where he was given a greater amount of control over his music. Charles went on to broaden his approach, not on experimental side projects, but with pop music, resulting in such hits as "Unchain My Heart", "You Are My Sunshine", and the #1 hits on the Billboard pop charts, "Georgia On My Mind" and "Hit the Road Jack." In 1962, Charles surprised his new, broader audience with his landmark album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, which included the Don Gibson penned "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "You Don't Know Me".

In 1961, Charles canceled a concert scheduled to take place in the Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia to protest against segregated seating required by Jim Crow laws.

Later years

In 1965, Charles was arrested for possession of heroin, a drug to which he had been addicted for 17 years.^{[citation needed]}prisonLos Angeles.^[1] He spent a year on parole in 1966. It was his third arrest for the offense, but he avoided time after kicking the habit in a clinic in

During the 1960s and 1970s, Charles' releases were hit-or-miss^[4], with some big hits and critically acclaimed work, and some music that was dismissed as unoriginal and staid.^{[citation needed]} His version of "Georgia On My Mind," was proclaimed the state song of Georgia on April 24, 1979, with Charles performing it on the floor of the state legislature.^{[4][citation needed]}America the Beautiful." This act was significant in that it symbolized to many the move away from segregation and racism. He also had success with his unique version of "

In the late 1980s, a number of events increased Charles' recognition among young audiences. He made a cameo appearance in the popular 1980 film The Blues Brothers. In 1985, "Night Time is the Right Time" was featured in the episode "Happy Anniversary" of The Cosby Show on NBC. The cast members used the song to perform a wildly popular lip-synch that helped the show secure its wide audience.^{[citation needed]} In 1986, he performed his rendition of "America the Beautiful" at WrestleMania 2. Charles' new connection with audiences helped secure a advertising spot for Diet Pepsi.^{[citation needed]} In a Pepsi Cola commercial of the early 1990s, Charles popularized the catchphrase "You Got the Right One, Baby!"

In the late '80s and early '90s, Charles made appearances on The Super Dave Osbourne Show, where he performed and appeared in a few vignettes where he was somehow driving a car, often as Super Dave's chauffeur. At the height of his newfound fame in the early nineties, Charles did guest vocalsChaka Khan) on long time friend Quincy Jones' hit "I'll Be Good To You" in 1990, from Jones' album Back on the Block. for quite a few projects. He also appeared (with

Final appearances

Gladys Knight performed Charles' "Georgia On My Mind" during the Opening Ceremonies of the 1996 Olympic GamesAtlanta, Georgia. in

In 2002 Charles headlined during the Blues Passions CognacFrance. At one point in the performance a young fan rose to his feet and began to sing an a cappellaMess Around"; Charles responded by performing the song.^{[citation needed]} version of Charles' early song, " festival in southern

In 2003 Charles performed "Georgia On My Mind" and "America the Beautiful" at a televised annual electronic media journalist banquet held in Washington, D.C., at what may have been his final performance in public. Ray Charles' final public appearance came on April 30, 2004, at the dedication of his music studio as a historic landmark in the city of Los Angeles.^[4]

Cover of Genius Loves Company, an album released posthumously.

He died on June 10, 2004 of "liver disease"^[4], at his home in Beverly Hills, California, surrounded by family and friends. His death was not due to liver cancer as was erroneously reported on certain websites^[6] He was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

His final album, Genius Loves Company, released two months after his death, consists of duets with various admirers and contemporaries: B.B. King, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Norah Jones, Idina Menzel, and Johnny Mathis. The album won eight Grammy Awards, including five for Ray Charles for Best Pop Vocal Album, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Here We Go Again" with Norah Jones, and Best Gospel Performance for "Heaven Help Us All" with Gladys Knight; he also received nods for his duets with Elton John and B.B. King.

The album included a version of Harold Arlen's "Over the Rainbow", sung as a duet by Charles and Johnny Mathis; that recording was later played at his memorial service.^[7]

Discography

Deep Purple

Deep Purple
Background information Origin London, England Genre(s) Hard rock
Heavy metal Years active 1968–1976;
1984–Present Label(s) Edel Website deep-purple.com Members Ian Gillan
Steve Morse
Roger Glover
Don Airey
Ian Paice Former members Ritchie Blackmore
Jon Lord
David Coverdale
Glenn Hughes
Rod Evans
Tommy Bolin (deceased)
Joe Lynn Turner
Joe Satriani
Nick Simper

Deep Purple are an English hard rock band formed in London, England in 1968 (see 1968 in music). Along with Led ZeppelinBlack Sabbath, they are considered to be one of the pioneer contributors to the heavy metal and the hard rock genres. and

History

(1964–1967) Pre-Deep Purple years

The band Episode Six released several singles in the UK during the mid-sixties. It featured Ian Gillan on vocals, Graham Dimmock on guitar, Roger Glover on bass, Tony Lander on guitar, Sheila Carter on keyboards, and Harvey Shields on the drums. Despite extensive touring, they never had their big break.

In 1967, a band called The Flower Pot Men and their GardenThe Ivy League. It was concentrated on a trio of singers. The new name was clearly derived from the children's show The Flowerpot Men, with the obvious psychedelic-era puns on flower power and "pot". The band's most popular song was "Let's Go To San Francisco." Some listeners assumed that the song was a parody of Scott McKenzie's "If You're Going to San Francisco," but the band has denied this. It featured Tony Burrows, Neil Landon, Robin Shaw, and Pete Nelson on vocals, Ged Peck on guitar, Nick Simper on bass, Jon Lord on organ, and Carlo Little on drums. Jon Lord had formerly played in The Artwoods, Nick SimperScreaming Lord Sutch's had been with The Savages, where he also played with guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. was formed, formerly known as

(1967–1970) Breakthrough

Deep Purple on the cover of NME

In 1967, former Searchers drummer Chris Curtis contacted London businessman Tony Edwards in the hope that he would manage a new group he was putting together. Curtis’ idea was that the members of the group would get on and off a musical roundabout, and suitably impressed, Edwards agreed to finance the venture with two business partners: John Coletta and Ron Hire (Hire-Edwards-Coletta – HEC Enterprises).

Curtis then set about building up the group, to be known as Roundabout. His first encounter was with Hammond organJon Lord, then he persuaded session guitarist Ritchie Blackmore to return from Hamburg, Germany, to audition for the new group. Curtis himself, however, soon dropped out, but HEC Enterprises, as well as Lord and Blackmore, were keen that the project should continue, so firstly bassist Nick Simper, then finally vocalist Rod Evans and drummer Ian Paice (both of whom were from the group player The Maze), were recruited. After their first few gigs on a brief tour of Denmark in the spring of 1968, the band agreed on a new name suggested by Ritchie, taken from a song composed by Peter De Rose, Deep Purple which was his grandmother's favourite song.

In October 1968, the group had tremendous success in the USJoe South's "Hush," taken from their debut album Shades of Deep Purple, and they were booked to support Cream on their Goodbye tour. However they were soon kicked off the tour, allegedly because they were upstaging the headlining act. The band's second album, The Book of Taliesyn, was released in the United States to coincide with this tour, although it would not be released in their home country until the following year. 1969 saw the release of their third album, Deep Purple, which contained a symphonyorchestra on some tracks. After these three albums and extensive touring in the States, Rod Evans and Nick Simper were unceremoniously sacked, and replaced by vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover both ex-Episode Six. This would create the quintessential Deep Purple "Mark 2" lineup. Initially, this version of the band released a great single probably influenced by the then-popular stage musical "Hair", a cover of a Greenaway-Cook tune titled "Hallelujah", which flopped, and then the Concerto for Group and Orchestra, a three-movement epic composed by Lord and performed at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic OrchestraMalcolm Arnold. Together with Five Bridges by The Nice, it was one of the first collaborations between a rock band and an orchestra, although at the time, certain members of Purple (Blackmore especially) were less than happy at the group being tagged as "a group who played with orchestras" when actually what they had in mind was to develop the band into a much tighter, hard-rocking style.

(1970–1976) At top of the world and breakup

Shortly after the orchestral release, the band began a hectic touring and recording schedule that was to see little respite for the next three years. Their first studio album of this period, released in mid-1970, was In Rock and contained concert staples "Speed King", "Into The Fire", and "Child in Time". The band also issued the UK Top Ten single "Black Night". Blackmore's and Lord's guitar-keyboard interplay coupled with Ian Gillan's howling vocals and the solid rhythm section of Glover and Paice, now started to become instantly recognizable. A second album, the slightly more mellow and progressive Fireball (a favourite of Gillan's but not of Blackmore's), was issued in the summer of 1971, including a number of enduring singles such as "Fireball", "Demon's Eye", "Fools", and "No One Came". The band also scored another chart hit with "Strange Kind Of Woman". Together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Purple were laying the groundwork for what is now called heavy metal music, although at the time, the phrase was still wholly unknown.

During 1972, Deep Purple continued to tour and record at a rate that would be rare thirty years on, releasing Machine Head, an album that was due to be recorded at a casino in Montreux, using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, but after a supposedly accidental fire during a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention gig burned down the casino the album was actually recorded at the nearby Grand Hotel -- this incident famously inspiring the song "Smoke on the Water". Gillan believes that he witnessed a man fire a flare gun into the ceiling during the concert. Continuing from where both previous albums left off, adding more boogie and funkMachine Head has since remained one the band's most famous albums, including the singles "Highway Star", "Space Truckin'", "Lazy", "Pictures Of Home", and "Smoke on the Water". This album was followed a few months later by a live release, Made in Japan mostly recorded at three JapaneseOsaka and one in Tokyo, it is today still one of rock music's most popular live concert recordings (although at the time it was perhaps seen as less important, as only Glover and Paice turned up to mix it). influences, gigs- two in

The classic Purple Mk 2 line-up continued to work hard and record into 1973, releasing the album Who Do We Think We AreDavid Coverdale, and bassist Glenn Hughes, formerly of Trapeze. This new line-up continued into 1974 with the heavy blues/rock album Burn, another highly successful release, which contained the concert staples "Might Just Take Your Life", "You Fool No One", and "Mistreated". Hughes and Coverdale added a funky R&B/soulStormbringer. Besides the title track, the album had a number of singles that received much radio play, such as "Lady Double Dealer", "The Gypsy", and "Soldier Of Fortune". Yet Blackmore was not happy with the results, and as a result left the band in 1975 to form his own band with Ronnie James Dio and Elf, called Rainbow. (1973 element to the band's music, a sound that was even more apparent on the late 1974 release ), featuring the hit single "Woman from Tokyo", as well as "Mary Long", "Smooth Dancer", and "Rat Bat Blue", but tensions within the band were more noticeable than ever. The bad feelings culminated in Ian Gillan quitting the band after their second tour of Japan in the summer of 1973, and Roger Glover being pushed out with him. Their replacements were an unknown singer from northern England,

With Blackmore's departure, Deep Purple was left to fill one of the biggest vacancies in rock music. In spite of this, the rest of the band refused to go down without a fight, and to the surprise of many long-time observers, actually announced a replacement for the "irreplaceable" Man in Black. His name was Tommy Bolin, and the arrival of the young American to Deep Purple was a reality.

It was Coverdale who had suggested auditioning Bolin. "He walked in, thin as a rake, his hair colored green, yellow, and blue with feathers in it. Slinking along beside him was this stunning Hawaiian girl in a crochet dress with nothing on underneath. He plugged into four Marshall 100-watt stacks and . . ." The job was his. Bolin had been a member of many now-forgotten mid-60s bands - Denny & The Triumphs, American Standard, and Zephyr, which released three albums from '69-72. Before Purple, Bolin's best-known recordings were made as a gun-for-hire on Billy Cobham's 1973 jazz fusion album, Spectrum, and on The James Gang's "Bang" (1973) and "Miami" (1974). He had also jammed with such luminaries as Dr. John, Albert King, and Alphonse Mouzon and was busy working on his first solo album, Teaser, when he accepted the invitation to make history as a member of the new Deep Purple.

The resulting album, Come Taste the Band, was released in the US in October 1975. Despite mixed reviews, the collection revitalized the band once again, bringing a new, extreme funk edge to their hard rock sound, which contained the concert staples "Gettin' Tighter", "You Keep On Moving", and "Drifter". Bolin's influence was crucial, and with encouragement from Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale, the guitarist came up with much of the material. Later, when Bolin's own personal problems with drugs began to manifest, the consequences appeared in cancelled shows and missed cues, the writing was on the wall.

(1976–1984) Band split and side projects

The end came on tour in Britain in March 1976 at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. David Coverdale reportedly walked off in tears and handed in his resignation, to which he was allegedly told there was no band left to quit. The decision to pull the plug on Purple had been made some time before the last show by Lord and Paice, who hadn't told anyone else. The break-up of Deep Purple was finally made public in July 1976.

Later, Bolin had just finished recording his second solo album, Private Eyes, when, on December 4, 1976, the real tragedy struck. In Miami, during a tour supporting Jeff Beck, Bolin was found seemingly unconscious by his girlfriend. Unable to wake him, she hurriedly called paramedics, but it was too late. The official cause of death: multiple-drug intoxication. He was 25 years old.

After the break-up most of the past and present members of Deep Purple went on to have considerable success in a number of other bands, including Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and Gillan. There were, however, a number of promoter-led attempts to get the band to reform, especially with the revival of the hard rock market in the late 70s/early 80s.

(1984–1994) Reunions and breakups

In 1980, Rod Evans, along with a group of unknown musicians, toured under the banner of Deep Purple. As the only original member, and one little known to most fans, this band was instantly derided by press and fans as a fraud. The lineup performed concerts in Mexico and the USA before legal action was taken to deny them the use of the name. In retrospect, however tenuous the connection this band had to the name "Deep Purple", it at least kept the name alive and in the media, albeit briefly. More information on this "fake" Deep Purple is available here and here.

However, in April 1984, eight years after the demise of Deep Purple, a full-scale (and legal) reunion happened. It was announced on BBC radio's The Friday Rock Show that the "classic" early 70s line-up of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, and Paice was reforming and recording new material. The band signed a deal with Polydor in Europe and Mercury in North America. The album Perfect Strangers was released in October 1984, and included the singles "Knockin' At Your Back Door", "Under The Gun", "Gypsy's Kiss", and "Perfect Strangers". The reunion tour followed, starting in Australia and winding its way across the world into Europe by the following summer. It was a tremendous success. The UK homecoming proved limited, as they elected to play just a single festival show at Knebworth (with main support from the Scorpions). The weather was famously bad but 80,000 turned up anyway.

The line-up recorded and toured The House of Blue Light in 1987, creating a number of modern era classics ("Bad Attitude", "The Unwritten Law", "Dead Or Alive", and "Hard Lovin' Woman"). This was followed by the live album Nobody's Perfect (1988) which was culled from several shows on this tour. In the UK a new version of "Hush" was released to mark 20 years of the band. In 1989, Ian Gillan was fired from the band, as his relations with Blackmore had soured, and their musical differences had widened too far. Gillan's replacement was former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. This line up recorded just one album, Slaves & Masters in 1990 (One of the favourite albums of Blackmore), and toured in support of it. Despite the renewed excellence of the band during this period, many fans were not pleased with Turner, preferring Gillan.

With the tour done, Turner was forced to go, as Lord, Paice and Glover wanted Gillan back in the fold. Blackmore relented and the classic line-up recorded The Battle Rages On in 1993, which included the songs "Anya", "Solitaire", "Ramshackle Man", and "The Battle Rages On". During an artistically successful European tour during the fall of 1993, tensions between Gillan and Blackmore came to a head yet again. Blackmore walked out in November 1993, never to return and leaving the band in a fix. Joe Satriani was drafted in, so the live dates (in Japan) in December could be completed. Satriani stayed on for a European Summer tour in 1994, Satriani was asked to stay permanently but his record contract commitments prevented this. The band unanimously chose Dixie Dregs guitarist Steve Morse to become Blackmore's permanent successor.

(1994–present) Revival with Steve Morse

Roger Glover and Steve Morse jamming during the intro to Highway Star

Steve Morse’s arrival revitalised the band. In 1996 the critically acclaimed Purpendicular was released. Deep Purple enjoyed success throughout the rest of the 1990s, releasing the harder-sounding Abandon in 1998, and touring with renewed enthusiasm. In 1999, Jon Lord, with the help of a fan who was also a musicologist and composer, painstakingly recreated the Concerto for Group and Orchestra. It was once again performed at the Royal Albert Hall in September 1999, this time with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Mann. The concert also featured songs from each member’s solo careers, as well as a short Deep Purple set, and the occasion was commemorated on the 2000 album In Concert with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Much of the next few years was spent on the road via constant touring. The group continued forward until 2002, when venerable founding member Jon Lord (who, along with Ian Paice, was the only member to be in all incarnations of the band) announced his amicable retirement from the band to pursue personal projects (especially orchestral work). Rock keyboard veteran Don Airey (Rainbow/Ozzy Osbourne), who had helped Deep Purple out when Lord was injured in 2001, joined the band. In 2003, Deep Purple released their first studio album in five years, the highly praised (but controversially titled) Bananas, and began touring in support of the album immediately. In July 2005 the band played at the Live 8 concert in Park Place (Ontario) and, in October of the same year, released the album Rapture of the Deep. Although recorded in just a few weeks, this proved to be their most progressive and adventurous work for many years and was followed by the extensive Rapture of the Deep tour.

Today, Deep Purple steadfastly carries on in the studio and around the globe as one of history's most prolific, longest-lived, and hardest touring rock bands.

Personnel and discography

See also

External links

Deep Purple Ian Gillan | Steve Morse | Roger Glover | Don Airey | Ian Paice Ritchie Blackmore | Jon Lord | David Coverdale | Joe Lynn Turner | Tommy BolinGlenn Hughes | Rod Evans | Nick Simper | Joe Satriani | Discography Albums : Shades of Deep Purple | The Book of Taliesyn | Deep Purple | Deep Purple in Rock | Fireball | Machine Head | Who Do We Think We Are | Burn | Stormbringer | Come Taste the Band | Perfect Strangers | The House of Blue LightSlaves & Masters | The Battle Rages On | Purpendicular | Abandon | Bananas | Rapture of the Deep | Live albums: Live in Inglewood | Concerto for Group and Orchestra | Kneel & Pray | Scandinavian Nights | Space Vol 1 & 2 | Made in Japan | Deep Purple In Concert | Denmark 1972 | Made in Europe | Live in London | California Jamming: Live at the California Jam | Just Might Take Your Life | Perks And Tit | Mk III: The Final ConcertsLast Concert in Japan | King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents: Deep Purple in Concert | This Time Around: Live in TokyoNobody's Perfect | In The Absence of Pink: Knebworth 85 | Come Hell or High Water | Live In Europe 1993 | Live at the Olympia '96 | Total Abandon: Live in Australia | In Concert with the London Symphony Orchestra | Live At The Rotterdam Ahoy | The Soundboard Series | | Videos and DVDs: Concerto for Group and Orchestra | Special Edition EP | Live in California 74 | Come Hell Or High Water | Bombay Calling | Live at Montreaux | In Concert with the London Symphony Orchestra | Live in Australia: Total Abandon | Perihelion | Live Encounters Compilation Albums: Purple Passages | 24 Carat Purple | When We Rock, We Rock, and When We Roll, We Roll | The Mark II Purple Singles | Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple | The Anthology | 30: Very Best of Deep Purple | Days May Come and Days May Go | Listen, Learn, Read On | Winning Combinations: Deep Purple and Rainbow | Deep Purple: The Platinum Collection Related articles

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James Brown

James Brown
Background information Birth name James Joseph Brown, Jr. Born May 3, 1933: Georgia, USA Origin Augusta, Georgia, USA Died December 25, 2006: Atlanta, Georgia, USA Genre(s) R&B/soul/funk Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, dancer, bandleader, record producer Instrument(s) Singing, organ/piano/keyboard, drums & guitar Years active 1956 - 2006 Label(s) King/Polydor Records Associated
acts The Famous Flames, The JBs

James Joseph Brown, Jr. (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006)^[1] most commonly known as James Brown, was an African American entertainer who was recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century music. As a prolific singer, songwriter, bandleader and record producer, Brown was a seminal force in the evolution of gospel and rhythm and blues into soul and funk. He left his mark on numerous other musical genres, including rock, jazz, reggae, disco, dance and electronic music, afrobeat, and hip-hop music.

Brown began his professional music career in 1953 and skyrocketed to fame in the late 1950s and early 1960s on the strength of his thrilling live performances and a string of smash hits. In spite of various personal problems and setbacks, he continued to score hits in every decade through the 1980s. In the 1960s and 1970s Brown was a presence in American political affairs, noted especially for his activism on behalf of African Americans and the poor (as well as his outspoken support for Richard Nixon).

Brown was recognized by a plethora of (mostly self-bestowed) titles, including Soul Brother Number One, Mr. Dynamite, the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business, Minister of The New New Super Heavy Funk, Mr. Please Please Please, The Boss, and the best-known, the Godfather of Soul. He was renowned for his shouting vocals, feverish dancing and unique rhythmic style.

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Biography

Early life

Brown was born in the small town of Barnwell in Great Depression-era South Carolina as James Joseph Brown, Jr; as an adult, Brown would legally change his name to remove the "Jr." designation.^[2] Brown's family eventually moved to nearby Augusta, Georgia. During his childhood, Brown helped support his family by picking cotton in the nearby fields and shining shoes downtown. In his spare time, Brown variously spent time either practicing his skills in Augusta-area halls, or committing petty crimes. At the age of sixteen, he was convicted of armed robbery and sent to a juvenile detention center upstate in Toccoa from 1948.

While in prison, Brown later made the acquaintance of Bobby Byrd, whose family helped Brown secure an early release after serving only three years of his sentence, under the condition that he not return to Augusta or Richmond County and that he would try to get a job. After brief stints as a boxer and baseball pitcher (a career move ended by leg injury) Brown turned his energy toward music.

The beginnings of the Famous Flames

Brown and Bobby Byrd's sister Sarah performed in a gospel group called "The Gospel Starlighters" from 1955. Eventually, Brown joined Bobby Byrd's group the Avons, and Byrd turned the group's sound towards secular rhythm and blues. Now called The Famous Flames, Brown and Byrd's band toured the Southern "chitlin' circuit", and eventually signed a deal with the Cincinnati, Ohio-based King Records, presided over by Syd Nathan.

The group's first recording and single, credited to "James Brown with the Famous Flames", was "Please, Please, Please" (1956). It was a #5 R&B hit and a million-selling single. However, their subsequent records failed to live up to the success of "Please, Please, Please". After nine failed singles, King was ready to drop Brown and the Flames until the success of their 1958 single "Try Me." While not a big hit, it went to number forty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100, which was enough to keep the group working Southern one-night stands.^[1] Nearly all of the group's releases were written or co-written by Brown, who assumed primary control of the band from Byrd and eventually began billing himself as a solo act with The Famous Flames as his backup.

These early recordings, also including "I'll Go Crazy" (1959) and "Bewildered" (1960), were fairly straightforward gospel-inspired R&B compositions, heavily inspired by the work of contemporary musicians such as Little Richard and Ray Charles. Yet the songs were already marked by a rhythmic acuity and vocal attack that would later become even more pronounced, contributing to the developing style that would eventually be called "funk". Brown, in fact, called Little Richard his idol, and credited Little Richard's saxophone-studded mid-1950's road band The Upsetters as the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat. ^[3]

Brown's arrangements and instrumentation, initially standardized, began to give way to more improvisational and rhythm-heavy tracks such as 1961's #5 R&B hit "Night Train", arguably the first single to showcase the beginnings of what today is considered the "James Brown sound". Except for declamatory ad-libs by Brown, "Night Train" is completely instrumental, featuring prominent horn charts and a fast, highly accented rhythm track.

The landmark Live at the Apollo LP from 1962.

"Papa gets a brand new bag"

While Brown's early singles were major hits in the southern United States and regularly became R&B Top Ten hits, he and the Flames were not nationally successful until his self-financed live show was captured on the LP Live at the Apollo in 1962, released without the consent of his label King Records.

Brown followed this success with a string of singles that, along with the work of Allen Toussaint in New Orleans, essentially defined funk music. 1964's "Out of Sight" was, even more than "Night Train" had been, a harbinger of the new James Brown sound. Its arrangement was raw and unornamented, the horns and the drums took center stage in the mix, and Brown's vocals had taken on an even more intensely rhythmic feel. However, Brown violated his contract with King again by recording "Out of Sight" for Smash Records; the ensuing legal battle resulted in a one year ban on the release of his vocal recordings.^[4]

The mid-1960s was the period of Brown's greatest popular success. Two of his signature tunes, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)," both from 1965, were Brown's first Top 10 pop hits as well as major #1 R&B hits, remaining the top-selling single in black venues for over a month apiece. His national profile was further boosted that year by appearances in the films Ski Party and the concert filmThe T.A.M.I. Show, in which he upstaged The Rolling Stones. In his concert repertoire and on record, Brown mingled his innovative rhythmic essays with ballads such as "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (1965), and even Broadway show tunes.

Brown continued to develop the new funk idiom. "Cold Sweat" (1967), a song with almost no chord changes, was considered a departure even compared to Brown's other recent innovations. Critics have since come to see it as a high-water mark in the dance music of the 1960s; it is sometimes called the first "true" funk recording.

Brown would often make creative adjustments to his songs for greater appeal. He sped up the released version of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" to make it even more intense and commercial. He also began spinning off new compositions from the grooves of earlier ones by continual revision of their arrangements. For example, the hit "There Was a Time" emerged out of the chord progression and rhythm arrangements of the 1967 song "Let Yourself Go."^[5]

The 1970 LP Soul on Top.

The late 1960s: "Ain't It Funky Now"

Brown employed musicians and arrangers who had come up through the jazz tradition. He was noted for his ability as a bandleader and songwriter to blend the simplicity and drive of R&B with the rhythmic complexity and precision of jazz. Trumpeter Lewis Hamlin and saxophonist/keyboardist Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis (the successor to previous bandleader Nat Jones) led the band; guitarist Jimmy Nolen provided percussive, deceptively simple riffs for each song; Maceo Parker's prominent saxophone solos provided a focal point for many performances. Other members of Brown's band included stalwart singer and sideman Bobby Byrd; drummers John "Jabo" Starks, Clyde Stubblefield, and Melvin Parker (Maceo's brother); saxophonist St. Clair Pinckney; trombonist Fred Wesley; guitarist Alphonso "Country" Kellum; and bassist Bernard Odum.

As the 1960s came to a close, Brown refined his funk style even further with "I Got the Feelin'" and "Licking Stick-Licking Stick" (both recorded in 1968), and "Funky Drummer" (recorded in 1969). By this time Brown's "singing" increasingly took the form of a kind of rhythmic declamation that only intermittently featured traces of pitch or melody. His vocals, not quite sung but not quite spoken, would be a major influence on the technique of rapping, which would come to maturity along with hip hop music in the coming decades. Supporting his vocals were instrumental arrangements that featured a more refined and developed version of Brown's mid-1960s style. The horn section, guitars, bass, and drums all meshed together in strong rhythms based around various repeating riffs, usually with at least one musical "break".

Brown's recordings influenced musicians across the industry, most notably Sly and his Family Stone, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, and soul shouters like Edwin Starr , Temptations David Ruffin and Dennis Edwards, and a then-prepubescent Michael Jackson, who took Brown's shouts and dancing into the pop mainstream as the lead singer of Motown's The Jackson 5. Those same tracks would later be resurrected by countless hip-hop musicians from the 1970s on; in fact, James Brown remains the world's most sampled recording artist, and "Funky Drummer" is itself the most sampled individual piece of music.^{[citation needed]}

The content of Brown's songs was now developing along with their delivery. Socio-political commentary on the black person's position in society and lyrics praising motivation and ambition filled songs like "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" (1968) and "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door I'll Get It Myself)" (1970). However, while this change gained him an even greater position in the black community, it lost him much of his white audience who could no longer relate to his lyrics.

The cover to the 1970 live Sex Machine LP.

The 1970s: The JB's

By 1970, most of the members of James Brown's classic 1960s band had quit his act for other opportunities. He and Bobby Byrd employed a new band that included future funk greats such as bassist Bootsy Collins, Collins' guitarist brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins, and trombonist/musical director Fred Wesley. This new backing band was dubbed "The JB's", and made their debut on Brown's 1970 single "(Get Up I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine". Although it would go through several lineup changes (the first in 1971), The JB's remain Brown's most familiar backing band.

As Brown's musical empire grew (he bought radio stations in the late 1960s, including Augusta's WRDW, where he had shined shoes as a boy), his desire for financial and artistic independence grew as well. In 1971, he began recording for Polydor Records; among his first Polydor releases was the #1 R&B hit "Hot Pants (She Got To Use What She Got To Get What She Wants)". Many of his sidemen and supporting players, such as Fred Wesley & the JB's, Bobby Byrd, Lyn Collins, Myra Barnes, and Hank Ballard, released records on Brown's subsidiary label, People, which was created as part of Brown's Polydor contract. These recordings are as much a part of Brown's legacy as those released under his own name, and most are noted examples of what might be termed James Brown's "house" style. The early 1970s marked the first real awareness, outside the African-American community, of Brown's achievements. Miles Davis and other jazz musicians began to cite Brown as a major influence on their styles, and Brown provided the score for the 1973 blaxploitation film Black Caesar.

In 1974 Brown performed in Zaire as part of the build up to the The Rumble in the Jungle fight between Muhammad AliGeorge Foreman. and

The 1974 LP The Payback.

His 1970s Polydor recordings were a summation of all the innovation of the last twenty years, and while some critics maintain that he declined artistically during this period, compositions like "The Payback" (1973); "Papa Don't Take No Mess" and "Stoned to the Bone" (1974); "Funky President (People It's Bad)" (1975); and "Get Up Offa That Thing" (1976) are still considered among his best.

Into the late-1970s and 1980s

By the mid-1970s, Brown's star-status was on the wane, and key musicians such as Bootsy Collins had begun to depart to form their own groups. The disco movement, which Brown anticipated, and some say originated, found relatively little room for Brown; his 1976 albums Get Up Offa That Thing and Bodyheat were his first flirtations with "disco-fied" rhythms incorporated into his funky repertoire. While 1977's Mutha's Nature and 1978's Jam 1980's generated no charted hits, 1979's The Original Disco Man LP is a notable late addition to his oeuvre. It contained the song "It's Too Funky in Here," which was his last top R&B hit of the decade.

Brown experienced something of a resurgence in the 1980s, effectively crossing over to a broader, more mainstream audience. He made cameo appearances in the feature films The Blues Brothers, Doctor Detroit, and Rocky IV, as well as being a guest star in the Miami Vice episode "Missing Hours" in 1988. He also released Gravity, a modestly popular crossover album, and the hit 1985 single "Living in America". Acknowledging his influence on modern hip-hop and R&B music, Brown collaborated with hip-hop artist Afrika Bambaataa on the single "Unity", and worked with the group Full Force on a #5 R&B hit single, 1988's "Static," from the hip-hop influenced album I'm Real. The drum break to his 1969 song "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose" became so popular at hip hop dance parties (especially for breakdance) in the late 1970s and early 1980s that hip hop founding father Kurtis Blow calls the song "the national anthem of hip hop."[1]

Later years

In spite of his return to the limelight, by the late 1980s, Brown met with a series of legal and financial setbacks. In 1988, he was arrested following a high-speed car chase down Interstate 20 in Augusta. He was imprisoned for threatening pedestrians with firearms and abuse of PCP, as well as for the repercussions of his flight. Although he was sentenced to six years in prison, he was eventually released in 1991 after having only served three. A new album called Love Overdue was released that same year, with the new single "Move On".

During the 1990s and 2000s, Brown was repeatedly arrested for drug possession and domestic abuse. However, he has continued to perform regularly and even record, and has made appearances in television shows and films such as Blues Brothers 2000. The 1991 four-CD box set Star Time spans his four-decade career. Nearly all his earlier LPs have been re-released on CD, often with additional tracks and commentary by experts on Brown's music. In 1993, James Brown released a new album called Universal James, which spawned the singles "Can't Get Any Harder", "How Long" and "Georgia-Lina". In 1995, the live album Live At The Apollo 19951996. And in 1998, James Brown released a new studio album, I'm Back, featuring the single "Funk On Ah Roll". was released, featuring a new track recorded in the studio called "Respect Me". It was released as a single that same year. A megamix called "Hooked on Brown" was released as a single in

In 2002, James Brown released the album The Next Step, which features the single "Killing is Out, School is In." Brown appeared at Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push, the final Live 8 concert, on July 6, 2005, where he did a duet with British pop star Will Young on "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag." He also did a duet with another British pop star, Joss Stone, a week earlier on the UK chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Before his death, he was scheduled to perform a duet with singer Annie Lennox on the song "Vengeance" on her new album Venus, scheduled for release in early 2007.

In 2006, Brown continued his "Seven Decades Of Funk World Tour", to be his last, performing all over the world. His latest shows were still greeted with positive reviews. His last Irish performance was at the Oxegen festival in Punchestown in 2006.

On November 14, 2006, Brown was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame. He was one of several inductees that performed at the ceremony.

Brown was admitted to the Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia on December 24, 2006 after a dentist visit where he was found to have severe pneumonia.^[6] Brown died the next day on December 25, 2006, around 1:45 a.m. (06:45 UTC).^[7]

Personal life and dedications to Brown

Brown had been married four times. He and his last wife Tommie Raye Hynie were married in 2002, but the marriage was annulled. They remarried in 2004 and had one child together. Brown also had two children by his first wife, Velma Warren, and three more by his second, Deidre Jenkins. Adrienne Rodriegues, Brown's third wife, had him arrested four times on charges of assault.

A Life-sized bronze statue stands on the 800 block of Broad Street in Augusta, Georgia.

James Brown lived in a riverfront home in Beech Island, South Carolina, directly across the Savannah River from Augusta. On November 11, 1993, Augusta mayor Charles DeVaney held a ceremony during which Augusta's 9th Street was renamed "James Brown Boulevard" in the entertainer's honor. On May 6, 2005, as a seventy-second birthday present for James Brown, the city of Augusta unveiled a seven-foot bronze statue of Brown. The statue was to have been dedicated a year earlier, but the ceremony was put on hold because of a domestic abuse charge Brown was facing at the time. He later forfeited bond on the domestic abuse charge.

On August 22, 2006, the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority voted to rename the city civic center the James Brown Arena.

Trivia

Discography

For a full listing of albums and singles, see James Brown discography.

Top ten singles

These singles reached the top ten on either the Billboard Hot 100 or the Billboard Top R&B Singles charts.

• 1956: "Please, Please, Please" (R&B #5)
• 1959: "Try Me" (R&B #1, U.S. #48)
• 1960: "Think" (R&B #7, U.S. #33)
• 1961: "Baby, You're Right" (R&B #2, U.S. #49)
• 1961: "Bewildered" (R&B #8, U.S. #40)
• 1961: "I Don't Mind" (R&B #4, U.S. #47)
• 1962: "Lost Someone" (R&B #2, U.S. #48)
• 1962: "Night Train" (R&B #5, U.S. #35)
• 1963: "Prisoner of Love" (R&B #6, U.S. #18)
• 1965: "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" - Part I (R&B #1, U.S. #8)
• 1965: "I Got You (I Feel Good)" (R&B #1, U.S. #3)
• 1966: "Ain't That a Groove" Pts. 1 & 2 (R&B #6, U.S. #42)
• 1966: "Don't Be A Drop-Out" (R&B #4, U.S. #50)
• 1966: "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (R&B #1, U.S. #8)
• 1966: "Sweet Little Baby Boy" - Part 1 (U.S. #8)
• 1967: "Cold Sweat" - Part 1 (R&B #1, U.S. #7)
• 1967: "Let Yourself Go" (R&B #5, U.S. #46)
• 1968: "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)" (R&B #4, U.S. #28)
• 1968: "I Got The Feelin'" (R&B #1, U.S. #6)
• 1968: "Licking Stick - Licking Stick" - Part 1 (R&B #2, U.S. #14)
• 1968: "Say it Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" - Part 1 (R&B #1, U.S. #10)
• 1968: "There Was A Time" (R&B #3, U.S. #36)
• 1969: "Ain't It Funky Now" (R&B #3, U.S. #24)
• 1969: "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose" (R&B #1, U.S. #15)
• 1969: "I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up The Door, I'll Get It Myself)" (R&B #3, U.S. #20)

• 1969: "Let A Man Come In And Do The Popcorn" - Part One (R&B #2, U.S. #21)
• 1969: "Mother Popcorn (You Got To Have A Mother For Me)" Part 1(R&B #1, U.S. #11)
• 1970: "Get Up (I Feel Like Being Like A) Sex Machine" (Part 1)" (R&B #2, U.S. #15)
• 1970: "Santa Claus Is Definitely Here To Stay" (U.S. #7)
• 1970: "Super Bad" - Part 1 & Part 2 (R&B #1, U.S. #13)
• 1971: "Escape-ism" - Part 1 (R&B #6, U.S. #35)
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