James Brown, “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, died early Christmas Day at the age of 73. Although reports say Brown died “of unknown causes,” he had been hospitalized for pneumonia.
Brown’s incendiary mix of gospel and RnB for Federal Records, introduced to the world on the hit “Please, Please, Please,” helped to spawn the soul genre.
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Written by : Bob Marovich
Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.
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Hello Bob,
I posted the same thread on some other forums for I need some help on James Brown’s gospel singing roots.
In his biography is mentioned that he had been a member auf the Gospel Starlighters in the early fifties. I also know he supported the Swanee Quintet in the mid sixties as a starting group of his concerts.
If you go to the index of names of the Hayes & Laughton discography, you’ll find „James Brown“ having been a member of the Friendly Five (male vocal group, bass; two tracks for Authentic in May 1956), the Gospel Harmonaires (male vocal group; ten tracks for Atlantic in November 1951, eight remained unreleased), the Royal Harmony Singers of N.C. (male vocal group, 2nd tenor; two tracks for Apex in July 1949), the Selah Singers (male vocal group, baritone, guitar; twelve tracks on two sessions for Truth and Gospel in 1958) and the Singing Sons (male vocal group, tenor; six tracks on Decca and Freedom in July 1949 and September 1950, two tracks remained unreleased. Other members of this group had been Dave Edrington, Julius Cheeks and Providence Thomas). I neither know if “James Brown” is the same person than the „Godfather of soul music” nor if it’s the same person within the groups enumerated above.
Do you have further informations?
RIP James Brown
Bernd
Bernd, thanks for writing. I am assuming that the James Browns of those other gospel quartets are not the same as the Godfather of Soul, but I’ll check with some other experts to make certain.
P.S. Thanks for the correction on the nationality of the “Silent Night” authors; I have changed the blog entry accordingly!