One of His Best Performances
James Brown
(May 3, 1993 ~ December 25, 2006)
Early Life
James Brown was born on May 3, 1933 in Barnwell, South Carolina to his mother, Susie Brown, who was only sixteen when she had James, and his father, Joseph Brown. James was supposed to inherit his father’s name, but an error on his birth certificate permanently stuck James Brown with the name James. Brown was born into a very poor family, and lived in a crowded wooden shack with his aunts, because of this, Brown dropped out of school in sixth grade and spent a lot of his time on the streets. He committed a robbery when he was sixteen and got arrested and was taken to a juvenile detention center. Brown learned to play piano and guitar in jail, and also formed a choir group. When he was released, he got hired for a motor company.
Career
Brown was musical from a young age and sang in talent shows as a child, but his professional career began when he met Bobby Byrd, member of a professional band, The Famous Flames, which Brown joined. The band had a few successful hits, but broke up in 1957. The remaining members formed a reincarnation of the band. Brown basically went solo and came out with hit after hit, but his career began to die out in the late 70s. He combated this by starring in some movies including the Blues Brothers and Rocky IV. Brown would continue to release singles until 1998, only achieving moderate success.
Personal Life
James Brown married Velma Warren in 1953; it was the first of his four marriages. They ended up divorcing in 1969. Brown’s second marriage, to Deidre Jenkins in 1970, also ended in divorce. Brown then married Adrienne Rodriguez in 1984, but the marriage sadly ended with her death in 1996. Brown’s fourth marriage to Tomi Rae Hynie was found to be invalid because Hynie’s previous marriage had not ended by the time of her wedding to Brown. However, she was deemed to be his spouse following a legal battle after Brown’s death. Brown acknowledged that he had nine children while he was alive, but it is estimated that Brown had many more illegitimate children from the many affairs he had. There was at least three other children that have been proven to be his based on DNA tests. He was also arrested multiple times for domestic violence, often hitting and even shooting at Rodriguez. He was arrested for illegal gun possession, drug possession, driving offenses, and even served two years in jail.
Death
Brown died on Christmas Day in 2006 due to congestive heart failure after days before being hospitalized for pneumonia. This may have been caused by Brown’s drug addictions that he went to rehab for on multiple occasions.