Dec 26, 2006, 2:46 GMT
Atlanta - US singer James Brown, nicknamed the Godfather of Soul, died Monday at age 73, news reports said.
Picture dated 26 July 2002 shows US soul legend James Brown performing on stage at the Paleo Festival in Nyon, Switzerland. Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured 'Godfather of Soul,' whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday, 25 December 2006, his agent said. He was 73. EPA/MARTIAL TREZZINI
Brown had been hospitalized with pneumonia Sunday in the US city of Atlanta on Sunday, his agent was quoted as saying. The cause of death released later Monday was heart failure.
According to his manager Frank Copsidas, Brown died early Monday at Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta. Brown's advisor and friend of many years, Charles Bobbit, was at his side, Copsidas said.
In keeping with his energetic reputation, Brown was due to perform two shows on New Year's Eve at New York's Times Square and had several performances booked in January in Canada.
Born in 1933 in Barnwell, South Carolina, Brown endured a difficult upbringing. He spent his formative years under the care of relatives in Augusta, Georgia, where much of his experiences were gleaned from the streets.
Becoming involved in petty crime, Brown was sent to a juvenile detention centre in 1948 after being convicted of robbery. In prison, he made the acquaintance of musician Bobby Byrd, a long-time friend and collaborator whose influence is credited with turning Brown's energies towards music.
Brown first found success with the group The Famous Flames and had a top-10 hit in 1956 with Please Please Please. Gradually, his style developed from the more straightforward gospel influence of this early era into the more rhythmic sound that was to become his trademark.
Performing and writing frenetically through the 1960s and '70s, Brown became known as a charismatic showman who earned nicknames including the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, or Godfather of Soul.
Brown's prominence in American culture was evidence by the statement of mourning issued on Christmas Day by US President George W Bush.
'For half a century, the innovative talent of the Godfather of Soul enriched our culture and influenced generations of musicians,' Bush said in a statement issued by the White House. 'An American original, his fans came from all walks of life and backgrounds. James Brown's family and friends are in our thoughts and prayers this Christmas.'
One of the founding fathers of soul and funk music, Brown was a seminal influence on pop and R&B music, who who laid the foundations for many modern genres including disco and hip-hop. Classic compositions included Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, It's a Man's Man's Man's World, and Get Up (I Feel Like Being Like A) Sex Machine.
In the mid '60s, he became politically engaged, giving live concerts on television that in 1968 prevented possible riots in several cities after the assassination of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, while his 1968 hit Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud) became a civil-rights anthem.
In 1974, he performed in Zaire as part of the Rumble in the Jungle between boxers Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.
Brown won a Grammy award for lifetime achievement in 1992 as well as Grammys in 1965 and 1987. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
His career was not without controversy, as he privately battled drug and alcohol addiction and was arrested numerous times on charges of hitting his third wife, Adrienne.
The singer also made headlines in 1988 after a drug-fuelled incident that culminated in a cross-state police chase. Brown received a six-year prison sentence but was released on parole in 1991, after which he returned to the global stage.
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