While incarcerated, Brown organized and led a prison gospel choir. At the age of 16, he was arrested for stealing a car and sentenced to three years in prison. However, as a teenager Brown also turned to crime. He sang in the church choir, where he developed his powerful and uniquely emotive voice. As an escape from the harsh reality of growing up Black in the rural South during the Great Depression, Brown turned to religion and to music.
I had the determination to go on, and my determination was to be somebody." Musical Beginningsĭismissed from school at the age of 12 for "insufficient clothing," Brown turned to working his various odd jobs full-time.
I was 9 years old before I got a pair of underwear from a real store all my clothes were made from sacks and things like that. He danced for the soldiers at nearby Fort Gordon, picked cotton, washed cars and shined shoes.īrown later recalled his impoverished childhood: "I started shining shoes at 3 cents, then went up to 5 cents, then 6 cents.
Growing up in abject poverty during the Great Depression, a young Brown worked whatever odd jobs he could find, for literal pennies. His parents split when he was very young, and at the age of 4, Brown was sent to Augusta, Georgia, to live with his Aunt Honey, the madam of a brothel.
on May 3, 1933, in a one-room shack in the woods of Barnwell, South Carolina, a few miles east of the Georgia border. Brown was also known for his turbulent personal life, as well as his social activism, both in his songwriting ("America is My Home," "Black and Proud") and advocating the benefits of education to schoolchildren. James Brown worked his way to the top of the funk and R&B music earning the moniker "The Godfather of Soul." His unique vocal and musical style influenced many artists.
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