James Brown‘s live shows, with his exhilarating stage presence and vocal prowess, were the sort you had to see to believe, or at the very least, hear to believe. Which is why Brown’s choice to record ...

I t’s impossible to overstate Bootsy Collins’ influence. Since joining James Brown’s band 55 years ago this month, Collins has made sturdy, buoyant bass lines, which stretch out all over the place ...

Taking soul onto the R&B charts, James Brown helped push the genre further into the mainstream by the mid-1960s with his first No. 1 hit, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” which earned him his first ...

About 50 years ago, I received a cassette of the 1966 James Brown album “James Brown Sings Christmas Songs” as a Christmas gift from my family. They knew of my infatuation with soul music, with my ...