The king of them all, y'all

He was known as The Godfather Of Soul, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business and Soul Brother Number One...James Brown has died at the age of 73.

The man`s music has influenced everything from funk to disco to rap. He was still touring endlessly and had an upcoming 2 night gig at Casino Rama in early January 2007.

I have mentioned before that I have seen him in concert at the Blues Fest in Ottawa. It was entertaining, he did all of his obvious songs (including the shtick with the cape) and I was certainly glad I was able to see him at least once. However, he was in his late 60s at the time and the show felt almost over-rehearsed like he and his band had done the same show thousands of times. So here is some footage of James Brown at his best.




Top 5 James Brown Songs
1. Please Please Please
2. Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine
3. Papa Don`t Take No Mess
4. I Got The Feelin`
5. Night Train

I do always find it interesting when famous people die on Christmas Day. Like that somehow has more special meaning than if they had died on June 11. Off the top of my head, the most famous people to die on Christmas Day were former baseball player and manager Billy Martin, singer/actor Dean Martin and Hollywood icon Charlie Chaplin. Looking at that list, yeah, clearly there is no meaning behind dying on that day.

Happy Holidays to everyone.