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James Joseph Brown was an American singer, record producer, and bandleader.
The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames “the Hardest Working Man in Show Business”, “Godfather of Soul”, “Mr. Dynamite”, and “Soul Brother No. 1”.
In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown was one of the first 10 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction in New York on January 23, 1986.
List of quotes
| I had to tell about my colonic, which expresses the fact why I’m so neat today as opposed to a few years ago. I never knew that the weight made that much difference. |
| I’ve been knocked down a lot of times. |
| Michael Jackson has a very good heart. He was crying when he was giving me the award, ’cause his mind went back over the early days. |
| My expectations of other people, I double them on myself. |
| You only live once. |
| You can’t teach others if you are living the same way. |
| You can take care of yourself, and God helps those who help themselves. |
| When I’m on stage, I’m trying to do one thing: bring people joy. Just like church does. People don’t go to church to find trouble, they go there to lose it. |
| When God took it, he accepted it; when he brought it back, he accepted it. That’s what’s happening with me. |
| I’m not going to be joining ZZ Top. You know they can’t play my stuff. It’s too complicated. |
| My son don’t have to say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud. He don’t have to be called those crazy names. |
| I’ve been held responsible for taxes I know nothing about. |
| I just thank God for all of the blessings. |
| I’m kidding about having only a few dollars. I might have a few dollars more. |
| I named my new son James Joseph Brown II. I think he’s going to be a lot better than I was. |
| Sometimes I feel like I’m a preacher as well, ’cause I can really get into an audience. |
| Sometimes you struggle so hard to feed your family one way, you forget to feed them the other way, with spiritual nourishment. Everybody needs that. |
| Thank God for the journey. |
| The hardest thing about being James Brown is I have to live. I don’t have no down time. |
| The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing. |
| I taught them everything they know, but not everything I know. |
| Like Christ said, love thee one another. I learned to do that, and I learned to respect and be appreciative and thankful for what I had. |
| Hair is the first thing. And teeth the second. Hair and teeth. A man got those two things he’s got it all. |
| I got a wife who likes expensive things, so she takes all the cash. |
| I started Michael years ago. I saw him in Gary, Indiana, and we’d have him on the talent shows. He kind of emulated me, and did the best he could. |
| I think the best thing about being James Brown is looking at my little son. Hopefully I can make my son a role model to a lot of people. |
| I think what I came through is great, but my son can take it to another level, not having to fight racism. His mother’s a Norwegian and I’m mixed up four or five times, so he can face the world. |
| I used to think like Moses. That knocked me down for a couple years and put me in prison. Then I start thinking like Job. Job waited and became the wealthiest and richest man ever ’cause he believed in God. |
| I want to say to you, Help yourself, so you can help someone else. |
| I was stillborn. The midwives laid me aside, thought I was really gone. I laid there about an hour, and they picked me back up and tried again, ’cause my body was still warm. The Good Lord brought me back. |
| I’d like to cut down on the work a little bit. |
| I did the thing with bonds, which was about 30 million dollars, and didn’t get none of the money on them. |
