RJ Smith has been a senior editor at Los Angeles magazine, a contributor to Blender, a columnist for The Village Voice, a staff writer for Spin, and has written for GQ, The New York Times Magazine, and Men's Vogue,. His first book, The Great Black Way: L.A. in the 1940s and the Lost African-American Renaissance, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and recipient of a California Book Award. He lives in Los Angeles.
The One
The Life and Music of James Brown
The definitive biography of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, with fascinating findings on his life as a Civil Rights activist, an entrepreneur, and the most innovative musician of our time.
Playing 350 shows a year at his peak, with more than forty Billboard hits, James Brown was a dazzling showman who transformed American music. His life offstage was just as vibrant, but until now no biographer has delivered a complete profile. The One draws on interviews with more than 100 people who knew Brown personally or played with him professionally. Using these sources, award-winning writer RJ Smith draws a portrait of a man whose twisted and amazing life helps us to understand the music he made.
The One delves deeply into the story of a man who was raised in abject poverty in the segregated South but grew up to earn (and lose) several fortunes. Covering everything from Brown's unconventional childhood (his aunt ran a bordello), to his role in the Black Power movement, which used "Say It Loud (I'm Black and Proud)" as its anthem, to his high-profile friendships, to his complicated family life, Smith's meticulous research and sparkling prose blend biography with a cultural history of a pivotal era. At the heart of The One is Brown's musical genius, as Smith traces the legend's reinvention of funk, soul, R&B, and pop, and his evolution as an artist whose crucial influence spans at least 5 decades.
A marching band from the United House of Prayer for All People parades down the Terry, sometime in the 1940s.
Credit: Courtesy of Milledge Murray
Entering the pantheon: an early King promotional photo.
Credit: Courtesy of Steve Halper
King Records occupied an unassuming industrial strip on Brewster Avenue in a neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Credit: Lee Hazen
Syd Nathan and Earl Bostic go over the fine print at King Studios.
Credit: Courtesy of Brian Powers
Brown's manager and confidante, Ben Bart, relaxing at the racetrack.
Credit: Courtesy of Jack Bart
"A shape with lion body and the head of a man": The Cape Act as seen at the Alabama State College Arena in Montgomery, circa 1965, and elsewhere on the road.
Credit: Collection of the author
Enter the mugs: left to right, Robert "Chopper" McCullough, Clayton "Chicken" Gunnels, Phelps "Catfish" Collins, William "Bootsy" Collins, and Charles Spurling. They changed everything.
Credit: Courtesy of Patti Collins
Brown and his wife, Adrienne, celebrating their union.
Credit: Senator Strom Thurmond Collection Photographs, Special Collections, Clemson University Libraries
Easter morning at Strom Thurmond's house. The Senator and Brown were longtime friends.
Credit: Senator Strom Thurmond Collection Photographs, Special Collections, Clemson University Libraries
The bronze statue of Brown, unveiled in downtown Augusta in 2005.
Credit: Rainier Ehrhardt/Augusta Chronicle/ZUMAPRESS.com
James Brown's final appearance, January 2007.
Credit: Rick Mackler/Globe Photos/ZUMAPRESS.com
