By Cara Suglich
Dr. Thomas "Toby" Peters, Marquette's associate vice president for administration, met James Brown in the spring of 1985 when he was working at Syracuse University. Peters leant his car to a coworker to retrieve Brown from the airport when his limo broke down.,”
Toby Peters, Marquette's associate vice president for administration, met James Brown in spring 1985 when he was working at Syracuse University. Peters loaned his car to a coworker to retrieve Brown from the airport when Brown's limo broke down.
After what Peters calls a "rockin' performance," Brown thanked Peters for the ride. Peters saved the car seat from his 1984 Pontiac Sunbird for 14 years after the car became the "James Brown-mobile."
"The funny thing is," Peters jokes, "that every time I opened the door I heard 'Yooow!'"
On Christmas Day at 1:45 a.m., according to the Associated Press, doctors pronounced dead James Brown, 73. After being admitted the previous day to Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Brown died from complications resulting from pneumonia.
"James presented obviously the best grooves," rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy once said. "To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one's coming even close."
Acting on his own terms, Brown left the world of music forever changed: bigger, louder, more glamorous.
As the pioneer of the soul, funk and disco, the powerful emphasis Brown placed on the first and third beat was a move that had never been done. Brown explained that he attributes this innovation to his experience as a drummer.
Brown blazed his own path, leaving behind opportunities, innovations and even some sequins that influenced artists from Mick Jagger to Prince. He once said "Die on your feet, don't live on your knees." Living on his own terms led Brown to legal troubles but also led him to one of the most fruitful careers in music.
Known as "The Hardest Working Man in the Business" for a reason, Brown even conducted the "Live at the Apollo" recordings independently.
He was rejected for funding by his record company and put himself $293,000 in debt in order to produce the record himself, he told Time Out New York in a July 1998 interview.
Following the massive success of "Live at the Apollo," he donated the proceeds from the album as well as another $140,000 from the ticket sales to the struggling Apollo Theater.
"That's the kind of things that you have to do," he told the interviewer. "The Apollo is for everybody: black, white, Chinese, Italian or Jew. It doesn't make any difference. It's for us as people!"
According to Phillip Naylor, associate professor of history, who teaches History of Rock and Roll at Marquette, Brown's promotion of "understand and humanitarianism" was "reflected by Vice President Hubert Humphrey's recognition of James Brown for his efforts to promote racial understanding. (Brown's) music was exceptional, but he also bridged racial barriers.
Indeed, Brown obliterated them.
"He was a civil rights hero. He infused African-Americans with pride and possibility. He embodied it."
James Brown's godchildren of soul can be thankful that the notorious scream is forever emblazoned upon America's history.
Immortalized in his music, James Brown will forever glisten in the spotlight of the Apollo Theatre and in the heart, mind and soul of his thousands of fans.
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