This is a discography chronicling the musical career of

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, 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 honor ...

. Brown joined Bobby Byrd's vocal group The Flames in 1953, first as a drummer, and then as leading front man. Later becoming

The Famous Flames The Famous Flames were an American Rhythm and blues, Soul vocal group founded in Toccoa, Georgia, in 1953 by Bobby Byrd. James Brown first began his career as a member of the Famous Flames, emerging as the lead singer by the time of their first ...

, they signed with

Federal Records Federal Records was an American record label founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of Syd Nathan's King Records and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was run by famed record producer Ralph Bass and was mainly devoted to Rhythm & Blues releases. The comp ...

in 1956 and recorded their first hit single, "

Please, Please, Please "Please, Please, Please" is a rhythm and blues song performed by James Brown and the Famous Flames. Written by Brown and Johnny Terry and released as a single on Federal Records in 1956, it reached No. 6 on the R&B charts. The group's debut rec ...

", which sold over a million copies. After the hit release of " Try Me", following nine relative failures, the group scored a series of hit albums and recordings in the early 1960s. Brown's solo aspirations started around 1962. By the time of "

Papa's Got a Brand New Bag "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is a song written and recorded by James Brown. Released as a two-part single in 1965, it was Brown's first song to reach the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Top Ten, peaking at number eight, and was a number-one R&B hit, topp ...

", he used the Flames less and less as he became a full-fledged solo artist who was now involved in the development of a new R&B subgenre,

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

. Eventually the Famous Flames left him in 1968 as did his James Brown band by 1970 and Brown hired

The J.B.'s The J.B.'s (sometimes punctuated The JB's or The J.B.s) was the name of James Brown's band from 1970 through the early 1980s. On records the band was sometimes billed under alternate names such as Fred Wesley and the JBs, The James Brown Soul T ...

who helped contribute to his continuing success in the 1970s. After their disbanding, Brown struggled for a number of years with recordings before the release of 1985's " Living in America", and having success with the albums ''

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

'' (1986) and '' I'm Real'' (1988). Brown charted at least 96 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 and at least 110 entries on the R&B chart. Seventeen of Brown's singles, including five credited as "James Brown and the Famous Flames", hit number-one on the R&B chart. He recorded several more hits pseudonymously, notably "

(Do the) Mashed Potatoes __NOTOC__ "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" is a rhythm and blues instrumental. It was recorded by James Brown with his band in 1959 and released as a two-part single in 1960. For contractual reasons the recording was credited to "Nat Kendrick and the ...

" and "

Doing It to Death "Doing It to Death", also known as "Gonna Have a Funky Good Time", is a funk song recorded by The J.B.'s featuring James Brown. A 10-minute, two-part version of "Doing It to Death" was included on a J.B.'s album of the same name. The complete ...

". In addition to his own hits, Brown wrote and produced charting records by many other performers, including

Bobby Byrd Bobby Howard Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) was an American rhythm and blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, bandleader and talent scout, who played an integral and important part in the development ...

Hank Ballard Hank Ballard (born John Henry Kendricks; November 18, 1927 – March 2, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist of The Midnighters and one of the first rock and roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He played an inte ...

Tammy Montgomery Tammi Terrell (born Thomasina Winifred Montgomery; April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye. ...

Lyn Collins Gloria Lavern Collins (June 12, 1948 – March 13, 2005), better known as Lyn Collins, was an American soul singer best known for working with James Brown in the 1970s and for the influential 1972 funk single, "Think (About It)". A favorite a ...

Marva Whitney Marva Whitney (born Marva Ann Manning; May 1, 1944 – December 22, 2012) was an American funk singer commonly referred to by her honorary title, Soul Sister #1. Whitney was considered by many funk enthusiasts to be one of the "rawest" and "brass ...

, and The J.B.'s. In contrast to his chart success, few of Brown's hit recordings were certified by the RIAA, partly due to the reluctance of his record labels to pay the required fees. He had just two ''certified''

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

singles - "

Get on the Good Foot "Get on the Good Foot" is a funk song performed by James Brown. It was released in 1972 as a two-part single that charted #1 R&B and #18 Pop. It also appeared on an album of the same name released that year. Partly due to the unwillingness of Br ...

" (1972) and "

The Payback ''The Payback'' is the 37th studio album by American musician James Brown. The album was released in December 1973, by Polydor Records. It was originally scheduled to become the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film '' Hell Up in Harlem'', but ...

" (1974) - and one gold album, 1973's ''

''. However, two 1991 compilations of his work earned RIAA certification: '' Star Time'' (gold) and ''

20 All-Time Greatest Hits! ''20 All-Time Greatest Hits!'' is a compilation album by James Brown containing 20 of his most famous recordings. Released by Polydor in 1991 as a single-disc alternative to the '' Star Time'' box set, it features songs from the 1950s, 1960s, and ...

'' (platinum).

Albums

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Live albums

Singles discography

(Note) Listed below are the charting singles James Brown released on the King Records subsidiary Federal and King record labels, and Smash Records . Most of the songs also feature

on backing vocals through 1965. Brown had recorded singles for Bethlehem and Ember Records alternatively.

1956–1971

1971–1981

1983–present

''Billboard'' Year-End performances

Home video and film releases

* ''Hard Hits'' (1994; VHS only) * ''Live at The House of Blues'' (1999) * ''James Brown: Soul Survivor'' (2004) * ''Live in Montreux 1981'' (2005) * ''The Night James Brown Saved Boston'' (2008) * ''I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the '60s'' (2008; 3-DVD set featuring ''The Night James Brown Saved Boston'', '' Live at the Boston Garden 1968'', and '' Live at the Apollo '68''DVD review: http://www.newsweek.com/id/150461) * '' Live at the Boston Garden: April 5, 1968'' (2009)

Other appearances

Notes

References

External links

James Brown discography
at Funky Stuff *

James Brown discography This is a discography chronicling the musical career of James Brown. Brown joined Bobby Byrd's vocal group The Flames in 1953, first as a drummer, and then as leading front man. Later becoming The Famous Flames, they signed with Federal Records ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

James Brown discography
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Complete James Brown UK singles discography
at 45cat {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, James

Discography Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...

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