Singer James Brown, the self-proclaimed 'Godfather of Soul,' who billed himself as the hardest working man in show business, died today at 73, his manager said.
Brown died this morning at Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta after being admitted there on Saturday for treatment of severe pneumonia, his manager, Frank Copsidas, said. Charles Bobbit, Brown's longtime friend and personal manager, was at his side, he said.
The singer, also known as "Mr. Dynamite," is credited with bringing the word "funk" into mainstream musical vernacular and influencing a new generation of black music.
Rap and hip hop artists revered him for the grooves he was able to produce as a band leader and used his beats extensively as the backdrop to their own songs.
Brown's hit "Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)" became a civil rights anthem during the turbulent 1960s and he performed the song at Richard Nixon's inaugural in 1969 -- an act that temporarily hurt his popularity among young blacks.
Brown was a showman, typically changing suits a dozen times during a show and dancing himself into a frenzy on stage. He once said he aimed to wear out his audience and "give people more than what they came for -- make them tired."
He had more than 119 charting singles and recorded over 50 albums, was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and received a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 1992.