THE last time I was prompted to write a tribute in honor of the passing of a musical Icon; was on the occasion of the passing of the Honorable Robert Nesta Marley, popularly known as Bob Marley, the King of Reggae. Bob Marley is credited with bringing the musical stylings of Jamaica's indigenous reggae to the world stage and a mass global audience. So it is perhaps only fitting that I am now writing another tribute for another musical icon who has had an equal impact in terms of musical influence on popular music the world over.James Brown, theAmerican soul and funk singer known as the Godfather of Soul (as well as Soul Brother Number One, Mr. Dynamite and The Hardest Working Man in Show Business) was born on May 3, 1933 in an obscure farming community in South Carolina.

He grew up in Augusta, Georgia and seemed destined to be a worker in the cotton fields or a shoe shine man. As a young man he had his run ins with the law, serving time for armed robbery. But like most young black men, he turned to sports as a way out of the fate that life seemed to have in store for him. At one time he was a boxer and he even played pro-baseball for a brief stint. However, a sports injury resulted in him embracing what turned out to be his true destiny, music.

Starting out singing Gospel he changed his music group's name from the Swanees to the now famous Flames. The Flames, as the name suggests, burnt a new trail through American popular music in the 1950s — a trail which eventually led James Brown to the very summit of his chosen profession.

From soul music to funk and hip-hop to rap, James Brown's creative genius was to influence many young and up-coming-musicians in all of those musical styles. In fact, he can claim to be the indidividual who pioneered all of those new forms of musical expressions — as well as the disco craze which swept the world in the 1970s.

As his group the Flames grew in popularity; he attracted the attention of Federal Records, which signed James Brown and his group to a contract. In 1956 their first record; Please,; Please, Please did well and another song, Try Me, topped the Rhymth & Blues charts in 1958.

As James Brown and his group came to national prominence in the US, he put his unique stamp on his live performances on stage creating an almost Carnival-like atmosphere at his electrifying shows which were sure to get even the most rhytmically-challenged audience members dancing. It has been said that James Brown himself during those high-octane stage performances could lose as much as seven pounds in every show due to all the dancing he would do in the course of his performances.

He would later start another back-up group to complement the Flames, who were largely vocalists rather than instrumentalists. But his attempt to record with this new group was turned down by Federal Records and as a result he recorded another hit under a pseudonym, the infectious instrumental,>Mashed Potatoes. But Federal Records had a parent company King Records, which overrode its subsidiary's decision. King Records decided James Brown should indeed record with his new group, the "JBs", and thus began a musical relationship which lasted for years spawning, among other top-selling albums, the smash hit Live at the Apollo, Volume 2 which sold a staggering (for the time) one million copies.

In 1965 James Brown achieved artistic control of his records and thereafter he created hit after hit which were unprecedented in popular music.

James Brown's musical expressions were known for their irresistible grooves, precision timing and the trademark irrepressible Brown vocals. His specialised dance music, replete with his own dancing on the stage — which produced startling sexual electricity — was indeed at the roots of funk and disco.

James Brown had started this musical revolution with his hit sonI>Papa's Got A Brand New Bag which exploded across the airwaves in 965. This followed by such hits as I Got You, Cold Sweat and (Say It Loud) I'm Black and I'm Proud — a song that became an anthem for the Black Power/Black Consciousness revolution then taking place in the US . In fact, largely as a consequence of this one song African/Americans ceased calling themselves "coloured" and/or "negro". They indeed became proud to call themselves "black" before the later term "African/American" came into popular usage with Africa's children in America embracing their African identify.

An interesting thing about the African/American musical creative pulse is that it is so deeply rooted in their historical experience of having lived in America. That's why James Brown had such tremendous appeal to the black youth as more and more of his songs reflected the disaffected black experience in America's ghettoes. But he always tried to uplift his core audience and his appeals to them came through in songs such as the hiKing Heron, Funky President Don't Be A Drop-Out.

This connectiveness with African/American cultural roots came to me as I thought about James Brown's musical and social legacy. One song in particular, Please, Please, Please came to mind. When he sang it in concert he would be wearing his trademark cape and would seemingly would be making his way off the stage, where a stern looking man in a suit and tie would assist him.

Then he would fling off the cape and rush back on stage to begin the chorus all over again. And he would do this routine over and over again which, of course, would always bring the house down.

I thought, Where did he get that from? Then it hit me. I remember may aunt Gladys in America taking me and my grandmother to what is called a Holly Roller Church and there you saw the whole scene which James Brown had incorporated in his routine on stage.

During the service someone would become overcome with the spirit, so to speak. They would get up out of their seat and would shuffle down the church aisle only to have a church deacon or someone else see them safely back to their seat. I remembered the scene so well because it involved a small, elderly woman and a big but gentle male member of the church who assisted her back to her seat — only to have the woman jump up and do the same thing again! I swore that this is where James Brown got this particular stage routine from.

What is James Brown's legacy? Well, I have already outlined much of it above but during the funeral service it was mentioned that James Brown thought today's popular music had the effect of taking the people down — not lifting them up as it did in his day. There was a call to a return to the era of James Brown. Not only did he make the people feel good, not only did he make them dance but spoke to their social conditions and cultural background in a way few other entertainers ever ha

I can not think of a better legacy than that we return to those days when popular culture celebrated our people rather than denigrated them or insulted their intelligence.