Scarce Bootsy Collins Negative And Photo James Brown Second Chance Ann Arbor

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (807) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176283104181 SCARCE BOOTSY COLLINS NEGATIVE AND PHOTO JAMES BROWN SECOND CHANCE ANN ARBOR. Calvin Simon (vocals, percussion; May 22, 1942 – January 6, 2022). He was the owner of a record label. I'm Back (1998). Thinking About Little Willie John and a Few Nice Things (1968). Education advocacy and humanitarianism. BOOTSY COLLINS AT SECOND CHANCE NIGHTCLUB IN ANN ARBOR MICHIGAN. THE 2 SAME PHOTOS MEASURES 8X10 INCHES AND THE NEGATIVE THAT IS THE SAME AS THE PHOTO MEASURES 4X5 INCHES C1980. INCLUDES A PHOTO OF BOOTSY COLLINS AT JAMES BROWN CONCERT AT SECOND CHANCE MEASURING 5X7 INCHES FROM 1980. PHOTO BY CANDY
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist, singer-songwriter, and record producer.[1] Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s before joining the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, Collins established himself as one of the leading names and innovators in funk with his driving basslines and humorous vocals. He later formed his own P-Funk side project known as Bootsy's Rubber Band.[2] He was a frequent collaborator with other musicians from a variety of genres, including dance music (Deee-Lite's "Groove Is in the Heart"), electronic big beat (Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice"), and alternative metal (Praxis), among others. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. In 2020, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Collins number 4 in its list of the 50 greatest bassists of all time.[3] Early life Collins was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 26, 1951.[4] He said that his mother nicknamed him "Bootsy". "I asked her why," he explained to a journalist, "and she just said, 'Because you looked like a Bootsy.' I left it at that."[5] His brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins (1943–2010) was also a musician.[4] He and Bootsy were once part of James Brown's backing band, The Pacemakers. Collins has maintained a strong connection with Cincinnati.[6] Career 1960s–1970s With his elder brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins, Frankie "Kash" Waddy, and Philippé Wynne, Collins formed a funk band, The Pacemakers, in 1968.[4] In March 1970, after most of the members of James Brown's band quit over a pay dispute, The Pacemakers were hired as Brown's backing band and they became known as The J.B.'s.[7] (They are often referred to as the "original" J.B.'s to distinguish them from later line-ups that went by the same name.) Although they worked for Brown for only 11 months, the original J.B.'s played on some of Brown's most intense funk recordings, including "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine", "Bewildered (1970)", "Super Bad", "Soul Power", "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing", and two instrumental singles, the much-sampled "The Grunt" and "These Are the J.B.'s". In regards to his tenure working for James Brown, Collins stated: He treated me like a son. And being out of a fatherless home, I needed that father figure and he really played up to it. I mean, Good Lord. Every night after we played a show, he called us back to give us a lecture about how horrible we sounded. [Affects James Brown voice] "Nah, not on it, son. I didn't hear the one. You didn't give me the one." He would tell me this at every show. One night, we knew we wasn't sounding really good – we were off – and he calls us back there and said, "Uh huh, now that's what I'm talkin' about. Y'all was on it tonight. Y'all hit the one." My brother and I looked at each other like, "This mother has got to be crazy." We knew in our heart and soul that we wasn't all that on that show. So then I started figuring out his game, man. By telling me that I wasn't on it, he made me practice harder. So I just absorbed what he said and used it in a positive way.[8] After parting ways with James Brown, Collins returned to Cincinnati and formed House Guests with his brother Phelps Collins, Rufus Allen, Clayton "Chicken" Gunnels, Frankie Waddy, Ronnie Greenaway and Robert McCullough. The House Guests released "What So Never the Dance" and another single on the House Guests label, as well as a third as The Sound of Vision on the House Guests label. Next Collins moved to Detroit, Michigan, after Philippé Wynne suggested joining The Spinners, for whom Wynne had been singing. However, following the advice of singer and future Parliament member Mallia Franklin, Collins made another choice. Franklin introduced both Collins brothers to George Clinton, and in 1972, both of the Collins brothers, along with Waddy, joined Funkadelic. Collins played bass on most of Funkadelic and Parliament albums through the early 1980s, garnering several songwriting credits as well. In 1976 Collins, Catfish, Waddy, Joel Johnson (1953–2018), Gary "Mudbone" Cooper, Robert Johnson and The Horny Horns formed Bootsy's Rubber Band, a separate touring unit of Clinton's P-Funk collective. The group recorded five albums together, the first three of which are often considered to be among the quintessential P-Funk recordings. The group's 1978 album Bootsy? Player of the Year reached the top of the R&B album chart and spawned the #1 R&B single "Bootzilla". Like Clinton, Collins took on several alter egos, from Casper the Funky Ghost to Bootzilla, "the world's only rhinestone rockstar monster of a doll", all as parts of the evolving character of an alien rock star who grew gradually more bizarre as time went on (see P-Funk mythology). He also adopted his trademark "space bass" around this time. 1980s–1990s Collins released two 1980 albums, his first "solo" album Ultra Wave, and Sweat Band, on George Clinton's Uncle Jam label with a group billed as Bootsy's Sweat Band. He also was credited for co-producing the debut of P-Funk spinoff Zapp. In 1984, he collaborated with Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads to produce "Five Minutes", a dance record sampled and edited from Ronald Reagan's infamous "We begin bombing in five minutes" speech. The record was credited to "Bonzo goes to Washington" (also referenced in the 1985 Ramones song "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg", derived from Reagan's starring role as Professor Peter Boyd in the 1951 comedy film Bedtime for Bonzo). After a nearly five-year hiatus, he had a comeback in 1988 (with some help from producer Bill Laswell). What's Bootsy Doin'? flaunted a new sound that foreshadowed the 1990s, such as the dance floor smash "Party on Plastic". Laswell introduced Collins to Herbie Hancock, resulting in Perfect Machine (1988). The techno-funk they recorded featured turntables for scratch appeal, and the smoothly-stylized vocals of Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner of chart-topping Ohio Players. These were the first of many collaborations between Laswell and Collins on many albums and projects, with the prolific producer using Bootsy mainly as a bassist but sometimes as a rhythm guitarist.[9] In 1988, Collins appeared as a guest artist to play bass on Keith Richards and The X-Pensive Winos album Talk is Cheap. In 1989, Collins played bass on and produced several tracks of Malcolm McLaren's album Waltz Darling, credited to Malcolm McLaren and the Bootzilla Orchestra. In 1990, Collins collaborated with Deee-Lite on their biggest hit "Groove Is in the Heart", and he contributed additional vocals. Although he also appeared in the music video playing the bass, the bassline in the song is actually a sample of a Herbie Hancock song called "Bring Down the Birds". Bootsy's Rubber Band became the de facto backing musicians for Deee-Lite during a world tour. The Rubber Band also recorded the EP Jungle Bass, their first recording in 11 years. In 1992, he joined with guitarist Stevie Salas and drummer Buddy Miles to form the funk-metal fusion group Hardware. The trio released one album, Third Eye Open, before disbanding. In the same year, Collins played bass guitar on the first Praxis album (produced by Laswell): Transmutation, alongside fellow Parliament-Funkadelic member Bernie Worrell, Bryan Mantia and Buckethead. Bootsy's New Rubber Band formed in 1994, releasing Blasters of the Universe and also put forth the following live release "Keepin' dah Funk Alive 4-1995", recorded over two nights in Tokyo. Collins performing in 1998 In 1995, Collins played in the remake of Jimi Hendrix's "If 6 Was 9", for Axiom Funk, a Funkadelic-like one-off supergroup produced by Bill Laswell and featuring (Funkadelic members) George Clinton, Bernie Worrell, Collins, (the guitar of the late) Eddie Hazel, Gary Shider and Laswell. The group released only one album (Funkcronomicon), and the song also appeared in the soundtrack of the movie Stealing Beauty. Collins collaborated with Del McCoury, Doc Watson and Mac Wiseman to form the GrooveGrass Boyz. They produced a fusion of bluegrass and funk. 2000s–present Collins provided lead vocals for the Fatboy Slim song "Weapon of Choice" from his 2000 album Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars. Collins vocals quote the book Dune ("Walk without rhythm and you won't attract the worm"). The song won multiple MTV Video Music Awards and a Grammy Award for Best Music Video. In 2004 Collins contributed to Christian rap artist TobyMac's Welcome to Diverse City album, collaborating on the "Diverse City" track, a song praised as one of the best on the album.[10] The album won the 2005 Dove Award for Rap/Hip-Hop Album of the Year.[11] In October 2005, Collins co-wrote a song celebrating the resurgence of his hometown team, the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League called "Fear Da Tiger" which features "raps" written and performed by several Bengals players, including defensive end Duane Clemons, offensive tackle Stacy Andrews, and center Ben Wilkerson. An edited version of the song was made into a music video which features cameos by many other Bengals players. Collins appeared with Little Richard, Bernie Worrell, and other notable musicians as the band playing with Hank Williams, Jr. for the Monday Night Football opening during for the 2006 season. Collins was the only all star to return with Williams for the 2007 season. He also sings "Marshal Law", the theme song of the Cincinnati Marshals indoor football team and debuted the song in 2006[6] at half time of the April 29 Marshals home game against the West Palm Beach Phantoms. In 2006, ABC Entertainment/A Charly Films Release released a DVD and CD from Collins and the New Rubber Band's concert at the 1998 North Sea Jazz Festival. Soon after the release, Collins split from long-time friend and guitarist Odhran "The Bodhran" Rameriz, citing creative differences as the reason. Later that same year, Collins released the holiday album Christmas Is 4 Ever. This represents the first Christmas-themed album made by a member of the P-Funk musical collective. The album features re-workings of Christmas standards as well as original compositions. In April 2007, Collins announced plans to open Bootsy's, a restaurant/club with Cincinnati area restaurateur Jeff Ruby. The venue operated from 2008 to 2010. It featured live musical acts, a museum dedicated to Collins's musical career and Spanish, Central and South American cuisine. In June 2007, Collins, along with Catfish Collins, Clyde Stubblefield, John "Jabo" Starks, and Bernie Worrell, participated in the recording of the soundtrack for the movie Superbad. In December of that year they (without Worrell) went on to perform the first tribute concert remembering James Brown. In July 2007, Collins also told Billboard magazine that he was working on a project named Science Faxtion and an album called Living on Another Frequency in which he serves as bassist and co-producer along with his lead vocalist Greg Hampton. The band also features guitarist Buckethead and drummer Brain.[12] The album was released in November 2008.[13] Collins and Fatboy Slim, 2008 Collins promoted Rock the Vote for its 2008 campaign together with Buckethead.[14] Collins portrayed a radio DJ in the 2013 video game, Grand Theft Auto V, in which several of his own songs were featured.[15] Collins has also collaborated extensively with Bill Laswell, Buckethead, and also frequently collaborated with fellow bassist Victor Wooten. In 2018, Collins did a song with singer Kali Uchis called “After the storm”. On December 14, 2018, Collins played a show with Detroit-based funk artist GRiZ, and also collaborated on a new song with GRiZ. In January 2019, Collins announced on Facebook that he would be retiring from live performances for health reasons: Time has come for Me to tell all our Funkateers that I will Not be Playing Bass in Concerts anymore. I have decided to become a Coach for up & coming Musicians. I know u r Disappointed just think for a moment how I feel. Doc said to much pressure on my Inner-Ear & Right Hand. Yeah, I had to make up my Mind, so I did. 2019 Sheriff Ping Ping Ping will continue to Funk from the Studio but Not Live playing Bass on Stage. I know u got question & I don't have answers, maybe one day u to will understand. Just remember; That This Year will be the Funkiest Year of them All. Watch for it. Bootsy baby!!! He wrote that he would be releasing a new album this year, and that he would continue to work in the studio and mentor young musicians.[16] On February 25, 2021, it was announced that Collins would be making an appearance as the "special guest host" of An Evening With Silk Sonic, the first studio album from Silk Sonic, a collaboration between Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak.[17] He was the one who came up with the band's name (much like he did with Babyface), and acts as the album's narrator, "threading" the songs together.[18] On July 7, 2022, Collins served as emcee for the opening ceremony for the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama.[19] Basses Collins has owned many basses, several of which are custom made. His original Space Bass and its first replacement were made in Warren, Michigan by Larry Pless of Gus Zoppi's music store. The first Space Bass had a mahogany body and maple neck, white finish, and mirror pick guard. This is the Space Bass on the cover of 1976 album Stretchin' Out in Bootsy's Rubber Band.[20] Collins's original Space Bass guitar was stolen, but it was later recovered at a Cincinnati pawn shop and returned to him.[20] Another Collins signature instrument is a custom-built star-shaped bass guitar he also calls the Space Bass, built for him by Manuel "Manny" Salvador of GuitarCraft in 1998.[citation needed] In 2006 Collins made an agreement with Traben to make a signature Collins model bass, the Bootzilla.[citation needed] During the 2010 NAMM Show, Collins's new signature bass was released by Warwick, a customized Infinity Bass called "Bootsy Collins Black Star Signature Bass" or "Bootsy Collins Orange Star Signature Bass", depending on the color of the stars on it.[citation needed] Funk University In July 2010, Collins, in partnership with former child actor Cory Danziger,[21] launched Funk University ("Funk U"), an online-only bass guitar school in which he also serves as curator and lead professor. Funk University offers an intense curriculum tailored for intermediate to advanced bass players as well as anyone interested in a deeper understanding of funk. The curriculum is based on bass theory, history of funk, and Collins's own musical history given by Collins himself, augmented by lessons and exercises in bass and rhythm from guest bassist professors such as Les Claypool, Meshell Ndegeocello, John B (Williams) and Victor Wooten. As of 2021, Funk University is now defunct.[citation needed] Legacy He has been mentioned in the song "Genius of Love" by Tom Tom Club in the line "Clinton's musicians such as Bootsy Collins raise expectation to a new intention", while "Got more bass than Bootsy Collins" is a line in the song "Rumble in the Jungle" by the Fugees. His influence in popular culture is seen in that he has been referenced by a number of television series. In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Sooooooul Train", Geoffrey sneaks into the Soul Train tapings posing as Collins, while in The Mighty Boosh episode "The Legend of Old Gregg" an alien creature named 'The Funk' lands on Collins's house, giving him his ability to play the bass guitar "like some kinda delirious funky priest", as well as the ability to see around corners.[citation needed] Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, who cited Collins as one of his primary influences, appeared in unmistakably Collins style clothing in the video for RHCP's "Dani California",[22] and Collins's "What's a Telephone Bill?" was sampled for 2Pac's "Str8 Ballin'" track from his Thug Life: Volume 1 album. Les Claypool has also cited Collins as a musical influence.[citation needed] In 2004 Collins was featured on the cover of "The Joker" on the Fatboy Slim album Palookaville.[23] Collins served as Heineken's Amsterjam 2005 curator and master of ceremonies on Randall's Island, New York.[22] On January 26, 2007, Collins gave the commencement address at the graduation ceremony at The Art Institute of Ohio - Cincinnati.[22] Awards and achievements Collins appeared with Toots & the Maytals on the album True Love that won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2005.[24] In October 2010, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Bass Player magazine at the Key Club in Los Angeles.[25] Collins was inducted in 2016 into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.[26] On July 22, 2023, Bootsy Collins was inducted into the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame.[27] Personal life In March 2011, Collins and his wife visited Franklin L. Williams M.S #7's Little Kids Rock program, donated a bass, gave the children a bass lesson, and rapped with them while they played the blues. He is now an honorary board member of the organization.[28] Collins is an honorary member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.[29] In an April 2011 interview with The Guardian, Collins stated that, at one point in his life, he took LSD every day for over two years.[30] Discography Main article: Bootsy Collins discography Ultra Wave (1980) The One Giveth, the Count Taketh Away (1982) What's Bootsy Doin'? (1988) Fresh Outta 'P' University (1997) Play with Bootsy (2002) Christmas Is 4 Ever (2006) The Official BootLeggedBootsyCD (2009) Tha Funk Capital of the World (2011) World Wide Funk (2017) The Power of the One (2020)[31] Nobody's Perfect Experience (2021)[32] Filmography In 2005, Collins appeared with Madonna, Iggy Pop, Little Richard, and The Roots' Questlove, in an American TV commercial for the Motorola ROKR phone. Collins was featured in the 2002 film Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Collins voiced the character Boötes Belinda in the Loonatics Unleashed episode "The Music Villain".[33] In 2009, Collins appeared in the Everybody Hates Chris episode "Everybody Hates Tasha". Collins played an alien version of himself in the R-rated Williams Street spring break special Freaknik: The Musical on Adult Swim in March 2010. On April 15, 2011, he appeared on Later... with Jools Holland, performing a memorable snippet of funk with Jools. In the fall of 2011, Collins began being featured in a TV commercial for Old Navy in which he is making "boots" made by Bootsy to be sold at Old Navy. He was also featured on an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba! on the Nick Jr. Channel Collins guest starred as himself at the end of "Mid-Season Finale", an episode of The Patrick Star Show, a spin-off of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants, in 2022. Collins is the voice of Jimi Hendrix in the 2010 documentary, Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child, which is based on Hendrix's own words from letters, interviews and other printed materials.[34][35] Tour In June 2011, Collins played the 10th Annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.[36] Collins hosted Detroit Music Weekend's Funk Festival on August 26, 2023.[37][38] James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American musician. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by various honorific nicknames, some of which include "the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business", "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and "Soul Brother No. 1".[1] In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres.[2] Brown was one of the first 10 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction in New York on January 23, 1986. Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia.[3] He rose to prominence in the mid-1950s as the lead singer of the Famous Flames, a rhythm and blues vocal group founded by Bobby Byrd.[4][5] With the hit ballads "Please, Please, Please" and "Try Me", Brown built a reputation as a dynamic live performer with the Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes known as the James Brown Band or the James Brown Orchestra. His success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". During the late 1960s, Brown moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music-making, emphasizing stripped-down interlocking rhythms that influenced the development of funk music.[6] By the early 1970s, Brown had fully established the funk sound after the formation of the J.B.s with records such as "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" and "The Payback". He also became noted for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud". Brown continued to perform and record until his death from pneumonia in 2006. Brown recorded and released 17 singles that reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B charts.[7][8] He also holds the record for the most singles listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that did not reach No. 1.[9][10] Brown was posthumously inducted into the first class of the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2013 as an artist and then in 2017 as a songwriter. He also received honors from several other institutions, including inductions into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame[11] and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.[12] In Joel Whitburn's analysis of the Billboard R&B charts from 1942 to 2010, Brown is ranked No. 1 in the Top 500 Artists.[13] He is ranked seventh on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[14] Early life Brown was born on May 3, 1933, in Barnwell, South Carolina, to 16-year-old Susie (née Behling; 1917–2004) and 21-year-old Joseph Gardner Brown (1912–1993) in a small wooden shack.[15] Brown's name was supposed to have been Joseph James Brown, but his first and middle names were mistakenly reversed on his birth certificate.[16] In his autobiography, Brown stated that he had Chinese and Native American ancestry and that his father was of mixed African-American and Native American descent, while his mother was of mixed African-American and Asian descent.[17][18][19] The Brown family lived in poverty in Elko, South Carolina, which was an impoverished town at the time.[9] They later moved to Augusta, Georgia, when James was four or five.[20] His family first settled at one of his aunts' brothels. They later moved into a house shared with another aunt.[20] Brown's mother eventually left the family after a contentious and abusive marriage and moved to New York.[21] He began singing in talent shows as a young child, first appearing at Augusta's Lenox Theater in 1944, winning the show after singing the ballad "So Long".[22] While in Augusta, Brown performed buck dances for change to entertain troops from Camp Gordon at the start of World War II as their convoys traveled over a canal bridge near his aunt's home.[22] This is where he first heard the legendary blues musician Howlin' Wolf play guitar.[23] He learned to play the piano, guitar, and harmonica during this period. He became inspired to become an entertainer after hearing "Caldonia" by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five.[24] In his teen years, Brown briefly had a career as a boxer.[25] At the age of 16, he was convicted of robbery and sent to a juvenile detention center in Toccoa.[26] There, he formed a gospel quartet with four fellow cellmates, including Johnny Terry. Brown met singer Bobby Byrd when the two played against each other in a baseball game outside the detention center. Byrd also discovered that Brown could sing after hearing of "a guy called Music Box", which was Brown's musical nickname at the prison. Byrd has since claimed he and his family helped to secure an early release, which led to Brown promising the court he would "sing for the Lord". Brown was released on a work sponsorship with Toccoa business owner S.C. Lawson. Lawson was impressed with Brown's work ethic and secured his release with a promise to keep him employed for two years. Brown was paroled on June 14, 1952.[27] Brown went on to work with both of Lawson's sons, and would come back to visit the family from time to time throughout his career. Shortly after being paroled he joined the gospel group the Ever-Ready Gospel Singers, featuring Byrd's sister Sarah.[28] Music career 1954–1961: The Famous Flames Main article: The Famous Flames Brown eventually joined Bobby Byrd's group in 1954.[29] The group had evolved from the Gospel Starlighters, an a cappella gospel group, to an R&B group with the name the Avons.[29] He reputedly joined the band after one of its members, Troy Collins, died in a car crash.[30] Along with Brown and Byrd, the group consisted of Sylvester Keels, Doyle Oglesby, Fred Pulliam, Nash Knox and Nafloyd Scott. Influenced by R&B groups such as Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, the Orioles and Billy Ward and his Dominoes, the group changed its name, first to the Toccoa Band and then to the Flames.[31][30] Nafloyd's brother Baroy later joined the group on bass guitar, and Brown, Byrd and Keels switched lead positions and instruments, often playing drums and piano. Johnny Terry later joined, by which time Pulliam and Oglesby had long left.[32] Berry Trimier became the group's first manager, booking them at parties near college campuses in Georgia and South Carolina.[33] The group had already gained a reputation as a good live act when they renamed themselves the Famous Flames.[34] In 1955, the group had contacted Little Richard while performing in Macon.[35] Richard convinced the group to get in contact with his manager at the time, Clint Brantley, at his nightclub.[36] Brantley agreed to manage them after seeing the group audition.[37] He then sent them to a local radio station to record a demo session, where they performed their own composition "Please, Please, Please", which was inspired when Little Richard wrote the words of the title on a napkin and Brown was determined to make a song out of it.[37][38][39] The Famous Flames eventually signed with King Records' Federal subsidiary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and issued a re-recorded version of "Please, Please, Please" in March 1956. The song became the group's first R&B hit, selling over a million copies.[40] None of their follow-ups gained similar success. By 1957, Brown had replaced Clint Brantley as manager and hired Ben Bart, chief of Universal Attractions Agency. That year the original Flames broke up, after Bart changed the name of the group to "James Brown and His Famous Flames".[41] In October 1958, Brown released the ballad "Try Me", which hit number one on the R&B chart in the beginning of 1959, becoming the first of seventeen chart-topping R&B hits.[42] Shortly afterwards, he recruited his first band, led by J. C. Davis, and reunited with Bobby Byrd who joined a revived Famous Flames lineup that included Eugene "Baby" Lloyd Stallworth and Bobby Bennett, with Johnny Terry sometimes coming in as the "fifth Flame". Brown, the Flames, and his entire band debuted at the Apollo Theater on April 24, 1959, opening for Brown's idol, Little Willie John.[30][43] Federal Records issued two albums credited to Brown and the Famous Flames (both contained previously released singles). By 1960, Brown began multi-tasking in the recording studio involving himself, his singing group, the Famous Flames, and his band, a separate entity from the Flames, sometimes named the James Brown Orchestra or the James Brown Band. That year the band released the top ten R&B hit "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" on Dade Records, owned by Henry Stone, billed under the pseudonym "Nat Kendrick & the Swans" due to label issues.[44] As a result of its success, King president Syd Nathan shifted Brown's contract from Federal to the parent label, King, which according to Brown in his autobiography meant "you got more support from the company". While with King, Brown, under the Famous Flames lineup, released the hit-filled album Think! and the following year released two albums with the James Brown Band earning second billing. With the Famous Flames, Brown sang lead on several more hits, including "Bewildered", "I'll Go Crazy" and "Think", songs that hinted at his emerging style.[30] 1962–1966: Mr. Dynamite In 1962, Brown and his band scored a hit with their cover of the instrumental "Night Train", becoming a top five R&B single. That same year, the ballads "Lost Someone" and "Baby You're Right", the latter a Joe Tex composition, added to his repertoire and increased his reputation with R&B audiences. On October 24, 1962, Brown financed a live recording of a performance at the Apollo and convinced Syd Nathan to release the album, despite Nathan's belief that no one would buy a live album due to the fact that Brown's singles had already been bought and that live albums were usually bad sellers. Brown (middle) and the Famous Flames (far left to right, Bobby Bennett, Lloyd Stallworth, and Bobby Byrd), performing live at the Apollo Theater in New York City, 1964 Live at the Apollo was released the following June and became an immediate hit, eventually reaching number two on the Top LPs chart and selling over a million copies, staying on the charts for 14 months.[45] In 1963, Brown scored his first top 20 pop hit with his rendition of the standard "Prisoner of Love". He also launched his first label, Try Me Records, which included recordings by the likes of Tammy Montgomery (later to be famous as Tammi Terrell), Johnny & Bill (Famous Flames associates Johnny Terry and Bill Hollings) and the Poets, which was another name used for Brown's backing band.[30] During this time, Brown began an ill-fated two-year relationship with 17-year-old Tammi Terrell when she sang in his revue. Terrell ended their personal and professional relationship because of his abusive behavior.[46] In 1964, seeking bigger commercial success, Brown and Bobby Byrd formed the production company, Fair Deal, linking the operation to the Mercury imprint, Smash Records.[30][47] King Records, however, fought against this and was granted an injunction preventing Brown from releasing any recordings for the label. Prior to the injunction, Brown had released three vocal singles, including the blues-oriented hit "Out of Sight", which further indicated the direction his music was going to take.[48] Touring throughout the year, Brown and the Famous Flames grabbed more national attention after delivering an explosive show-stopping performance on the live concert film The T.A.M.I. Show. The Flames' dynamic gospel-tinged vocals, polished choreography and timing as well as Brown's energetic dance moves and high-octane singing upstaged the proposed closing act, the Rolling Stones. Having signed a new deal with King, Brown released his song "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" in 1965, which became his first top ten pop hit and won him his first Grammy Award.[49] Brown also signed a production deal with Loma Records.[50] Later in 1965, he issued "I Got You", which became his second single in a row to reach number-one on the R&B chart and top ten on the pop chart. Brown followed that up with the ballad "It's a Man's Man's Man's World", a third Top 10 Pop hit (No. 1 R&B) which confirmed his stance as a top-ranking performer, especially with R&B audiences from that point on.[49] 1967–1970: Soul Brother No. 1 Brown performing in 1969 By 1967, Brown's emerging sound had begun to be defined as funk music. That year he released what some critics cited as the first true funk song, "Cold Sweat", which hit number-one on the R&B chart (Top 10 Pop) and became one of his first recordings to contain a drum break and also the first that featured a harmony that was reduced to a single chord.[51][52] The instrumental arrangements on tracks such as "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" and "Licking Stick-Licking Stick" (both recorded in 1968) and "Funky Drummer" (recorded in 1969) featured a more developed version of Brown's mid-1960s style, with the horn section, guitars, bass and drums meshed together in intricate rhythmic patterns based on multiple interlocking riffs. Changes in Brown's style that started with "Cold Sweat" also established the musical foundation for Brown's later hits, such as "I Got the Feelin'" (1968) and "Mother Popcorn" (1969). By this time Brown's vocals frequently took the form of a kind of rhythmic declamation, not quite sung but not quite spoken, that only intermittently featured traces of pitch or melody. This would become a major influence on the techniques of rapping, which would come to maturity along with hip hop music in the coming decades. Brown's style of funk in the late 1960s was based on interlocking syncopated parts: strutting bass lines, syncopated drum patterns, and iconic percussive guitar riffs.[53] The main guitar ostinatos for "Ain't It Funky" and "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" (both 1969), are examples of Brown's refinement of New Orleans funk; irresistibly danceable riffs, stripped down to their rhythmic essence. On both recordings, the tonal structure is bare bones. The pattern of attack points is the emphasis, not the pattern of pitches as if the guitar were an African drum or idiophone. Alexander Stewart states that this popular feel was passed along from "New Orleans—through James Brown's music, to the popular music of the 1970s".[54] Those same tracks were later resurrected by countless hip-hop musicians from the 1970s onward. As a result, James Brown remains to this day the world's most sampled recording artist, but, two tracks that he wrote, are also synonymous with modern dance, especially with house music, jungle music, and drum and bass music, (which were sped up exponentially, in the latter two genres). "Bring it Up" has an Afro-Cuban guajeo-like structure. All three of these guitar riffs are based on an onbeat/offbeat structure. Stewart says that it "is different from a time line (such as clave and tresillo) in that it is not an exact pattern, but more of a loose organizing principle."[55] It was around this time as the musician's popularity increased that he acquired the nickname "Soul Brother No. 1", after failing to win the title "King of Soul" from Solomon Burke during a Chicago gig two years prior.[56] Brown's recordings during this period influenced musicians across the industry, most notably groups such as Sly and the Family Stone, Funkadelic, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, Booker T. & the M.G.s as well as vocalists such as Edwin Starr, David Ruffin and Dennis Edwards from the Temptations, and Michael Jackson, who, throughout his career, cited Brown as his ultimate idol.[57] Brown's band during this period employed musicians and arrangers who had come up through the jazz tradition. He was noted for his ability as a bandleader and songwriter to blend the simplicity and drive of R&B with the rhythmic complexity and precision of jazz. Trumpeter Lewis Hamlin and saxophonist/keyboardist Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis (the successor to previous bandleader Nat Jones) led the band. Guitarist Jimmy Nolen provided percussive, deceptively simple riffs for each song, and Maceo Parker's prominent saxophone solos provided a focal point for many performances. Other members of Brown's band included stalwart Famous Flames singer and sideman Bobby Byrd, trombonist Fred Wesley, drummers John "Jabo" Starks, Clyde Stubblefield and Melvin Parker, saxophonist St. Clair Pinckney, guitarist Alphonso "Country" Kellum and bassist Bernard Odum. In addition to a torrent of singles and studio albums, Brown's output during this period included two more successful live albums, Live at the Garden (1967) and Live at the Apollo, Volume II (1968), and a 1968 television special, James Brown: Man to Man. His music empire expanded along with his influence on the music scene. As Brown's music empire grew, his desire for financial and artistic independence grew as well. Brown bought radio stations during the late 1960s, including WRDW in his native Augusta, where he shined shoes as a boy.[49] In November 1967, James Brown purchased radio station WGYW in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a reported $75,000, according to the January 20, 1968 Record World magazine. The call letters were changed to WJBE reflecting his initials. WJBE began on January 15, 1968, and broadcast a Rhythm & Blues format. The station slogan was "WJBE 1430 Raw Soul". Brown also bought WEBB in Baltimore in 1970. Brown branched out to make several recordings with musicians outside his own band. In an attempt to appeal to the older, more affluent, and predominantly white adult contemporary audience, Brown recorded Gettin' Down To It (1969) and Soul on Top (1970)—two albums consisting mostly of romantic ballads, jazz standards, and homologous reinterpretations of his earlier hits—with the Dee Felice Trio and the Louie Bellson Orchestra. In 1968, he recorded a number of funk-oriented tracks with the Dapps, a white Cincinnati band, including the hit "I Can't Stand Myself". He also released three albums of Christmas music with his own band. 1970–2006: Godfather of Soul Main article: The J.B.'s In March 1970, most of Brown's mid-to-late 1960s road band walked out on him due to financial disputes, a development augured by the prior disbandment of the Famous Flames singing group for the same reason in 1968. Brown and erstwhile Famous Flames singer Bobby Byrd (who chose to remain in the band during this tumultuous period as co-frontman, effectively serving as a proto-hype man in live performances) subsequently recruited several members of the Pacemakers, a Cincinnati-based ensemble that included bassist Bootsy Collins and his brother, guitarist Phelps "Catfish" Collins; augmented by the remaining members of the 1960s road band (including Fred Wesley, who rejoined Brown's outfit in December 1970) and other newer musicians, they would form the nucleus of the J.B.'s, Brown's new backing ensemble. Shortly following their first performance together, the band entered the studio to record the Brown-Byrd composition, "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine"; the song —with its off the beat play Brown called "The One"—[58] and other contemporaneous singles would further cement Brown's influence in the nascent genre of funk music. This iteration of the J.B.'s dissolved after a March 1971 European tour (documented on the 1991 archival release Love Power Peace) due to additional money disputes and Bootsy Collins's use of LSD; a new lineup of the J.B.'s coalesced around Wesley, St. Clair Pinckney and drummer John Starks. Brown with disc jockey Lars Jacob after a concert in Tampa in 1972 In 1971, Brown began recording for Polydor Records. Many of his sidemen and supporting players, including Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s, Bobby Byrd, Lyn Collins, Vicki Anderson and former rival Hank Ballard, released records on the People label. During the 1972 presidential election, James Brown openly proclaimed his support of Richard Nixon for reelection to the presidency over Democratic candidate George McGovern.[59] The decision led to a boycott of his performances and, according to Brown, cost him a big portion of his black audience.[60] As a result, Brown's record sales and concerts in the United States reached a lull in 1973 as he failed to land a number-one R&B single that year. That year he also faced problems with the IRS for failure to pay back taxes, charging he hadn't paid upwards of $4.5 million; five years earlier, the IRS had claimed he owed nearly $2 million.[61] Brown performing in 1973 In 1973, Brown provided the score for the blaxploitation film Black Caesar. In 1974 he returned to the No. 1 spot on the R&B charts with "The Payback", with the parent album reaching the same spot on the album charts; he would reach No. 1 two more times in 1974, with "My Thang" and "Papa Don't Take No Mess".[citation needed] "Papa Don't Take No Mess" would prove to be his final single to reach the No. 1 spot on the R&B charts. His other Top Ten R&B hits during this latter period included "Funky President" (R&B No. 4) and "Get Up Offa That Thing" (R&B No. 4). James Brown (1977) Although his records were mainstays of the vanguard New York underground disco scene (exemplified by DJs such as David Mancuso and Francis Grasso) from 1969 onwards, Brown did not consciously yield to the trend until 1975's Sex Machine Today. By 1977, he was no longer a dominant force in R&B. After "Get Up Offa That Thing", thirteen of Brown's late 1970s recordings for Polydor failed to reach the Top 10 of the R&B chart, with only "Bodyheat" in 1976 and the disco-oriented "It's Too Funky in Here" in 1979 reaching the R&B Top 15 and the ballad "Kiss in '77" reaching the Top 20. After 1976's "Bodyheat", he also failed to appear on the Billboard Hot 100. As a result, Brown's concert attendance began dropping and his reported disputes with the IRS caused his business empire to collapse. In addition, several longtime bandmates (including Wesley and Maceo Parker) had gradually pivoted to Parliament-Funkadelic, which reached its critical and commercial apogee in the mid-to-late 1970s. The emergence of disco also forestalled Brown's success on the R&B charts because its slicker, more commercial style had superseded his rawer, one-chord funk productions. By the release of 1979's The Original Disco Man, Brown seldom contributed to the songwriting and production processes, leaving most of it to producer Brad Shapiro; this resulted in the song "It's Too Funky in Here" becoming Brown's most successful single in this period. After two more albums failed to chart, Brown left Polydor in 1981. It was around this time that Brown changed the name of his band from the J.B.'s to the Soul Generals (or Soul G's). The band retained that name until his death. Despite Brown's declining record sales, promoters Gary LoConti and Jim Rissmiller helped Brown sell out a string of residency shows at the Reseda Country Club in Los Angeles in early 1982. Brown's compromised commercial standing prevented him from charging a large fee. However, the great success of these shows marked a turning point for Brown's career, and soon he was back on top in Hollywood. Movies followed, including appearances in Doctor Detroit (1983) and Rocky IV (1985). He also guest-starred in the Miami Vice episode "Missing Hours" (1987). Previously, Brown appeared alongside a litany of other Black musical luminaries in The Blues Brothers (1980). In 1984, he teamed with rap musician Afrika Bambaataa on the song "Unity". A year later he signed with Scotti Brothers Records and issued the moderately successful album Gravity in 1986 with a popular song "How Do You Stop". It included Brown's final Top Ten pop hit, "Living in America", marking his first Top 40 entry since 1974 and his first Top Ten pop entry since 1968. Produced and written by Dan Hartman, it was also featured prominently on the Rocky IV film and soundtrack. Brown performed the song in the film at Apollo Creed's final fight, shot in the Ziegfeld Room at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and was credited in the film as the Godfather of Soul. 1986 also saw the publication of his autobiography, James Brown: The Godfather of Soul, co-written with Bruce Tucker. In 1987, Brown won the Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Living in America". In 1988, Brown worked with the production team Full Force on the new jack swing-influenced I'm Real. It spawned his final two Top 10 R&B hits, "I'm Real" and "Static", which peaked at No. 2 and No. 5, respectively. Meanwhile, the drum break from the second version of the original 1969 hit "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose" (the recording included on the compilation album In the Jungle Groove) became so popular at hip hop dance parties (especially for breakdance) during the early 1980s that hip hop pioneer Kurtis Blow called the song "the national anthem of hip hop".[62] Brown performing in 1998 After his stint in prison during the late 1980s, Brown met Larry Fridie and Thomas Hart who produced the first James Brown biopic, entitled James Brown: The Man, the Message, the Music, released in 1992.[63] He returned to music with the album Love Over-Due in 1991. It included the single "(So Tired of Standing Still We Got to) Move On", which peaked at No. 48 on the R&B chart. His former record label Polydor also released the four-CD box set Star Time, spanning Brown's career to date. Brown's release from prison also prompted his former record labels to reissue his albums on CD, featuring additional tracks and commentary by music critics and historians. That same year, Brown appeared on rapper MC Hammer's video for "Too Legit to Quit". Hammer had been noted, alongside Big Daddy Kane, for bringing Brown's unique stage shows and their own energetic dance moves to the hip-hop generation; both listed Brown as their idol. Both musicians also sampled his work, with Hammer having sampled the rhythms from "Super Bad" for his song "Here Comes the Hammer", from his best-selling album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em. Big Daddy Kane sampled many times. Before the year was over, Brown–who had immediately returned to work with his band following his release–organized a pay-per-view concert following a show at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre, that was well received. On June 10, 1991, James Brown and a star-filled line up performed before a crowd at the Wiltern Theatre for a live pay-per-view at-home audience. James Brown: Living in America – Live! was the brainchild of Indiana producer Danny Hubbard. It featured M.C. Hammer as well as Bell Biv Devoe, Heavy D & the Boys, En Vogue, C+C Music Factory, Quincy Jones, Sherman Hemsley and Keenen Ivory Wayans. Ice-T, Tone Loc and Kool Moe Dee performed paying homage to Brown. This was Brown's first public performance since his parole from the South Carolina prison system in February. He had served two-and-a-half years of two concurrent six-year sentences for aggravated assault and other felonies. Brown continued making recordings. In 1993 his album Universal James was released. It included his final Billboard charting single, "Can't Get Any Harder", which peaked at No. 76 on the US R&B chart and reached No. 59 on the UK chart. Its brief charting in the UK was probably due to the success of a remixed version of "I Feel Good" featuring Dakeyne. Brown also released the singles "How Long" and "Georgia-Lina", which failed to chart. In 1995, Brown returned to the Apollo and recorded Live at the Apollo 1995. It included a studio track titled "Respect Me", which was released as a single; again it failed to chart. Brown's final studio albums, I'm Back and The Next Step, were released in 1998 and 2002 respectively. I'm Back featured the song "Funk on Ah Roll", which peaked at No. 40 in the UK but did not chart in his native US. The Next Step included Brown's final single, "Killing Is Out, School Is In". Both albums were produced by Derrick Monk. Brown's concert success, however, remained unabated and he kept up with a grueling schedule throughout the remainder of his life, living up to his previous nickname, "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business", in spite of his advanced age. In 2003, Brown participated in the PBS American Masters television documentary James Brown: Soul Survivor, which was directed by Jeremy Marre. Brown performed in the Super Bowl XXXI halftime show in 1997. Brown during the NBA All-Star Game jam session, 2001 Brown celebrated his status as an icon by appearing in a variety of entertainment and sports events, including an appearance on the WCW pay-per-view event, SuperBrawl X, where he danced alongside wrestler Ernest "the Cat" Miller, who based his character on Brown, during his in-ring skit with the Maestro. Brown then appeared in Tony Scott's short film Beat the Devil in 2001. He was featured alongside Clive Owen, Gary Oldman, Danny Trejo and Marilyn Manson. Brown also made a cameo appearance in the 2002 Jackie Chan film The Tuxedo, in which Chan was required to finish Brown's act after having accidentally knocked out the singer. In 2002, Brown appeared in Undercover Brother, playing himself. Brown performing in June 2005 In 2004, Brown opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers at several Hyde Park concerts in London.[64] The beginning of 2005 saw the publication of his second book, I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul, written with Marc Eliot. In February and March, he participated in recording sessions for an intended studio album with Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, and other longtime collaborators. Though he lost interest in the album, which remains unreleased, a track from the sessions, "Gut Bucket", appeared on a compilation CD included with the August 2006 issue of MOJO.[65] He appeared at Edinburgh 50,000 – The Final Push, the final Live 8 concert on July 6, 2005, where he performed a duet with British pop star Will Young on "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag". In the Black Eyed Peas album "Monkey Business", Brown was featured on a track called "They Don't Want Music". The previous week he had performed a duet with another British pop star, Joss Stone, on the United Kingdom chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. In 2006, Brown continued his Seven Decades of Funk World Tour. His final major U.S. performance was in San Francisco on August 20, 2006, as headliner at the Festival of the Golden Gate (Foggfest) on the Great Meadow at Fort Mason. The following day, he performed at an 800-seat campus theatre at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. His last shows were greeted with positive reviews, and one of his final concert appearances at the Irish Oxegen festival in Punchestown in 2006 included a record crowd of 80,000 people. He played a full concert as part of the BBC's Electric Proms on October 27, 2006, at The Roundhouse,[66] supported by the Zutons, with special appearances from Max Beasley and the Sugababes. Brown's last televised appearance was at his induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame in November 2006, before his death the following month. Before his death, Brown had been scheduled to perform a duet with singer Annie Lennox on the song "Vengeance" for her new album Venus, which was released in 2007. Artistry Brown's most famous MC was Danny Ray (center), who was with him for over 30 years. As a vocalist, Brown performed in a forceful shout style derived from gospel music. Meanwhile, "his rhythmic grunts and expressive shrieks harked back farther still to ring shouts, work songs, and field cries", according to the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996): "He reimported the rhythmic complexity from which rhythm and blues, under the dual pressure of rock 'n' roll and pop, had progressively fallen away since its birth from jazz and blues."[67] For many years, Brown's touring show was one of the most extravagant productions in American popular music. At the time of Brown's death, his band included three guitarists, two bass guitar players, two drummers, three horns and a percussionist.[68] The bands that he maintained during the late 1960s and 1970s were of comparable size, and the bands also included a three-piece amplified string section that played during the ballads.[69] Brown employed between 40 and 50 people for the James Brown Revue, and members of the revue traveled with him in a bus to cities and towns all over the country, performing upwards of 330 shows a year with almost all of the shows as one-nighters.[70][71] Concert style Before James Brown appeared on stage, his personal MC gave him an elaborate introduction accompanied by drumrolls, as the MC worked in Brown's various sobriquets along with the names of many of his hit songs. The introduction by Fats Gonder, captured on Brown's 1963 album Live at the Apollo is a representative example: So now ladies and gentlemen it is "Star Time". Are you ready for "Star Time?" Thank you and thank you very kindly. It is indeed a great pleasure to present to you at this particular time, national[ly] and international[ly] known as "The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business", the man that sings "I'll Go Crazy"..."Try Me"..."You've Got the Power"..."Think"..."If You Want Me"..."I Don't Mind"..."Bewildered"... the million dollar seller, "Lost Someone"... the very latest release, "Night Train"... let's everybody "Shout and Shimmy"... "Mr. Dynamite", the amazing "Mr. Please Please" himself, the star of the show, James Brown and the Famous Flames!![72] Brown and MC Danny Ray during cape routine, BBC Electric Proms '06 concert James Brown's performances were famous for their intensity and length. His own stated goal was to "give people more than what they came for — make them tired, 'cause that's what they came for.'"[73] Brown's concert repertoire consisted mostly of his own hits and recent songs, with a few R&B covers mixed in. Brown danced vigorously as he sang, working popular dance steps such as the Mashed Potato into his routine along with dramatic leaps, splits and slides. In addition, his horn players and singing group (The Famous Flames) typically performed choreographed dance routines, and later incarnations of the Revue included backup dancers. Male performers in the Revue were required to wear tuxedoes and cummerbunds long after more casual concert wear became the norm among the younger musical acts. Brown's own extravagant outfits and his elaborate processed hairdo completed the visual impression. A James Brown concert typically included a performance by a featured vocalist, such as Vicki Anderson or Marva Whitney, and an instrumental feature for the band, which sometimes served as the opening act for the show. A trademark feature of Brown's stage shows, usually during the song "Please, Please, Please", involved Brown dropping to his knees while clutching the microphone stand in his hands, prompting the show's longtime MC, Danny Ray, to come out, drape a cape over Brown's shoulders and escort him off the stage after he had worked himself to exhaustion during his performance. As Brown was escorted off the stage by the MC, Brown's vocal group, the Famous Flames (Bobby Byrd, Lloyd Stallworth, and Bobby Bennett), continued singing the background vocals "Please, please don't go-oh".[74] Brown would then shake off the cape and stagger back to the microphone to perform an encore. Brown's routine was inspired by a similar one used by the professional wrestler Gorgeous George, as well as Little Richard.[72][75][76] In his 2005 autobiography I Feel Good: A Memoir in a Life of Soul, Brown, who was a fan of Gorgeous George, credited the wrestler as the inspiration for both his cape routine and concert attire, stating, "Seeing him on TV helped create the James Brown you see on stage".[77] Brown performs a version of the cape routine in the film of the T.A.M.I. Show (1964) in which he and the Famous Flames upstaged the Rolling Stones, and over the closing credits of the film Blues Brothers 2000. The Police refer to "James Brown on the T.A.M.I. Show" in their 1980 song "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around". Band leadership Brown demanded extreme discipline, perfection and precision from his musicians and dancers – performers in his Revue showed up for rehearsals and members wore the right "uniform" or "costume" for concert performances.[78] During an interview conducted by Terri Gross during the NPR segment "Fresh Air" with Maceo Parker, a former saxophonist in Brown's band for most of the 1960s and part of the 1970s and 1980s, Parker offered his experience with the discipline that Brown demanded of the band: You gotta be on time. You gotta have your uniform. Your stuff's got to be intact. You gotta have the bow tie. You got to have it. You can't come up without the bow tie. You cannot come up without a cummerbund ... [The] patent leather shoes we were wearing at the time gotta be greased. You just gotta have this stuff. This is what [Brown expected] ... [Brown] bought the costumes. He bought the shoes. And if for some reason [the band member decided] to leave the group, [Brown told the person to] please leave my uniforms . ... — Maceo Parker[79] Brown also had a practice of directing, correcting and assessing fines on members of his band who broke his rules, such as wearing unshined shoes, dancing out of sync or showing up late on stage.[80] During some of his concert performances, Brown danced in front of his band with his back to the audience as he slid across the floor, flashing hand signals and splaying his pulsating fingers to the beat of the music. Although audiences thought Brown's dance routine was part of his act, this practice was actually his way of pointing to the offending member of his troupe who played or sang the wrong note or committed some other infraction. Brown used his splayed fingers and hand signals to alert the offending person of the fine that person must pay to him for breaking his rules.[81] Brown's demands on his support acts could be harsh. As Fred Wesley recalled of his time as musical director of the JBs, if Brown felt intimidated by a support act he would try to "undermine their performances by shortening their sets without notice, demanding that they not do certain showstopping songs, and even insisting on doing the unthinkable, playing drums on some of their songs. A sure set killer."[82] Social activism Education advocacy and humanitarianism Brown's main social activism was in preserving the need for education among youths, influenced by his own troubled childhood and his being forced to drop out of the seventh grade for wearing "insufficient clothes". Due to heavy dropout rates in the 1960s, Brown released the pro-education song, "Don't Be a Drop-Out". Royalties of the song were donated to dropout-prevention charity programs. The success of this led to Brown meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House. Johnson cited Brown for being a positive role model to the youth. In 1968 James Brown endorsed Hubert Humphrey,[83] but later Brown gained the confidence of President Richard Nixon, to whom he found he had to explain the plight of Black Americans.[84] Throughout the remainder of his life, Brown made public speeches in schools and continued to advocate the importance of education in school. Upon filing his will in 2002, Brown advised that most of the money in his estate go into creating the I Feel Good, Inc. Trust to benefit disadvantaged children and provide scholarships for his grandchildren. His final single, "Killing Is Out, School Is In", advocated against murders of young children in the streets. Brown often gave out money and other items to children while traveling to his childhood hometown of Augusta. A week before his death, while looking gravely ill, Brown gave out toys and turkeys to kids at an Atlanta orphanage, something he had done several times over the years. Civil rights and self-reliance Though Brown performed at benefit rallies for civil rights organizations in the mid-1960s, Brown often shied away from discussing civil rights in his songs in fear of alienating his crossover audience. In 1968, in response to a growing urge of anti-war advocacy during the Vietnam War, Brown recorded the song, "America Is My Home". In the song, Brown performed a rap, advocating patriotism and exhorting listeners to "stop pitying yoursel[ves] and get up and fight". At the time of the song's release, Brown had been participating in performing for troops stationed in Vietnam. The Boston Garden concert On April 5, 1968, a day after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, Brown provided a free citywide televised concert at the Boston Garden to maintain public order and calm concerned Boston residents (over the objections of the police chief, who wanted to call off the concert, which he thought would incite violence).[49] The show was later released on DVD as Live at the Boston Garden: April 5, 1968. According to the documentary The Night James Brown Saved Boston, then-mayor Kevin White had strongly restrained the Boston police from cracking down on minor violence and protests after the assassination, while religious and community leaders worked to keep tempers from flaring.[85] White arranged to have Brown's performance broadcast multiple times on Boston's public television station, WGBH, thus keeping potential rioters off the streets, watching the concert for free.[85] Angered by not being told of this, Brown demanded $60,000 for "gate" fees (money he thought would be lost from ticket sales on account of the concert being broadcast for free) and then threatened to go public about the secret arrangement when the city balked at paying up afterwards, news of which would have been a political death blow to White and spark riots of its own.[85] White eventually lobbied the behind-the-scenes power-brokering group known as "The Vault" to come up with money for Brown's gate fee and other social programs, contributing $100,000. Brown received $15,000 from them via the city. White also persuaded management at the Garden to give up their share of receipts to make up the differences.[85] Following this successful performance, Brown was counseled by President Johnson to urge cities ravaged from riots following King's assassination to not resort to violence, telling them to "cool it, there's another way".[86] Responding to pressure from black activists, including H. Rap Brown, to take a bigger stance on their issues and from footage of black on black crime committed in inner cities, Brown wrote the lyrics to the song "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud", which his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis accompanied with a musical composition. Released late that summer, the song's lyrics helped to make it an anthem for the civil rights movement. Brown only performed the song sporadically following its initial release and later stated he had regrets about recording it, saying in 1984, "Now 'Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud' has done more for the black race than any other record, but if I had my choice, I wouldn't have done it, because I don't like defining anyone by race. To teach race is to teach separatism."[87] In his autobiography he stated: The song is obsolete now ... But it was necessary to teach pride then, and I think the song did a lot of good for a lot of people ... People called "Black and Proud" militant and angry – maybe because of the line about dying on your feet instead of living on your knees. But really, if you listen to it, it sounds like a children's song. That's why I had children in it, so children who heard it could grow up feeling pride ... The song cost me a lot of my crossover audience. The racial makeup at my concerts was mostly black after that. I don't regret it, though, even if it was misunderstood.[88] In 1969, Brown recorded two more songs of social commentary, "World" and "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing", the latter song pleading for equal opportunity and self-reliance rather than entitlement. In 1970, in response to some black leaders for not being outspoken enough, he recorded "Get Up, Get into It, Get Involved" and "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing". In 1971, he began touring Africa, including Zambia and Nigeria. He was made "freeman of the city" in Lagos, Nigeria, by Oba Adeyinka Oyekan, for his "influence on black people all over the world".[89] With his company, James Brown Enterprises, Brown helped to provide jobs for blacks in business in the communities.[90] As the 1970s continued, Brown continued to record songs of social commentary, most prominently 1972's "King Heroin" and the two-part ballad "Public Enemy", which dealt with drug addiction. Political views During the 1968 presidential campaign, Brown endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey and appeared with Humphrey at political rallies. Brown was labeled an "Uncle Tom" for supporting Humphrey and also for releasing the pro-American funk song, "America Is My Home", in which Brown had lambasted protesters of the Vietnam War as well as the politics of pro-black activists. Brown began supporting Republican president Richard Nixon after being invited to perform at Nixon's inaugural ball in January 1969.[91] Brown's endorsement of Nixon during the 1972 presidential election negatively impacted his career during that period with several national Black organizations boycotting his records and protesting at his concert shows; a November 1972 show in Cincinnati was picketed with signs saying, "James Brown: Nixon's Clown". Brown initially was invited to perform at a Youth Concert following Nixon's inauguration in January 1973 but bailed out due to the backlash he suffered from supporting Nixon. Brown joined fellow black entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., who faced similar backlash, to back out of the concert. Brown blamed it on "fatigue". Brown later reversed his support of Nixon and composed the song, "You Can Have Watergate (Just Gimme Some Bucks And I'll Be Straight)" as a result. After Nixon resigned from office, Brown composed the 1974 hit, "Funky President (People It's Bad)", right after Gerald Ford took Nixon's place. Brown later supported Democratic President Jimmy Carter, attending one of Carter's inaugural balls in 1977.[92] Brown also openly supported President Ronald Reagan's reelection in 1984.[93] Brown stated he was neither Democratic nor Republican despite his support of Republican presidents such as Nixon and Reagan as well as Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter.[94] In 1999, when being interviewed by Rolling Stone, the magazine asked him to name a hero in the 20th century; Brown mentioned John F. Kennedy and then-96-year-old U.S. Senator, and former Dixiecrat, Strom Thurmond, stating "when the young whippersnappers get out of line, whether Democratic or Republican, an old man can walk up and say 'Wait a minute, son, it goes this way.' And that's great for our country. He's like a grandfather to me."[95] In 2003, Brown was the featured attraction of a Washington D.C. fundraiser for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.[96] Following the deaths of Ronald Reagan and his friend Ray Charles, Brown said to CNN, "I'm kind of in an uproar. I love the country and I got – you know I've been around a long time, through many presidents and everything. So after losing Mr. Reagan, who I knew very well, then Mr. Ray Charles, who I worked with and lived with like, all our life, we had a show together in Oakland many, many years ago and it's like you found the placard."[97] Despite his contrarian political views, Brown mentored black activist Rev. Al Sharpton during the 1970s.[98] Personal life In 1962, Tammi Terrell joined the James Brown Revue. Brown became sexually involved with Terrell—even though she was only 17—in a relationship that continued until she escaped his physical abuse.[99] Bobby Bennett, former member of the Famous Flames, told Rolling Stone about the abuse he witnessed: "He beat Tammi Terrell terrible", said Bennett. "She was bleeding, shedding blood." Terrell, who died in 1970, was Brown's girlfriend before she became famous as Marvin Gaye's singing partner in the mid-1960s. "Tammi left him because she didn't want her butt whipped", said Bennett, who also claimed he saw Brown kick one pregnant girlfriend down a flight of stairs.[100] Marriages and children Brown was married three times. His first marriage was to Velma Warren in 1953, and they had one son together.[101] Over a decade later, the couple had separated, and the final divorce decree was issued in 1969. They maintained a close friendship that lasted until Brown's death. Brown's second marriage was to Deidre "Deedee" Jenkins, on October 22, 1970. They had two daughters together. By 1974 they were separated after what his daughter describes as years of domestic abuse,[102] and the final divorce decree was issued on January 10, 1981.[103] His third marriage was to Adrienne Lois Rodriguez (March 9, 1950 – January 6, 1996) in 1984. It was a contentious marriage that made headlines due to domestic abuse complaints.[104][105] Rodriguez filed for divorce in 1988, "citing years of cruelty treatment", but they reconciled.[106] Less than a year after Rodriguez died in 1996, Brown hired Tomi Rae Hynie to be a background singer for his band; she later claimed that she was his fourth wife.[107] On December 23, 2002, Brown, 69, and Hynie, 33, held a wedding ceremony that was officiated by the Rev. Larry Flyer. Following Brown's death, controversy surrounded the circumstances of the marriage, with Brown's attorney, Albert "Buddy" Dallas, reporting that the marriage was not valid; Hynie was still married to Javed Ahmed, a man from Bangladesh. Hynie claimed Ahmed married her to obtain residency through a Green Card and that the marriage was annulled but the annulment did not occur until April 2004.[108][109] In an attempt to prove her marriage to Brown was valid, she provided a marriage certificate as proof of her marriage to Brown during an interview on CNN with Larry King, but she did not provide King with court records pointing to an annulment of her marriage to Brown or to Ahmed.[110] According to Dallas, Brown was angry and hurt that Hynie had concealed her prior marriage from him and Brown moved to file for annulment from Hynie.[111] Dallas added that though Hynie's marriage to Ahmed was annulled after she married Brown, the Brown–Hynie marriage was not valid under South Carolina law because Brown and Hynie did not remarry after the annulment.[110][112] In August 2003, Brown took out a full-page public notice in Variety featuring Hynie, James II and himself on vacation at Disney World to announce that he and Hynie were going their separate ways.[113][114] On January 27, 2015, a judge ruled Hynie as Brown's legal widow and that she was now Brown's widow for purposes of determining the distribution of Brown's estate.[107][115] The decision was based on the grounds that Hynie's previous marriage was invalid and that James Brown had abandoned his efforts to annul his own marriage to Hynie.[115] On June 17, 2020, a South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Hynie was not legally married to Brown due to her failure to annul her previous marriage.[116][117][118] The court also officially ruled that she has no right to any part of his estate.[116][119][117][120][118] Brown had numerous children and acknowledged nine of them, including five sons—Teddy (1954–1973), Terry, Larry, Micheal Brown and James Joseph Brown Jr.—and six daughters: LaRhonda Petitt, Dr. Yamma Noyola Brown Lumar, Deanna Brown Thomas, Cinnamon Brown, Jeanette Bellinger and Venisha Brown (1964–2018).[121] Brown also had eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Brown's eldest son, Teddy, died in a car crash on June 14, 1973.[122] According to an August 22, 2007, article published in the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, DNA tests indicate that Brown also fathered at least three extramarital children. The first one of them to be identified is LaRhonda Pettit (born 1962), a retired flight attendant and teacher who lives in Houston.[123] Another alleged son, Michael Deon Brown, was born in September 1968 to Mary Florence Brown, and despite pleading no contest to a paternity suit brought against him in 1983, Brown never officially acknowledged Michael as his son.[124] During contesting of Brown's will, another of the Brown family attorneys, Debra Opri, revealed to Larry King that Brown wanted a DNA test performed after his death to confirm the paternity of James Brown Jr. (born 2001)—not for Brown's sake but for the sake of the other family members.[125] In April 2007, Hynie selected a guardian ad litem whom she wanted appointed by the court to represent her son, James Brown Jr., in the paternity proceedings.[126] James Brown Jr. was confirmed to be his biological son.[127] Drug abuse For most of his career, Brown had a strict drug- and alcohol-free policy for any member in his entourage, including band members, and would fire people who disobeyed orders, particularly those who used or abused drugs. Although early members of the Famous Flames were fired for using alcohol, Brown often served a highball consisting of Delaware Punch and moonshine at his St. Albans, Queens, house in the mid-1960s.[128] Some of the original members of Brown's 1970s band, the J.B.'s, including Catfish and Bootsy Collins, intentionally took LSD during a performance in 1971, causing Brown to fire them after the show because he had suspected them of being on drugs all along.[129] Aide Bob Patton has asserted that he accidentally shared a PCP-laced cannabis joint with Brown in the mid-1970s and "hallucinated for hours", although Brown "talked about it as if it was only marijuana he was smoking".[128] By the mid-1980s, it was widely alleged that Brown was using drugs, with Vicki Anderson confirming to journalist Barney Hoskyns that Brown's regular use of PCP (colloquially known as "angel dust") "began before 1982".[128] After he met and later married Adrienne Rodriguez in 1984, she and Brown began using PCP together.[130] This drug usage often resulted in violent outbursts from him, and he was arrested several times for domestic violence against Rodriguez while high on the drug.[131][132] By January 1988, Brown faced four criminal charges within a 12-month span relating to driving, PCP, and gun possession.[106] After an April 1988 arrest for domestic abuse, Brown went on the CNN program Sonya Live in L.A. with host Sonya Friedman. The interview became notorious for Brown's irreverent demeanor, with some asserting that Brown was high.[133] One of Brown's former mistresses recalled in a GQ magazine article on Brown some years after his death that Brown would smoke PCP ("until that got hard to find") and cocaine, mixed with tobacco in Kool cigarettes. He also engaged in the off-label use of sildenafil, maintaining that it gave him "extra energy".[134] Once, while traveling in a car under the influence of PCP (which he continued to procure dependent on its availability), Brown alleged that passing trees contained psychotronic surveillance technology.[128] In January 1998, he spent a week in rehab to deal with an addiction to unspecified prescription drugs. A week after his release, he was arrested for an unlawful use of a handgun and possession of cannabis.[135] Prior to his death in December 2006, when Brown entered Emory University Hospital, traces of cocaine were found in the singer's urine.[136] His widow suggested Brown would "do crack" with a female acquaintance.[136] Theft and assault convictions Brown's personal life was marred by numerous brushes with the law. At the age of 16, he was convicted of theft and served three years in juvenile prison. During a concert held at Club 15 in Macon, Georgia, in 1963, while Otis Redding was performing alongside his former band Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers, Brown, reportedly wielding two shotguns,[137] tried to shoot his musical rival Joe Tex.[138] The incident led to multiple people being shot and stabbed.[139] Since Brown was still on parole at the time, he relied on his agent Clint Brantley "and a few thousand dollars to make the situation disappear".[139] According to Jenkins, "seven people got shot", and after the shootout ended, a man appeared and gave "each one of the injured a hundred dollars apiece not to carry it no further and not to talk to the press".[139] Brown was never charged for the incident. On July 16, 1978, after performing at the Apollo, Brown was arrested for reportedly failing to turn in records from one of his radio stations after the station was forced to file for bankruptcy.[61][140] Brown was arrested on April 3, 1988, for assault,[141] and again in May 1988 on drug and weapons charges, and again on September 24, 1988, following a high-speed car chase on Interstate 20 near the Georgia–South Carolina state border. He was convicted of carrying an unlicensed pistol and assaulting a police officer, along with various drug-related and driving offenses. Although he was sentenced to six years in prison, he was eventually released on parole on February 27, 1991, after serving two years of his sentence. Brown's FBI file, released to The Washington Post in 2007 under the Freedom of Information Act,[142] related Brown's claim that the high-speed chase did not occur as claimed by the police, and that local police shot at his car several times during an incident of police harassment and assaulted him after his arrest.[143] Local authorities found no merit to Brown's accusations. In 1998, a woman named Mary Simons accused Brown in a civil suit of holding her captive for three days, demanding oral sex and firing a gun in his office; Simons' charge was eventually dismissed.[139] In another civil suit, filed by former background singer Lisa Rushton alleged that between 1994 and 1999, Brown allegedly demanded sexual favors and when refused, would cut off her pay and kept her offstage.[139] She also claimed Brown would "place a hand on her buttocks and loudly told her in a crowded restaurant to not look or speak to any other man besides himself;" Rushton eventually withdrew her lawsuit.[139] In yet another civil suit, a woman named Lisa Agbalaya, who worked for Brown, said the singer would tell her he had "bull testicles", handed her a pair of zebra-print underwear, told her to wear them while he massaged her with oil, and fired her after she refused.[139] A Los Angeles jury cleared the singer of sexual harassment but found him liable for wrongful termination.[139] The police were summoned to Brown's residence on July 3, 2000, after he was accused of charging at an electric company repairman with a steak knife when the repairman visited Brown's house to investigate a complaint about having no lights at the residence.[144] In 2003, Brown was pardoned by the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services for past crimes that he was convicted of committing in South Carolina.[145] Domestic violence arrests Brown was repeatedly arrested for domestic violence. On four occasions between 1987 and 1995, Brown was arrested on charges of assault against his third wife, Adrienne Rodriguez. In one incident, Rodriguez reported to authorities that Brown beat her with an iron pipe and shot at her car.[106][146] Rodriguez was hospitalized after the last assault in October 1995, but charges were dropped after she died in January 1996.[146] In January 2004, Brown was arrested in South Carolina on a domestic violence charge after Tomi Rae Hynie accused him of pushing her to the floor during an argument at their home, where she suffered scratches and bruises to her right arm and hip.[147] In June, Brown pleaded no contest to the domestic violence incident, but served no jail time. Instead, Brown was required to forfeit a US$1,087 bond as punishment.[148] Rape accusation In January 2005, a woman named Jacque Hollander filed a lawsuit against James Brown, which stemmed from an alleged 1988 rape. When the case was initially heard before a judge in 2002, Hollander's claims against Brown were dismissed by the court as the limitations period for filing the suit had expired. Hollander claimed that stress from the alleged assault later caused her to contract Graves' disease, a thyroid condition. Hollander claimed that the incident took place in South Carolina while she was employed by Brown as a publicist. Hollander alleged that, during her ride in a van with Brown, Brown pulled over to the side of the road and sexually assaulted her while he threatened her with a shotgun. In her case against Brown, Hollander entered as evidence a DNA sample and a polygraph result, but the evidence was not considered due to the limitations defense. Hollander later attempted to bring her case before the Supreme Court, but nothing came of her complaint.[149] Later life At the end of his life, James Brown lived in Beech Island, South Carolina, directly across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia. Brown had chronic illness with type 1 diabetes that went undiagnosed for years, according to his longtime manager Charles Bobbit.[150] In 2004, Brown was successfully treated for prostate cancer.[151] Regardless of his health, Brown maintained his reputation as the "hardest working man in show business" by keeping up with his grueling performance schedule. Illness James Brown memorial in Augusta, Georgia On December 23, 2006, Brown became very ill and arrived at his dentist's office in Atlanta, Georgia, several hours late. His appointment was for dental implant work. During that visit, Brown's dentist observed that he looked "very bad ... weak and dazed". Instead of performing the work, the dentist advised Brown to see a physician right away about his medical condition.[152] The following day, Brown went to the Emory Crawford Long Memorial Hospital for medical evaluation and was admitted for observation and treatment.[153] According to Charles Bobbit, his longtime personal manager and friend, Brown had been struggling with a noisy cough since returning from a November trip to Europe. Yet, Bobbit said, the singer had a history of never complaining about being sick and often performed while ill.[152] Although Brown had to cancel upcoming concerts in Waterbury, Connecticut, and Englewood, New Jersey, he was confident that the doctor would discharge him from the hospital in time for his scheduled New Year's Eve shows at the Count Basie Theatre in New Jersey and the B. B. King Blues Club in New York, in addition to performing a song live on CNN for the Anderson Cooper New Year's Eve special.[153] Brown remained hospitalized, however, and his condition worsened throughout the day. Death On Christmas Day 2006, Brown died at approximately 1:45 a.m. EST (05:45 UTC),[16] at age 73, from congestive heart failure, resulting from complications of pneumonia. Bobbit was at his bedside[154] and later reported that Brown stuttered, "I'm going away tonight", then took three long, quiet breaths and fell asleep before dying.[155] In 2019, an investigation by CNN and other journalists led to suggestions that Brown had been murdered.[136][139][146][156][157] Memorial services Public memorial at the Apollo Theater in Harlem After Brown's death, his relatives, a host of celebrities, and thousands of fans gathered, on December 28, 2006, for a public memorial service at the Apollo Theater in New York City and, on December 30, 2006, at the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia. A separate, private ceremony was held in North Augusta, South Carolina, on December 29, 2006, with Brown's family in attendance. Celebrities at these various memorial events included Michael Jackson, Jimmy Cliff, Joe Frazier, Buddy Guy, Ice Cube, Ludacris, Dr. Dre, Little Richard, Dick Gregory, MC Hammer, Prince, Jesse Jackson, Ice-T, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bootsy Collins, LL Cool J, Lil Wayne, Lenny Kravitz, 50 Cent, Stevie Wonder, and Don King.[158][159][160][161] Rev. Al Sharpton officiated at all of Brown's public and private memorial services.[162][163] Public funeral in Augusta, Georgia, with Michael Jackson attending Brown's memorial ceremonies were all elaborate, complete with costume changes for the deceased[clarification needed] and videos featuring him in concert. His body, placed in a Promethean casket—bronze polished to a golden shine—was driven through the streets of New York to the Apollo Theater in a white, glass-encased horse-drawn carriage.[164][165] In Augusta, Georgia, his memorial procession stopped to pay respects at his statue, en route to the James Brown Arena. During the public memorial there, a video showed Brown's last performance in Augusta, Georgia, with the Ray Charles version of "Georgia on My Mind" playing soulfully in the background.[158][159][166] His last backup band, the Soul Generals, also played some of his hits during that tribute at the arena. The group was joined by Bootsy Collins on bass, with MC Hammer performing a dance in James Brown style.[167] Former Temptations lead singer Ali-Ollie Woodson performed "Walk Around Heaven All Day" at the memorial services.[168] Brown was buried in a crypt at his daughter's home in Beech Island, South Carolina.[169] Last will and testament Brown signed his last will and testament on August 1, 2000, before J. Strom Thurmond Jr., an attorney for the estate.[170] The irrevocable trust, separate and apart from Brown's will, was created on his behalf, that same year, by his attorney, Albert "Buddy" Dallas, one of three personal representatives of Brown's estate. His will covered the disposition of his personal assets, such as clothing, cars, and jewelry, while the irrevocable trust covered the disposition of the music rights, business assets of James Brown Enterprises, and his Beech Island, South Carolina estate.[171] During the reading of the will on January 11, 2007, Thurmond revealed that Brown's six adult living children (Terry Brown, Larry Brown, Daryl Brown, Yamma Brown Lumar, Deanna Brown Thomas and Venisha Brown) were named in the document, while Hynie and James II were not mentioned as heirs.[170][172] Brown's will was signed 10 months before James II was born and more than a year before Brown's marriage to Tomi Rae Hynie. Like Brown's will, his irrevocable trust omitted Hynie and James II as recipients of Brown's property. The irrevocable trust had also been established before, and not amended since, the birth of James II.[173] On January 24, 2007, Brown's children filed a lawsuit, petitioning the court to remove the personal representatives from the estate (including Brown's attorney, as well as trustee Albert "Buddy" Dallas) and appoint a special administrator because of perceived impropriety and alleged mismanagement of Brown's assets.[174][175] On January 31, 2007, Hynie also filed a lawsuit against Brown's estate, challenging the validity of the will and the irrevocable trust. Hynie's suit asked the court both to recognize her as Brown's widow and to appoint a special administrator for the estate.[176] On January 27, 2015, Judge Doyet Early III ruled that Tomi Rae Hynie Brown was officially the widow of James Brown. The decision was based on the grounds that Hynie's previous marriage was invalid and that James Brown had abandoned his efforts to annul his own marriage to Hynie.[107][177] On February 19, 2015, the South Carolina Supreme Court intervened, halting all lower court actions in the estate and undertaking to review previous actions itself.[178] The South Carolina Court of Appeals in July 2018 ruled that Hynie was, in fact, Mr. Brown's wife.[179] In 2020, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Hynie had not been legally married to Brown and did not have a right to his estate.[180] It was reported in July 2021 that Brown's family had reached a settlement ending the 15-year battle over the estate.[180] Legacy Brown received awards and honors throughout his lifetime and after his death. In 1993, the City Council of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, conducted a poll of residents to choose a new name for the bridge that crossed the Yampa River on Shield Drive. The winning name, with 7,717 votes, was "James Brown Soul Center of the Universe Bridge". The bridge was officially dedicated in September 1993, and Brown appeared at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the event.[181] A petition was started by local ranchers to return the name to "Stockbridge" for historical reasons, but they backed off after citizens defeated their efforts because of the popularity of Brown's name. Brown returned to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, on July 4, 2002, for an outdoor festival, performing with bands such as the String Cheese Incident.[182] During his long career, Brown received many prestigious music industry awards and honors. In 1983 he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Brown was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction dinner in New York on January 23, 1986. At that time, the members of his original vocal group, the Famous Flames (Bobby Byrd, Johnny Terry, Bobby Bennett, and Lloyd Stallworth) were not inducted.[183] However, on April 14, 2012, the Famous Flames were automatically and retroactively inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside Brown, without the need for nomination and voting, on the basis that they should have been inducted with him in 1986.[184][185] On February 25, 1992, Brown was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th annual Grammy Awards. Exactly a year later, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 4th annual Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards.[186] A ceremony was held for Brown on January 10, 1997, to honor him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[186] On June 15, 2000, Brown was honored as an inductee to the New York Songwriters Hall of Fame. On August 6, 2002, he was honored as the first BMI Urban Icon at the BMI Urban Awards. His BMI accolades include an impressive ten R&B Awards and six Pop Awards.[187] On November 14, 2006, Brown was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, and he was one of several inductees to perform at the ceremony.[188] In recognition of his accomplishments as an entertainer, Brown was a recipient of Kennedy Center Honors on December 7, 2003.[186] In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine ranked James Brown as No. 7 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[189] In an article for Rolling Stone, critic Robert Christgau cited Brown as "the greatest musician of the rock era".[190] He appeared on the BET Awards June 24, 2003, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Michael Jackson, and performed with him. In 2004, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Aretha Franklin.[191][192] Statue of James Brown in Augusta Brown was also honored in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, for his philanthropy and civic activities. On November 20, 1993, Mayor Charles DeVaney of Augusta held a ceremony to dedicate a section of 9th Street between Broad and Twiggs Streets, renamed "James Brown Boulevard", in the entertainer's honor.[186] On May 6, 2005, as a 72nd birthday present for Brown, the city of Augusta unveiled a life-sized bronze James Brown statue on Broad Street.[186] The statue was to have been dedicated a year earlier, but the ceremony was put on hold because of a domestic abuse charge that Brown faced at the time.[193] In 2005, Charles "Champ" Walker and the We Feel Good Committee went before the County commission and received approval to change Augusta's slogan to "We Feel Good". Afterward, officials renamed the city's civic center the James Brown Arena, and James Brown attended a ceremony for the unveiling of the namesake center on October 15, 2006.[186] On December 30, 2006, during the public memorial service at the James Brown Arena, Dr. Shirley A.R. Lewis, president of Paine College, a historically black college in Augusta, Georgia, bestowed posthumously upon Brown an honorary doctorate in recognition and honor of his many contributions to the school in its times of need. Brown had originally been scheduled to receive the honorary doctorate from Paine College during its May 2007 commencement.[194][195] During the 49th Annual Grammy Awards presentation on February 11, 2007, James Brown's famous cape was draped over a microphone by Danny Ray at the end of a montage in honor of notable people in the music industry who died during the previous year. Earlier that evening, Christina Aguilera delivered an impassioned performance of Brown's hit "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" followed by a standing ovation, while Chris Brown performed a dance routine in honor of James Brown.[196] On August 17, 2013, the official R&B Music Hall of Fame honored and inducted James Brown at a ceremony held at the Waetjen Auditorium at Cleveland State University. Traffic box public art commissioned to be painted by Ms. Robbie Pitts Bellamy in tribute to Brown in 2015 ART THE BOX began in early 2015 as a collaboration between three organizations: the City of Augusta, the Downtown Development Authority and the Greater Augusta Arts Council. 19 local artists were selected by a committee to create art on 23 local traffic signal control cabinets (TSCCs). A competition was held to create the James Brown Tribute Box on the corner of James Brown Blvd. (9th Ave.) and Broad St. This box was designed and painted by local artist, Ms. Robbie Pitts Bellamy and has become a favorite photo opportunity to visitors and locals in Augusta, Georgia. "I have a lot of musical heroes but I think James Brown is at the top of the list", remarked Public Enemy's Chuck D. "Absolutely the funkiest man on Earth ... In a black household, James Brown is part of the fabric – Motown, Stax, Atlantic and James Brown."[197] In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Brown at No. 44 on their list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.[198] On April 24, 2023, James Brown was inducted into the newly established Atlantic City Walk Of Fame presented by The National R&B Music Society Inc.[199][200] Brown's daughter Deanna Brown Thomas accepted the honor on his behalf. The unveiling and induction ceremony took place at Brighton Park in Atlantic City, NJ. Brown was inducted by Bowlegged Lou of the production team Full Force. Other inductees included, Little Anthony & The Imperials, The Delfonics and Grover Washington Jr.[201] Tributes As a tribute to James Brown, the Rolling Stones covered the song, "I'll Go Crazy" from Brown's Live at the Apollo album, during their 2007 European tour.[202] Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has remarked, "He [James Brown] was almost a musical genre in his own right and he changed and moved forward the whole time so people were able to learn from him."[203] On December 22, 2007, the first annual "Tribute Fit For the King of King Records" in honor of James Brown was held at the Madison Theater in Covington, Kentucky. The tribute, organized by Bootsy Collins, featured Tony Wilson as Young James Brown with appearances by Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D of Public Enemy, the Soul Generals, Buckethead, Freekbass, Triage and many of Brown's surviving family members. Comedian Michael Coyer was the MC for the event. During the show, the mayor of Cincinnati proclaimed December 22 as James Brown Day.[204] As of September 2021, a significant collection of James Brown clothing, memorabilia, and personal artifacts are on exhibit in downtown Augusta, Georgia, at the Augusta History Museum. Discography For an extended list of albums, compilations, and charting singles, see James Brown discography. Studio albums Please Please Please (1958) Try Me! (1959) Think! (1960) The Amazing James Brown (1961) James Brown and His Famous Flames Tour the U.S.A. (1962) Prisoner of Love (1963) Grits & Soul (1964) Showtime (1964) Out of Sight (1964) James Brown Plays James Brown Today & Yesterday (1965) Mighty Instrumentals (1966) James Brown Plays New Breed (The Boo-Ga-Loo) (1966) James Brown Sings Christmas Songs (1966) Handful of Soul (1966) James Brown Sings Raw Soul (1967) James Brown Plays the Real Thing (1967) Cold Sweat (1967) I Can't Stand Myself When You Touch Me (1968) I Got the Feelin' (1968) James Brown Plays Nothing But Soul (1968) Thinking About Little Willie John and a Few Nice Things (1968) A Soulful Christmas (1968) Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud (1969) Gettin' Down to It (1969) The Popcorn (1969) It's a Mother (1969) Ain't It Funky (1970) Soul on Top (1970) It's a New Day – Let a Man Come In (1970) Hey America (1970) Sho Is Funky Down Here (1971) Hot Pants (1971) There It Is (1972) Get on the Good Foot (1972) Black Caesar (1973) Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973) The Payback (1973) Hell (1974) Reality (1974) Sex Machine Today (1975) Everybody's Doin' the Hustle & Dead on the Double Bump (1975) Hot (1976) Get Up Offa That Thing (1976) Bodyheat (1976) Mutha's Nature (1977) Jam 1980's (1978) Take a Look at Those Cakes (1978) The Original Disco Man (1979) People (1980) Soul Syndrome (1980) Nonstop! (1981) Bring It On! (1983) Gravity (1986) I'm Real (1988) Love Over-Due (1991) Universal James (1993) I'm Back (1998) The Merry Christmas Album (1999) The Next Step (2002) Filmography The T.A.M.I. Show (1964) (concert film) – himself (with the Famous Flames) Ski Party (1965) – himself (with the Famous Flames) James Brown: Man to Man (1968) (concert film) – himself The Phynx (1970) – himself Black Caesar (1973) (soundtrack only) Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973) (soundtrack only) The Blues Brothers (1980) – Reverend Cleophus James Doctor Detroit (1983) – himself, the Bandleader Rocky IV (1985) – The Godfather of Soul Miami Vice (1987) – Lou De Long James Brown: Live in East Berlin (1989) – himself The Simpsons (1993) – himself (voice) When We Were Kings (1996) (documentary) – himself Duckman (1997) – Hostage Negotiator (voice) Soulmates (1997) – himself Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) – Reverend Cleophus James Holy Man (1998) – himself Undercover Brother (2002) – himself The Tuxedo (2002) – himself The Hire: Beat the Devil (2002) (short film) – himself Paper Chasers (2003) (documentary) – himself Soul Survivor (2003) (documentary) – himself Sid Bernstein Presents (2005) (documentary) – himself Glastonbury (2006) (documentary) – himself Life on the Road with Mr. and Mrs. Brown (2007) (documentary; release pending) – himself Live at the Boston Garden: April 5, 1968 (2008) (concert film) – himself I Got The Feelin': James Brown in the '60s, three-DVD set featuring Live at the Boston Garden: April 5, 1968, Live at the Apollo '68 [DVD version of James Brown: Man to Man], and the documentary The Night James Brown Saved Boston Soul Power (2009) (documentary) – himself (archive footage) Get on Up (2014) – himself (archive footage) Biopics Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown (2014), released in April 2014, written and directed by Alex Gibney, produced by Mick Jagger. Get on Up (2014), released in theaters on August 1, 2014. Chadwick Boseman plays the role of James Brown in the film. Originally, Mick Jagger and Brian Grazer had begun producing a documentary film on Brown in 2013. A fiction film had been in the planning stages for many years and was revived when Jagger read the script by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth.[205] In other media Games In the video game World of Warcraft, the first boss character of the Forge of Souls dungeon is Bronjahm, "the Godfather of Souls". His quotes during the fight are musical references, and he has a chance of dropping an item called "Papa's Brand New Bag".[206] Television As himself (voice) in the 1993 The Simpsons episode "Bart's Inner Child".[207] In 1991, Brown did a Pay Per View Special with top celebrities such as Quincy Jones, Rick James, Dan Aykroyd, Gladys Knight, Denzel Washington, MC Hammer and others attended or were opening acts. This was produced with boxing promoter Buddy Dallas. 15.5 million households tuned in at a cost $19.99.[208] In 2002, Brown starred in the Jackie Chan movie The Tuxedo as himself On December 1, 2018, Nickelodeon airs the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode “Al Be Back” in which the character Raphael is dressed in an outfit and wig reminiscent of James Brown’s iconic red suits and hairstyle in order to perform a Soul-inspired set at a local carnival. See also Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their distinctive funk style drew on psychedelia, outlandish fashion, science-fiction, and surreal humor.[5] They released albums such as Maggot Brain (1971), Mothership Connection (1975), and One Nation Under a Groove (1978) to critical praise, and scored charting hits with singles such as "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker" (1975) and "Flash Light" (1978). Overall, the collective achieved thirteen top ten hits in the American R&B music charts between 1967 and 1983, including six number one hits. Their work would have an influential effect on subsequent funk, post-punk, hip-hop, and techno artists of the 1980s and 1990s,[6] while their collective mythology would help pioneer Afrofuturism.[7] The collective's origins date back to the doo-wop group the Parliaments, formed by Clinton during the late 1950s in suburban New Jersey. By the late 1960s, Clinton had gained experience as a producer-writer for Motown Records and, under the influence of artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, and Frank Zappa, he relocated to Detroit and enlisted musicians from his New Jersey days in his own two sister bands Parliament and Funkadelic; the first would go on to develop a commercially successful style of science fiction-inspired funk, while the second pursued a heavier sound which blended funk with psychedelic rock.[8] The name "Parliament-Funkadelic" became the catch-all term for the dozens of related musicians recording and touring different projects in Clinton's orbit, including the female vocal spinoff groups the Brides of Funkenstein and Parlet. Financial and label issues slowed the collective's recorded output in the 1980s while Clinton and other members began solo careers, with Clinton also consolidating the collective's multiple projects and touring under names such as George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars. In the 1990s, their sound became the chief inspiration for the West Coast hip hop subgenre G-funk.[9] Prominent collective members have included bassist Bootsy Collins (who formed the spinoff group Bootsy's Rubber Band), keyboardist Bernie Worrell, guitarists Eddie "Maggot Brain" Hazel, Michael Hampton, and Garry "Diaper Man" Shider, and horn players Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker. Some former members of Parliament perform under the name "Original P". Sixteen members of Parliament-Funkadelic were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2019, the group was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. History The Parliaments For more details on this phase of the collective's career, see The Parliaments. The P-Funk story began in 1956 in Newark, New Jersey, with a doo-wop group formed by fifteen-year-old George Clinton. This was The Parliaments, a name inspired by Parliament cigarettes. By the early 1960s, the group had solidified into the five-man lineup of Clinton, Ray "Stingray" Davis, Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins, Calvin Simon and Grady Thomas. Later, the group rehearsed in a barbershop in Plainfield, New Jersey co-owned by Clinton and entertained the customers. After having performed for almost ten years, the Parliaments had added a rhythm section in 1964 -- for tours and background work -- consisting of guitarist Frankie Boyce, his brother Richard on bass, and drummer Langston Booth; The Parliaments finally achieved a hit single in 1967 with "(I Wanna) Testify" while Clinton began commuting to Detroit as a songwriter and producer for Motown Records. The West End of Plainfield, New Jersey, was once home to the Silk Palace, a barbershop at 216 Plainfield Avenue owned in part by Clinton, staffed by various members of Parliament-Funkadelic and known as the "hangout for all the local singers and musicians" in Plainfield's 1950s and 1960s doo-wop, soul, rock and proto-funk music scene.[10][11][12] Funkadelic and Parliament For more details on this phase of the collective's career, see Funkadelic and Parliament (band). By the late 1960s Clinton had assembled a touring band to back up the Parliaments, the first stable lineup of which included Billy Bass Nelson (bass), Eddie Hazel (lead guitarist), Tawl Ross (guitarist), Tiki Fulwood (drums), and Mickey Atkins (keyboards). After a contractual dispute in which Clinton temporarily lost the rights to the name "The Parliaments", Clinton brought the backing musicians forward. When the band relocated to Detroit, their guitar-based, raw funk sound, with its heavy psychedelic rock influences, inspired "Billy Bass" Nelson, who coined the name "Funkadelic".[13] Clinton signed Funkadelic to Westbound Records, and the five Parliaments singers were credited as "guests" while the five musicians were listed as the main group members. The debut album Funkadelic was released in 1970. Meanwhile, Clinton regained the rights to the name "The Parliaments" and initiated another new entity, now known as Parliament, with the same five singers and five musicians but this time as a smoother R&B-based funk ensemble that Clinton positioned as a counterpoint to the more rock-oriented Funkadelic. Parliament recorded Osmium for Invictus Records in 1970, and after a hiatus in which Clinton focused on Funkadelic, Parliament was signed to Casablanca Records and released its debut for that label Up for the Down Stroke in 1974. The two bands began to tour together under the collective name "Parliament-Funkadelic". By this time the original ten-member lineup of Parliament-Funkadelic had begun to splinter, but many others joined for various album releases by either band, leading to a collective with a fluid and rapidly expanding membership. Notable members to join during this period include keyboardist Bernie Worrell, bassist Bootsy Collins, guitarist Garry Shider, bassist Cordell Mosson, and The Horny Horns. Bootsy Collins In the 1975–1979 period, both Parliament and Funkadelic achieved several high-charting albums and singles on both the R&B and Pop charts. Many members of the collective began to branch out into side bands and solo projects under George Clinton's tutelage, including Bootsy's Rubber Band, Parlet, and The Brides of Funkenstein, while longtime members like Eddie Hazel recorded solo albums with songwriting and studio help from the collective. The Parliament albums of this period had become concept albums with themes from science fiction and afro-futurism, elaborate political and sociological themes, and an evolving storyline with recurring fictional characters. Parliament-Funkadelic stage shows (particularly the P-Funk Earth Tour of 1976) were expanded to include imagery from science fiction and a stage prop known as the Mothership. These concepts came to be known as the P-Funk mythology. By the late 1970s, several key members departed acrimoniously over disagreements with Clinton and his management style. Original Parliaments members Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas departed in 1977 after becoming disillusioned with the influx of new members, and later recorded an album under the name Funkadelic. Other members departed and formed new funk bands that detached themselves from P-Funk and even criticized the collective, such as Quazar (formed by guitarist Glenn Goins) and Mutiny (formed by drummer Jerome Brailey). Due to financial difficulties and the collapse of Casablanca Records (Parliament's label), Clinton dissolved Parliament and Funkadelic as separate entities. Many members of the collective continued to work for Clinton, first on his solo albums and later as Parliament-Funkadelic or the P-Funk All Stars. Modern day Parliament-Funkadelic George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic at the Roskilde Festival, 2006. In the early 1980s George Clinton continued to record while battling with financial problems and well-publicized drug problems. The remaining members of Parliament-Funkadelic recorded the 1982 hit album Computer Games, which was released as a George Clinton solo album. Included on this release was the much-sampled #1 hit single "Atomic Dog". The following year, Clinton formed the P-Funk All Stars, who went on to record Urban Dancefloor Guerillas in 1983. The P-Funk All Stars included many of the same members as the late-1970s version of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, and was so named because of various legal issues concerning use of the names Parliament and Funkadelic after 1980. The name P-Funk All Stars is still in use to the current day, and group has included a mix of former Parliament-Funkadelic members as well as guests and new musicians. Umbria Jazz 2004 As the 1980s continued, P-Funk did not meet with great commercial success as the band continued to produce albums under the name of George Clinton as solo artist. P-Funk retired from touring from 1984 until 1989, except for extremely sporadic performances and TV appearances. It was at this time that hip hop music began to extensively sample P-Funk music, so remnants of the music were still heard regularly, now among fans of hip hop. By 1993, most of the Parliament and Funkadelic back catalog had been reissued. The same year saw the return of a reconstituted P-Funk All Stars, with the re-release of Urban Dancefloor Guerrillas under the title Hydraulic Funk, and a new hip hop influenced album Dope Dogs. In 1994, the group toured with the Lollapalooza festival and appeared in the film PCU. George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic performing in Waterfront Park, Louisville, Kentucky on July 4, 2008 The 1996 album T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M. (The Awesome Power of a Fully Operational Mothership), released under the name George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, served as a reunion album featuring contributions from the band's most noteworthy songwriters from the earlier eras, such as Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, and Junie Morrison. It would be ten years before another album would be released. In the intervening time, successive tours would slowly restore some of the broken ties between the original band members, together with an accumulation of new talent. On July 23, 1999, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, including noteworthy former members Bootsy and Catfish Collins and Bernie Worrell, performed on stage at Woodstock '99. The collective continued to tour sporadically in to the 2000s, with participation from some of the children and grandchildren of the original members. George Clinton and P-Funk All Stars in Long Beach 2009 Legacy In May 1997, George Clinton and 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the largest band yet inducted. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Parliament-Funkadelic #56 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[14] In February 2002, Spin ranked Parliament-Funkadelic #6 on their list of the "50 Greatest Bands of All Time". Besides their innovation in the entire genre of funk music, George Clinton and P-Funk are still heard often today, especially in hip-hop sampling. The Red Hot Chili Peppers video for their 2006 single "Dani California" featured a tribute to Parliament-Funkadelic. Parliament-Funkadelic's musical influence can also be heard in rhythm and blues, soul, electronica, gospel, jazz, and new wave. Parliament-Funkadelic was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2013.[15] In December 2018, the Recording Academy announced that Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic would be given Lifetime Achievement Awards. The awards were presented on May 11, 2019.[16][17][18] Afrofuturism Main article: P-Funk mythology About the album Mothership Connection, Clinton said "We had put black people in situations nobody ever thought they would be in, like the White House. I figured another place you wouldn't think black people would be was in outer space. I was a big fan of Star Trek, so we did a thing with a pimp sitting in a spaceship shaped like a Cadillac, and we did all these James Brown-type grooves, but with street talk and ghetto slang."[19][20] Like Sun Ra, Clinton wanted to see black people in space. Key members Clinton performing in Centerville, 2007 George Clinton (band leader, vocals, songwriter, producer; born July 22, 1941). George Clinton has been, since its inception, the driving force behind the development of the P-Funk sound, having led the collective since forming The Parliaments as a doo-wop group in the late 1950s. The funk sound, socially conscious lyrics, and P-Funk mythology developed primarily by Clinton have been especially influential for later R&B, hip hop, and rock music. Bernie Worrell (keyboards, vocals, songwriter, arranger; producer; April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016). Bernie Worrell officially joined Funkadelic after the release of their first album and became an integral member of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective thereafter. His classical training on piano and innovative use of synthesizers has proven to be extremely influential, particularly his pioneering use of the Moog synthesizer, which replaced the conventional electric bass on songs like "Flash Light" and "Aqua Boogie". He was responsible for many P-Funk rhythm and (with trombonist Fred Wesley) horn arrangements. Worrell left the band in 1981, but continued to contribute to P-Funk studio albums and occasionally appear live with Parliament-Funkadelic as a special guest. William "Bootsy" Collins (bass guitar, vocals, drums, songwriter, producer; born October 26, 1951). Bootsy Collins was a major songwriter, rhythm arranger, and bassist for Parliament-Funkadelic during the seventies and was a major influence in the band's sound during that time. His style of bass playing has become especially influential. Collins later focused his attention on his own Bootsy's Rubber Band but continues to make occasional contributions to studio albums by members of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. Eddie Hazel (guitar, vocals, songwriter; April 10, 1950 – December 23, 1992). Eddie Hazel was the original lead guitarist for Funkadelic and was a major force on the first several albums by that group. His Hendrix-inspired style has become very influential. After the early 1970s he contributed sporadically to various Parliament-Funkadelic projects. A key early Funkadelic song that captured both the band's unique sound and Hazel's talent was the ten-minute guitar solo "Maggot Brain" from the 1971 Funkadelic album of the same title. Maceo Parker (saxophone; born February 14, 1943). Maceo joined James Brown's band with brother Melvin Parker in 1964. In 1970, Parker, his brother Melvin, and a few of Brown's band members left to establish the band Maceo & All the King's Men, which toured for two years. In January 1973, Parker rejoined with James Brown. He also charted a single "Parrty – Part I" (#71 pop singles) with Maceo & the Macks that year. In 1975, Parker and some of Brown's band members, including Fred Wesley, left to join George Clinton's band Parliament-Funkadelic. Walter "Junie" Morrison (keyboards, multi-instrumentalist, vocals, songwriter, arranger, producer; born June 28, 1954 – January 21, 2017 ). Junie Morrison joined P-Funk in early 1978 as musical director after having success in the early Ohio Players and as a solo artist. Though primarily a keyboardist, Junie composed or co-wrote several of the band's hits at the height of their popularity and served as a lead vocalist, producer, and arranger on many songs for the collective. Morrison stopped touring with the band after 1981, but contributed to many subsequent albums. During his time with P-funk, some of his work was credited under the name J.S. Theracon. Garry "Diaperman" Shider (vocals, guitar; July 24, 1953 – June 16, 2010). As a child, Garry Shider was a customer at the barbershop where The Parliaments rehearsed and performed, and after some time with his own group United Soul, he was recruited by George Clinton into Funkadelic in 1972. Shider became a frequent lead vocalist on several Parliament and Funkadelic albums and along with his "gospel" vocal and guitar style, was most recognized for wearing his trademark hotel-towel "diaper". Michael "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton (guitar; born November 15, 1956). Mike Hampton has been the lead guitarist for P-Funk since 1973, when he was recruited at age 17 to replace Eddie Hazel, after an impromptu performance of Hazel's signature song "Maggot Brain". Hampton is known for his advancement of rock and heavy metal guitar used by Parliament-Funkadelic and later the P-Funk All Stars, leaving the collective in 2015. Glenn Goins (vocals, guitar; January 2, 1954 – July 29, 1978). Glenn Goins was recruited into Parliament-Funkadelic in 1975 and was an important contributor, and like bandmate Garry Shider, was known for his "gospel" singing and guitar style. In 1978, Goins and bandmate Jerome Brailey departed acrimoniously, and immediately began recording and producing a new band, Quazar, featuring his younger brother Kevin Goins. Shortly after his departure, Goins died from Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 24. Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey (drums and percussion; born August 20, 1950). Brailey was the most prominent drummer in the Parliament-Funkadelic collective during their period of greatest success in the mid-to-late 1970s. Brailey (and bandmate Glenn Goins) left the collective acrimoniously, forming his own band Mutiny, in which he criticized George Clinton's management style. Ramon "Tiki" Fulwood (drums, vocals; May 23, 1944 – October 29, 1979). Tiki Fulwood was the original drummer for Funkadelic. He originally quit the band in 1971 but reappeared on several Parliament-Funkadelic releases during the remainder of the 1970s. After also working briefly for Miles Davis, Fulwood died of cancer in 1979. "Billy Bass" Nelson (bass, guitar; born January 28, 1951). Billy Nelson was a teenage employee at George Clinton's barbershop in the 1960s and was the first musician hired to back The Parliaments in the band that would eventually become Funkadelic. Nelson then brought his friend Eddie Hazel into the band and coined the name "Funkadelic" when Clinton moved the collective to Detroit. Nelson quit Funkadelic in 1971 but contributed to P-Funk releases sporadically for the next few years. Starting in 1994, he toured with the P-Funk All Stars for ten years. Cordell "Boogie" Mosson (bass, guitar, drums; October 16, 1952 – April 18, 2013). Mosson joined Funkadelic in 1972 along with his friend and previous United Soul bandmate Garry Shider. Mosson was the primary bassist for Funkadelic starting in 1972 and Parliament starting a few years after Bootsy Collins began to focus on his solo career. Since the late 1970s, Mosson most frequently played rhythm guitar and continued to tour with the P-Funk All Stars until his death. Ray "Stingray" Davis (vocals; March 29, 1940 – July 5, 2005). Davis was the bass singer and a member of The Parliaments. His distinctive voice can be heard on "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" and on George Clinton's solo hit single "Atomic Dog". Aside from Clinton, he was the only original member of the Parliaments not to leave in 1977. In the eighties, Davis recorded and toured with George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars in support of "Atomic Dog" and with Zapp in support of "I Can Make You Dance", but his vocal range made him an obvious choice as replacement bass vocalist for Melvin Franklin in the Temptations. Davis left the Temptations in 1995 (after being diagnosed with cancer), but continued to perform with former P-Funk members Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas under the name Original P. Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins (vocals, guitar, drums; June 8, 1941 - March 17, 2023). Haskins was a member and first tenor of The Parliaments. In addition to writing, playing drums and guitar, Haskins is known for his "gospel" singing style. He left P-Funk in 1977. In the nineties, he formed Original P with the other Parliaments (Davis, Thomas and Simon), and retired in 2011. Calvin Simon (vocals, percussion; May 22, 1942 – January 6, 2022). Simon was an original member of The Parliaments, before leaving in 1977. In the nineties, he formed Original P with the other Parliaments (Davis, Thomas and Haskins), and retired in 2005. He was the owner of a record label. "Shady Grady" Thomas (vocals; born January 5, 1941). In the late 1950s, Thomas started as bass vocalist for The Parliaments. When Parliament members moved from Newark to Plainfield, New Jersey to "conk" hair at The Silk Palace, The Parliaments began a friendly rivalry with local doo wop group Sammy Campbell and the Del-Larks, who featured bass vocalist Raymond Davis. Thomas persuaded Davis to take over as bass vocalist in the Parliaments, which enabled Thomas to move to baritone. Thomas (along with Worrell) is responsible for the addition of drummer Jerome Brailey. After Thomas, Haskins, and Simon left P-Funk in 1977, Thomas formed his own band called The Shady Bunch. Word of Thomas's drummer, Dennis Chambers, and bassist Rodney "Skeet" Curtis got back to Clinton, and Chambers and Curtis were invited, and joined Parliament-Funkadelic. After Thomas' brief return to The P-Funk Allstars in the nineties, Thomas cofounded Original P with original Parliaments (Davis, Haskins, and Simon). Thomas is the leader of Original P. Notable songs "Maggot Brain" (Funkadelic), 1971 "Up for the Down Stroke" (Parliament), 1974 "Chocolate City" (Parliament), 1975 "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" (Parliament), 1975 "Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)" (Parliament), 1975 "Do That Stuff" (Parliament), 1976 "I'd Rather Be With You" (Bootsy's Rubber Band), 1976 "Bop Gun (Endangered Species)" (Parliament), 1977 "Funkentelechy" (Parliament), 1977 "The Pinocchio Theory" (Bootsy's Rubber Band), 1977 "Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)" (Parliament), 1978 "Bootzilla" (Bootsy's Rubber Band), 1978 "Flash Light" (Parliament), 1978 "One Nation Under a Groove" (Funkadelic), 1978 "(Not Just) Knee Deep" (Funkadelic), 1979 "The Electric Spanking of War Babies" (Funkadelic), 1981 See also Album era List of P-Funk members List of P-Funk projects Category:P-Funk songs Parliament discography Funkadelic discography P-Funk mythology The club opened as Chances Are at 516 E. Liberty Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan in August 1974. It was an instant success. Featuring such weekly bands as Dr. Bop and the Headliners, Cheap Trick, Masquerade, Radio King, Chopper, Head East and Starcastle.  Chances Are’s first national act was Stephen Stills in October 1974 followed by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band on October 30th, right before he exploded into a national act. The club also housed the very popular Conservatory restaurant. In 1976, due to a conflict with a Chicago business, the name was changed to the Second Chance, later to be nick named “The Chance.” Many top named acts continued to play there to sell out crowds. Some such as George Thorogood, would only play the Second Chance when in the Detroit area. In the spring and early summer of 1984, the Second Chance closed for remodeling, and under the same management, reopened in July as The Nectarine Ballroom. The live music continued. On April 6, 1991 the Nectarine Ballroom presented the “Happy Trails” concert, featuring: Fred “Sonic” Smith, Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty and Scott Morgan.  This concluded 17 years of the live band era, so to speak.  Music at what Michigan and in particularly, Ann Arbor, would remember as Chances Are, Second Chance and Nectarine Ballroom.  In 1996 the remaining original owners sold the Nectarine Ballroom, which was later remodeled into a much smaller dance club that is currently called The Necto. Live music at 516 E. Liberty sadly, became a thing of the past. Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of government of Washtenaw County.[7] The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the fifth-largest city in Michigan.[8] It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Washtenaw County. Ann Arbor is also included in the Greater Detroit Combined Statistical Area and the Great Lakes megalopolis, the most populated and largest megalopolis in North America. Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan. The university significantly shapes Ann Arbor's economy as it employs about 30,000 workers, including about 12,000 in its medical center. The city's economy is also centered on high technology, with several companies drawn to the area by the university's research and development infrastructure.[9] Ann Arbor was founded in 1824. It was named after the wives of the village's founders, both named Ann, and the stands of bur oak trees they found at the site of the town.[10] The city's population grew at a rapid rate in the early to mid-20th century. History Main article: History of Ann Arbor, Michigan See also: History of the University of Michigan Before founding as Ann Arbor The lands of present-day Ann Arbor were part of Massachusetts's western claim after the French and Indian War (1754–1763), bounded by the latitudes of Massachusetts Bay Colony's original charter, to which it was entitled by its interpretation of its original sea-to-sea grant from The British Crown. Massachusetts ceded the claim to the federal government as part of the Northwest Territory after April 19, 1785.[11][12] In about 1774, the Potawatomi founded two villages in the area of what is now Ann Arbor.[13] 19th century Ann Arbor was founded in 1824 by land speculators John Allen and Elisha Walker Rumsey. On May 25, 1824, the town plat was registered with Wayne County as the Village of Annarbour, the earliest known use of the town's name.[14][15] Allen and Rumsey decided to name it for their wives, both named Ann, and for the stands of bur oak in the 640 acres (260 ha) of land they purchased for $800 from the federal government at $1.25 per acre.[10] The local Ojibwa named the settlement kaw-goosh-kaw-nick, after the sound of Allen's sawmill.[16] Ann Arbor became the seat of Washtenaw County in 1827[17] and was incorporated as a village in 1833.[18] The Ann Arbor Land Company, a group of speculators, set aside 40 acres (16 ha) of undeveloped land and offered it to the state of Michigan as the site of the state capitol, but lost the bid to Lansing. In 1837, the property was accepted instead as the site of the University of Michigan.[19] Main Street in Ann Arbor c. 1908 Since the university's establishment in the city in 1837, the histories of the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor have been closely linked.[20] The town became a regional transportation hub in 1839 with the arrival of the Michigan Central Railroad, and a north–south railway connecting Ann Arbor to Toledo and other markets to the south was established in 1878.[21] Throughout the 1840s and the 1850s settlers continued to come to Ann Arbor. While the earlier settlers were primarily of British ancestry, the newer settlers also consisted of Germans, Irish,[22] and Black people.[23] In 1851, Ann Arbor was chartered as a city,[24] though the city showed a drop in population during the Depression of 1873.[21] It was not until the early 1880s that Ann Arbor again saw robust growth,[25] with new immigrants from Greece, Italy, Russia, and Poland. 20th century Ann Arbor saw increased growth in manufacturing, particularly in milling.[26] Ann Arbor's Jewish community also grew after the turn of the 20th century, and its first and oldest synagogue, Beth Israel Congregation, was established in 1916.[27] In 1960, Ann Arbor voters approved a $2.3 million bond issue to build the current city hall, which was designed by architect Alden B. Dow. The City Hall opened in 1963. In 1995, the building was renamed the Guy C. Larcom, Jr. Municipal Building in honor of the longtime city administrator who championed the building's construction.[28] Ann Arbor station in 1975 During the 1960s and 1970s, the city gained a reputation as an important center for liberal politics. Ann Arbor also became a locus for left-wing activism and anti-Vietnam War movement, as well as the student movement. The first major meetings of the national left-wing campus group Students for a Democratic Society took place in Ann Arbor in 1960; in 1965, the city was home to the first U.S. teach-in against the Vietnam War.[29] During the ensuing 15 years, many countercultural and New Left enterprises sprang up and developed large constituencies within the city.[30] These influences washed into municipal politics during the early and mid-1970s when three members of the Human Rights Party (HRP) won city council seats on the strength of the student vote. During their time on the council, HRP representatives fought for measures including pioneering antidiscrimination ordinances, measures decriminalizing marijuana possession, and a rent-control ordinance;[31] many of these progressive organizations remain in effect today in modified form. Two religious-conservative institutions were created in Ann Arbor; the Word of God (established in 1967), a charismatic inter-denominational movement;[27] and the Thomas More Law Center (established in 1999).[32] Following a 1956 vote, the city of East Ann Arbor merged with Ann Arbor to encompass the eastern sections of the city.[33] 21st century In the past several decades, Ann Arbor has grappled with the effects of sharply rising land values, gentrification, and urban sprawl stretching into outlying countryside.[citation needed] On November 4, 2003, voters approved a greenbelt plan under which the city government bought development rights on agricultural parcels of land adjacent to Ann Arbor to preserve them from sprawling development.[34] Since then, a vociferous local debate has hinged on how and whether to accommodate and guide development within city limits.[35] Ann Arbor consistently ranks in the "top places to live" lists published by various mainstream media outlets every year. In 2008, it was ranked by CNNMoney.com 27th out of 100 "America's best small cities".[36] And in 2010, Forbes listed Ann Arbor as one of the most liveable cities in the United States.[37] In 2016, the city changed mayoral terms from two years to four.[38] Until 2017, City Council held annual elections in which half of the seats (one from each ward) were elected to 2-year terms. These elections were staggered, with each ward having one of its seats up for election in odd years and its other seat up for election in even years.[39] Beginning in 2018 the city council has had staggered elections to 4-year terms in even years. This means that half of the members (one from each ward) are elected in presidential election years, while the other half are elected in mid-term election years.[39] To facilitate this change in scheduling, the 2017 election elected members to terms that lasted 3-years.[39] Geography University of Michigan Central Campus Historic District U.S. National Register of Historic Places U.S. Historic district Location University of Michigan campus, Ann Arbor, Michigan Area 85 acres (34 ha) Built 1840 Architectural style Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals Late Victorian Art Deco NRHP reference No. 78001514[40] Added to NRHP June 15, 1978 Ann Arbor is located along the Huron River, which flows southeast through the city on its way to Lake Erie. It is the central core of the Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is comprised of the whole of Washtenaw County, but is also a part of the Metro Detroit Combined Statistical Area designated by the U.S. Census Bureau.[41] While it borders only Townships, the built-up nature of the sections of Pittsfield and Ypsilanti townships between Ann Arbor and the city of Ypsilanti make the two effectively a single urban area.[42][43] Huron River National Water Trail in Ann Arbor Landscape The landscape of Ann Arbor consists of hills and valleys, with the terrain becoming steeper near the Huron River. The elevation ranges from about 750 feet (230 m) along the Huron River to 1,015 feet (309 m) on the city's west side, near the intersection of Maple Road and Pauline Blvd.[44] Ann Arbor Municipal Airport, which is south of the city at 42°13.38′N 83°44.74′W, has an elevation of 839 feet (256 m).[45] Ann Arbor is nicknamed "Tree Town," both due to its name and to the dense forestation of its parks and residential areas. The city contains more than 50,000 trees along its streets and an equal number in parks.[46] In recent years, the emerald ash borer has destroyed many of the city's approximately 10,500 ash trees.[47] The city contains 157 municipal parks ranging from small neighborhood green spots to large recreation areas. Several large city parks and a university park border sections of the Huron River.[48] Fuller Recreation Area, near the University Hospital complex, contains sports fields, pedestrian and bike paths, and swimming pools. The Nichols Arboretum, owned by the University of Michigan, is a 123-acre (50 ha) arboretum that contains hundreds of plant and tree species. It is on the city's east side, near the university's Central Campus.[49] Located across the Huron River just beyond the university's North Campus is the university's Matthaei Botanical Gardens, which contains 300 acres of gardens and a large tropical conservatory as well as a wildflower garden specializing in the vegetation of the southern Great Lakes Region. Saint Thomas the Apostle Church, Ann Arbor Bethlehem United Church of Christ Cityscape The cityscape of Ann Arbor is heavily influenced by the University of Michigan, with 22% of downtown and 9.4% of the total land owned by the university.[50][51] The downtown Central Campus contains some of the oldest extant structures in the city — including the President's House, built in 1840 — and separates the South University District from the other three downtown commercial districts.[52][53] These other three districts, Kerrytown, State Street, and Main Street are contiguous near the northwestern corner of the university.[54] Three commercial areas south of downtown include the areas near I-94 and Ann Arbor-Saline Road, Briarwood Mall, and the South Industrial area. Other commercial areas include the Arborland/Washtenaw Avenue and Packard Road merchants on the east side, the Plymouth Road area in the northeast, and the Westgate/West Stadium areas on the west side.[55] Downtown contains a mix of 19th- and early-20th-century structures and modern-style buildings, as well as a farmers' market in the Kerrytown district.[56] The city's commercial districts are composed mostly of two- to four-story structures, although downtown and the area near Briarwood Mall contain a small number of high-rise buildings.[57] Ann Arbor's residential neighborhoods contain architectural styles ranging from classic 19th- and early 20th-century designs to ranch-style houses. Among these homes are a number of kit houses built in the early 20th century. Contemporary-style houses are farther from the downtown district.[55] Surrounding the University of Michigan campus are houses and apartment complexes occupied primarily by student renters. Tower Plaza, a 26-story condominium building located between the University of Michigan campus and downtown, is the tallest building in Ann Arbor.[58] The 19th-century buildings and streetscape of the Old West Side neighborhood have been preserved virtually intact; in 1972, the district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it is further protected by city ordinances and a nonprofit preservation group.[59] Climate Ann Arbor, Michigan Climate chart (explanation) J F M A M J J A S O N D   2.6  3118   2.4  3520   2.7  4627   3.3  6038   3.4  7148   3.7  8058   3.6  8362   3.7  8161   3.5  7453   2.8  6142   3.1  4833   2.9  3523 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches Metric conversion Ann Arbor has a typically Midwestern humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa), which is influenced by the Great Lakes. There are four distinct seasons: winters are cold and snowy, with average highs around 34 °F (1 °C). Summers are warm to hot and humid, with average highs around 81 °F (27 °C) and with slightly more precipitation. Spring and autumn are transitional between the two. The area experiences lake effect weather, primarily in the form of increased cloudiness during late fall and early winter.[60] The monthly daily average temperature in July is 72.6 °F (22.6 °C), while the same figure for January is 24.5 °F (−4.2 °C). Temperatures reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on 10 days,[61] and drop to or below 0 °F (−18 °C) on 4.6 nights.[61] Precipitation tends to be the heaviest during the summer months, but most frequent during winter. Snowfall, which normally occurs from November to April but occasionally starts in October, averages 58 inches (147 cm) per season. The lowest recorded temperature was −23 °F (−31 °C) on February 11, 1885, and the highest recorded temperature was 105 °F (41 °C) on July 24, 1934.[61] Climate data for Ann Arbor, Michigan (UMich, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1881–present) Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °F (°C) 72 (22) 68 (20) 85 (29) 88 (31) 95 (35) 103 (39) 105 (41) 104 (40) 99 (37) 91 (33) 78 (26) 67 (19) 105 (41) Mean maximum °F (°C) 51.7 (10.9) 53.7 (12.1) 68.2 (20.1) 78.0 (25.6) 86.4 (30.2) 91.7 (33.2) 92.7 (33.7) 91.4 (33.0) 88.7 (31.5) 80.5 (26.9) 65.5 (18.6) 54.3 (12.4) 94.3 (34.6) Average high °F (°C) 31.9 (−0.1) 35.4 (1.9) 46.2 (7.9) 59.7 (15.4) 71.4 (21.9) 80.1 (26.7) 83.7 (28.7) 81.7 (27.6) 75.1 (23.9) 62.2 (16.8) 48.0 (8.9) 36.3 (2.4) 59.3 (15.2) Daily mean °F (°C) 24.0 (−4.4) 26.5 (−3.1) 35.7 (2.1) 47.6 (8.7) 59.0 (15.0) 68.0 (20.0) 71.9 (22.2) 70.3 (21.3) 63.3 (17.4) 51.4 (10.8) 39.2 (4.0) 29.2 (−1.6) 48.8 (9.3) Average low °F (°C) 16.2 (−8.8) 17.7 (−7.9) 25.2 (−3.8) 35.5 (1.9) 46.6 (8.1) 55.9 (13.3) 60.1 (15.6) 58.8 (14.9) 51.6 (10.9) 40.7 (4.8) 30.5 (−0.8) 22.1 (−5.5) 38.4 (3.6) Mean minimum °F (°C) −1.5 (−18.6) 1.1 (−17.2) 8.5 (−13.1) 22.8 (−5.1) 33.9 (1.1) 43.7 (6.5) 50.3 (10.2) 49.5 (9.7) 38.4 (3.6) 28.6 (−1.9) 17.2 (−8.2) 6.2 (−14.3) −5.6 (−20.9) Record low °F (°C) −22 (−30) −23 (−31) −8 (−22) 7 (−14) 20 (−7) 35 (2) 37 (3) 39 (4) 27 (−3) 19 (−7) −3 (−19) −20 (−29) −23 (−31) Average precipitation inches (mm) 2.96 (75) 2.51 (64) 2.82 (72) 3.44 (87) 3.84 (98) 3.91 (99) 3.52 (89) 3.52 (89) 3.18 (81) 2.99 (76) 2.82 (72) 2.75 (70) 38.26 (972) Average snowfall inches (cm) 18.3 (46) 15.3 (39) 8.3 (21) 2.6 (6.6) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.1 (0.25) 4.1 (10) 12.7 (32) 61.4 (156) Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 18.3 14.4 14.3 14.4 14.7 12.4 11.7 11.2 10.6 13.3 13.5 16.9 165.7 Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 15.2 12.1 7.5 2.8 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 4.9 11.5 54.5 Source: NOAA[62][63] Demographics Racial composition 2020[64] 2010[65] 1990[66] 1970[66] 1940[66] White 67.6% 73.0% 82.0% 91% 95.5% —Non-Hispanic 65.9% 70.4% 80.4% - - Black or African American 6.8% 7.7% 9.0% 6.7% 4.1% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 5.5% 4.1% 2.6% 1.3%[note 1] - Asian 15.7% 14.4% 7.7% 1.5% 0.3% Historical population Census Pop. Note %± 1860 5,097 — 1870 7,363 44.5% 1880 8,061 9.5% 1890 9,431 17.0% 1900 14,509 53.8% 1910 14,817 2.1% 1920 19,516 31.7% 1930 26,944 38.1% 1940 29,815 10.7% 1950 48,251 61.8% 1960 67,340 39.6% 1970 100,035 48.6% 1980 107,969 7.9% 1990 109,592 1.5% 2000 114,024 4.0% 2010 113,934 −0.1% 2020 123,851 8.7% 2021 (est.) 121,536 [4] −1.9% Before 1860[67] 1900–2000[68] U.S. Census Bureau[69][70] As of the 2020 U.S. Census, there were 123,851 people and 49,948 households residing in the city.[64] The population density was 4,435.9 inhabitants per square mile (1,712.7/km2),[8] making it less densely populated than Detroit proper and its inner-ring suburbs like Oak Park and Ferndale, but more densely populated than outer-ring suburbs like Livonia and Troy.[71] The racial makeup of the city was 67.6% White, 6.8% Black, 0.2% Native American, 15.7% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 1.8% from other races, and 7.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race made up 5.5% of the population.[64] Ann Arbor has a small population of Arab Americans, including students as well as local Lebanese and Palestinians.[72] The Ann Arbor Unitarian Universalist Church was designed by Donaldson & Meier and built in 1881-2 by the Walker Brothers. The buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It currently houses the architecture firm of Hobbs and Black. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, there were 113,934 people, 20,502 families, and 47,060 households residing in the city.[73] The population density was 4,093.9 inhabitants per square mile (1,580.7/km2).[74] The racial makeup of the city was 73.0% White (70.4% non-Hispanic White), 7.7% Black, 0.3% Native American, 14.4% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 1.0% from other races, and 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race made up 4.1% of the population.[75] In 2013, Ann Arbor had the second-largest community of Japanese citizens in the state of Michigan, at 1,541; this figure trailed only that of Novi, which had 2,666 Japanese nationals.[76] In 2010, out of 47,060 households, 43.6% were family households, 20.1% had individuals under the age of 18 living in them, and 17.0% had individuals over age 65 living in them. Of the 20,502 family households, 19.2% included children under age 18, 34.2% were husband-wife families (estimates did not include same-sex married couples), and 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present. The average household size was 2.17 people, and the average family size was 2.85 people. The median age was 27.8; 14.4% of the population was under age 18, and 9.3% was age 65 or older.[75] By the 2022 American Community Survey, the percentage of married couple households was 33.8%, while male householders with no spouse present (family households) were 26.1%, and female householders with no spouse present (family households) were 30.4%.[77] According to the 2012–2016 American Community Survey estimates, the median household income was $57,697, and the median family income was $95,528.[78] Males over age 25 and with earnings had a median income of $51,682, versus $39,203 for females.[79] The per capita income for the city was $37,158.[74] Nearly a quarter (23.4%) of people and 6.7% of families had incomes below the poverty level.[80] Economy The University of Michigan shapes Ann Arbor's economy significantly. It employs about 30,000 workers, including about 12,000 in the medical center.[81] Other employers are drawn to the area by the university's research and development money, and by its graduates. High tech, health services and biotechnology are other major components of the city's economy; numerous medical offices, laboratories, and associated companies are located in the city. Automobile manufacturers, such as General Motors and Visteon, also employ residents.[81] Atrium of a shopping arcade, with green and yellow banners hanging overhead with the words "Nickels Arcade" Nickels Arcade interior, looking towards the east High tech companies have located in the area since the 1930s, when International Radio Corporation introduced the first mass-produced AC/DC radio (the Kadette, in 1931) as well as the first pocket radio (the Kadette Jr., in 1933).[82] The Argus camera company, originally a subsidiary of International Radio, manufactured cameras in Ann Arbor from 1936 to the 1960s. Current firms include Arbor Networks (provider of Internet traffic engineering and security systems), Arbortext (provider of XML-based publishing software), JSTOR (the digital scholarly journal archive), MediaSpan (provider of software and online services for the media industries), Truven Health Analytics, and ProQuest, which includes UMI.[83] Ann Arbor Terminals manufactured a video-display terminal called the Ann Arbor Ambassador during the 1980s.[84] Barracuda Networks, which provides networking, security, and storage products based on network appliances and cloud services, opened an engineering office in Ann Arbor in 2008 on Depot St.[85] and currently occupies the building previously used as the Borders headquarters on Maynard Street.[86] Duo Security, a cloud-based access security provider protecting thousands of organizations worldwide through two-factor authentication, is headquartered in Ann Arbor.[87] It was formerly a unicorn and continues to be headquartered in Ann Arbor after its acquisition by Cisco Systems.[88] In November 2021, semiconductor test equipment company KLA Corporation opened a new North American headquarters in Ann Arbor.[89] Weinmann Block, located at 219-223 East Washington Street, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 Germania Building Complex, located at 119-123 West Washington Street and 209-211 Ashley Street, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 Websites and online media companies in or near the city include All Media Guide, the Weather Underground, and Zattoo. Ann Arbor is the home to Internet2 and the Merit Network, a not-for-profit research and education computer network. Both are located in the South State Commons 2 building on South State Street, which once housed the Michigan Information Technology Center Foundation.[90] The city is also home to a secondary office of Google's AdWords program—the company's primary revenue stream.[91] The recent surge in companies operating in Ann Arbor has led to a decrease in its office and flex space vacancy rates. As of December 31, 2012, the total market vacancy rate for office and flex space is 11.80%, a 1.40% decrease in vacancy from one year previous, and the lowest overall vacancy level since 2003. The office vacancy rate decreased to 10.65% in 2012 from 12.08% in 2011, while the flex vacancy rate decreased slightly more, with a drop from 16.50% to 15.02%.[92] As of 2022, Ann Arbor is home to more than twenty video game and XR studios of varying sizes.[93] The city plays host to a regional chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) which hosts monthly meetups, presentations, and educational events.[94] Pfizer, once the city's second-largest employer, operated a large pharmaceutical research facility on the northeast side of Ann Arbor. On January 22, 2007, Pfizer announced it would close operations in Ann Arbor by the end of 2008.[95] The facility was previously operated by Warner-Lambert and, before that, Parke-Davis. In December 2008, the University of Michigan Board of Regents approved the purchase of the facilities, and the university anticipates hiring 2,000 researchers and staff during the next 10 years.[96] It is now known as North Campus Research Complex. The city is the home of other research and engineering centers, including those of Lotus Engineering, General Dynamics and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Other research centers sited in the city are the United States Environmental Protection Agency's National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory[97] and the Toyota Technical Center.[98] The city is also home to National Sanitation Foundation International (NSF International), the nonprofit non-governmental organization that develops generally accepted standards for a variety of public health related industries and subject areas.[99] Nickels Arcade was the only remaining example in Michigan of a free-standing commercial arcade building of a type that was popularized by the Cleveland Arcade. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 Borders Books, started in Ann Arbor, was opened by brothers Tom and Louis Borders in 1971 with a stock of used books. The Borders chain was based in the city, as was its flagship store until it closed in September 2011.[100] Domino's Pizza's headquarters is near Ann Arbor on Domino's Farms, a 271-acre (110 ha) Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired complex just northeast of the city.[101] Another Ann Arbor-based company is Zingerman's Delicatessen, which serves sandwiches and has developed businesses under a variety of brand names. Zingerman's has grown into a family of companies which offers a variety of products (bake shop, mail order, creamery, coffee) and services (business education).[102] Flint Ink Corp., another Ann Arbor-based company, was the world's largest privately held ink manufacturer until it was acquired by Stuttgart-based XSYS Print Solutions in October 2005.[103] Avfuel, a global supplier of aviation fuels and services, is also headquartered in Ann Arbor.[104] The controversial detective and private security firm, Pinkerton is headquartered in Ann Arbor, being located on 101 N Main St.[105] Many cooperative enterprises were founded in the city; among those that remain are the People's Food Co-op and the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan, a student housing cooperative founded in 1937.[106] There are also three cohousing communities—Sunward, Great Oak, and Touchstone—located immediately to the west of the city limits.[107] Culture Main article: Culture of Ann Arbor, Michigan Michigan Theater is the current home of the annual Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Ann Arbor Symphony, and the Ann Arbor Concert Band Several performing arts groups and facilities are on the University of Michigan's campus, as are museums dedicated to art, archaeology, and natural history and sciences. Founded in 1879, the University Musical Society is an independent performing arts organization that presents over 60 events each year, bringing international artists in music, dance, and theater. Since 2001 Shakespeare in the Arb has presented one play by Shakespeare each June, in a large park near downtown.[108] Regional and local performing arts groups not associated with the university include the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, the Arbor Opera Theater, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Ballet Theater, the Ann Arbor Civic Ballet (established in 1954 as Michigan's first chartered ballet company),[109] The Ark, and Performance Network Theatre.[110] Another unique piece of artistic expression in Ann Arbor is the fairy doors. These small portals are examples of installation art and can be found throughout the downtown area.[111] The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum is located in a renovated and expanded historic downtown fire station. Multiple art galleries exist in the city, notably in the downtown area and around the University of Michigan campus. Aside from a large restaurant scene in the Main Street, South State Street, and South University Avenue areas, Ann Arbor ranks first among U.S. cities in the number of booksellers and books sold per capita.[112] The Ann Arbor District Library maintains four branch outlets in addition to its main downtown building. The city is also home to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.[113] Several annual events—many of them centered on performing and visual arts—draw visitors to Ann Arbor. One such event is the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, a set of four concurrent juried fairs held on downtown streets. Scheduled on Thursday through Sunday of the third week of July, the fairs draw upward of half a million visitors.[114] Another is the Ann Arbor Film Festival, held during the third week of March, which receives more than 2,500 submissions annually from more than 40 countries and serves as one of a handful of Academy Award–qualifying festivals in the United States.[115] Ann Arbor has a long history of openness to marijuana, given Ann Arbor's decriminalization of cannabis, the large number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city (one dispensary, called People's Co-op, was directly across the street from Michigan Stadium until zoning forced it to move one mile to the west), the large number of pro-marijuana residents, and the annual Hash Bash: an event that is held on the first Saturday of April. Until (at least) the successful passage of Michigan's medical marijuana law, the event had arguably strayed from its initial intent, although for years, a number of attendees have received serious legal responses due to marijuana use on University of Michigan property, which does not fall under the city's progressive and compassionate ticketing program.[116] Ann Arbor is a major center for college sports, most notably at the University of Michigan. Several well-known college sports facilities exist in the city, including Michigan Stadium, the largest American football stadium in the world and the third-largest stadium of any kind in the world.[117] Michigan Stadium has a capacity of 107,601, with the final "extra" seat said to be reserved for and in honor of former athletic director and Hall of Fame football coach Fitz Crisler.[118] The stadium was completed in 1927 and cost more than $950,000 to build. The stadium is colloquially known as "The Big House" due to its status as the largest American football stadium.[119] Crisler Center and Yost Ice Arena play host to the school's basketball (both men's and women's) and ice hockey teams, respectively.[120] Concordia University, a member of the NAIA, also fields sports teams.[121] A fairy door at Red Shoes, 332 South Ashley Ann Arbor is represented in the NPSL by semi-pro soccer team AFC Ann Arbor, a club founded in 2014 who call themselves The Mighty Oak. A person from Ann Arbor is called an "Ann Arborite", and many long-time residents call themselves "townies". The city itself is often called "A²" ("A-squared") or "A2" ("A two") or "AA", "The Deuce" (mainly by Chicagoans), and "Tree Town".[122] With tongue-in-cheek reference to the city's liberal political leanings, some occasionally refer to Ann Arbor as "The People's Republic of Ann Arbor"[123] or "25 square miles surrounded by reality",[124] the latter phrase being adapted from Wisconsin Governor Lee Dreyfus's description of Madison, Wisconsin. In A Prairie Home Companion broadcast from Ann Arbor, Garrison Keillor described Ann Arbor as "a city where people discuss socialism, but only in the fanciest restaurants." Ann Arbor sometimes appears on citation indexes as an author, instead of a location, often with the academic degree MI, a misunderstanding of the abbreviation for Michigan.[125] Government and politics See also: List of mayors of Ann Arbor, Michigan Washtenaw County Courthouse As the county seat of Washtenaw County, the Washtenaw County Trial Court (22nd Circuit Court) is located in Ann Arbor at the Washtenaw County Courthouse on Main Street. Seven judges serve on the court.[126] The 15th Michigan district court, which serves only the city itself, is located within the Ann Arbor Justice Center, immediately next to city hall. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit are also located in downtown Ann Arbor, at the federal building on Liberty Street.[127][128][129][130] Washtenaw County Administration Building Government Current Mayor Christopher Taylor Ann Arbor has a council-manager form of government, with 11 voting members: the mayor and 10 city council members. Each of the city's five wards are represented by two council members, with the mayor elected at-large during midterm years. Half of the council members are elected in midterm years, with the other in general election years.[131] The mayor is the presiding officer of the city council and has the power to appoint all council committee members as well as board and commission members, with the approval of the city council. The current mayor of Ann Arbor is Christopher Taylor, a Democrat who was elected as mayor in 2014.[132] Day-to-day city operations are managed by a city administrator chosen by the city council.[133] First National Bank Building at 201-205 South Main Street. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 Politics Progressive politics have been particularly strong in municipal government since the 1960s. Voters approved charter amendments that have lessened the penalties for possession of marijuana (1974),[134] and that aim to protect access to abortion in the city should it ever become illegal in the State of Michigan (1990).[135] In 1974, Kathy Kozachenko's victory in an Ann Arbor city-council race made her the country's first openly homosexual candidate to win public office.[136] In 1975, Ann Arbor became the first U.S. city to use instant-runoff voting for a mayoral race. Adopted through a ballot initiative sponsored by the local Human Rights Party, which feared a splintering of the liberal vote, the process was repealed in 1976 after use in only one election.[137] As of April 2021, Democrats hold the mayorship and all ten council seats.[138] Anti-abortion protesters were outnumbered ten-to-one by abortion-rights counterprotesters in 2017.[139] In 2019, The Diag hosted a Stop the Bans rally. In 2022 in the shadow of the Dobbs decision, the diag once again became a rallying point for abortion rights protests, drawing thousands of protesters, including US Rep. Debbie Dingell Senator Debbie Stabenow, and Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist.[140][141] Education Primary and secondary education Public schools are part of the Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) district. AAPS has one of the country's leading music programs. In September 2008, 16,539 students had been enrolled in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Notable schools include Pioneer, Huron, Skyline, and Community high schools, and Ann Arbor Open School.[142] The district has a preschool center with both free and tuition-based programs for preschoolers in the district.[143] The University High School, a "demonstration school" with teachers drawn from the University of Michigan's education program, was part of the school system from 1924 to 1968.[144] Ann Arbor is home to several private schools,[145] including Emerson School, the Father Gabriel Richard High School, Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor, Clonlara School, Michigan Islamic Academy, and Greenhills School, a prep school. The city is also home to several charter schools such as Central Academy (Michigan) (PreK-12) of the Global Educational Excellence (GEE) charter school company,[146] Washtenaw Technical Middle College, and Honey Creek Community School. Higher education The University of Michigan dominates the city of Ann Arbor, providing the city with its distinctive college-town character.[147] University buildings are located in the center of the city and the campus is directly adjacent to the State Street and South University downtown areas. Other local colleges and universities include Concordia University Ann Arbor, a Lutheran liberal-arts institution, and Cleary University, a private business school. Washtenaw Community College is located in neighboring Ann Arbor Township. In 2000, the Ave Maria School of Law, a Roman Catholic law school established by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, opened in northeastern Ann Arbor, but the school moved to Ave Maria, Florida in 2009,[148] and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School acquired the former Ave Maria buildings for use as a branch campus.[149][150][151] Media The Ann Arbor News, owned by the Michigan-based Booth Newspapers chain, was the major newspaper serving Ann Arbor and the rest of Washtenaw County. The newspaper ended its 174-year daily print run in 2009, due to economic difficulties and began producing two printed editions a week under the name AnnArbor.com,[152] It resumed using its former name in 2013. It also produces a daily digital edition named Mlive.com. Another Ann Arbor-based publication that has ceased production was the Ann Arbor Paper, a free monthly.[153] Ann Arbor has been said to be the first significant city to lose its only daily paper.[154] The Ann Arbor Chronicle, an online newspaper, covered local news, including meetings of the library board, county commission, and DDA until September 3, 2014.[155] Current publications in the city include the Ann Arbor Journal (A2 Journal), a weekly community newspaper;[156] the Ann Arbor Observer, a free monthly local magazine; and Current, a free entertainment-focused alt-weekly.[157] The Ann Arbor Business Review covers local business in the area. Car and Driver[158] magazine and Automobile Magazine[159] are also based in Ann Arbor. The University of Michigan is served by many student publications, including the independent Michigan Daily student newspaper, which reports on local, state, and regional issues in addition to campus news.[160] Four major AM radio stations based in or near Ann Arbor are WAAM 1600, a conservative news and talk station; WLBY 1290, a business news and talk station; WDEO 990, Catholic radio; and WTKA 1050, which is primarily a sports station.[161] The city's FM stations include NPR affiliate WUOM 91.7; country station WWWW 102.9; and adult-alternative station WQKL 107.1. Freeform station WCBN-FM 88.3 is a local community radio/college radio station operated by the students of the University of Michigan featuring noncommercial, eclectic music and public-affairs programming.[161] The city is also served by public and commercial radio broadcasters in Ypsilanti, the Lansing/Jackson area, Detroit, Windsor, and Toledo.[162] Ann Arbor is part of the Detroit television market. WPXD channel 31, the owned-and-operated Detroit outlet of the ION Television network, is licensed to the city. Until its sign-off on August 31, 2017, WHTV channel 18, a MyNetworkTV-affiliated station for the Lansing market, was broadcast from a transmitter in Lyndon Township, west of Ann Arbor. Community Television Network (CTN) is a city-provided cable television channel with production facilities open to city residents and nonprofit organizations.[163] Detroit and Toledo-area radio and television stations also serve Ann Arbor, and stations from Lansing and Windsor, Ontario, can be seen in parts of the area.[162] Environment and services Barton Dam Argo Dam The University of Michigan Medical Center, the only teaching hospital in the city, took the number 1 slot in U.S. News & World Report for best hospital in the state of Michigan, as of 2015.[164] The University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) includes University Hospital, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Hospital in its core complex. UMHS also operates out-patient clinics and facilities throughout the city. The area's other major medical centers include a large facility operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs in Ann Arbor,[165] and Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital in nearby Superior Township.[166] The city provides sewage disposal and water supply services, with water coming from the Huron River and groundwater sources. There are two water-treatment plants, one main and three outlying reservoirs, four pump stations, and two water towers. These facilities serve the city, which is divided into five water districts. The city's water department also operates four dams along the Huron River—Argo, Barton, Geddes, and Superior—of which Barton and Superior provide hydroelectric power.[167][168] The city also offers waste management services, with Recycle Ann Arbor handling recycling service.[169] Other utilities are provided by private entities. Electrical power and gas are provided by DTE Energy. AT&T Inc. is the primary wired telephone service provider for the area. Cable TV service is primarily provided by Comcast.[170] A plume of the industrial solvent dioxane is migrating under the city from the contaminated Gelman Sciences, Inc. property on the westside of Ann Arbor. It is currently detected at 0.039 ppb.[171] The Gelman plume is a potential threat to one of the City of Ann Arbor's drinking water sources, the Huron River, which flows through downtown Ann Arbor. Crime In 2015, Ann Arbor was ranked 11th safest among cities in Michigan with a population of over 50,000.[172] It ranked safer than cities such as Royal Oak, Livonia, Canton and Clinton Township. The level of most crimes in Ann Arbor has fallen significantly in the past 20 years. In 1995 there were 294 aggravated assaults, 132 robberies and 43 rapes while in 2015 there were 128 aggravated assaults, 42 robberies and 58 rapes (under the revised definition).[173][174] Ann Arbor's crime rate was below the national average in 2000. The violent crime rate was further below the national average than the property crime rate; the two rates were 48% and 11% lower than the U.S. average, respectively.[175][176] Transportation Ann Arbor is considered one of the US's most walkable cities, with one sixth of Ann Arborites walking to work according to the 2020 census.[177][178] Non-motorized transportation Ann Arbor has made efforts to reverse the trend of car-dependent development. In 2020, the city introduced a Healthy Streets program to encourage non-motorized transportation.[179] The Washtenaw county Border-to-Border Trail connects Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti, mostly along the Huron river, for pedestrians, bicycles and other non-motorized transportation.[180][181] In 2017, Spin scooters started providing a scooter share program in Ann Arbor, expanding this to include dockless e-bikes in 2023.[182][183][184] Walkability Ann Arbor has a gold designation by the Walk Friendly Communities program.[178] Since 2011, the city's property taxes have included a provision for sidewalk maintenance and expansions, expanding the sidewalk network, filling sidewalk gaps, and repairing existing sidewalks.[185] The city has created a sidewalk gap dashboard, which showed 143 miles of sidewalk gaps in May 2022.[186] The downtown was ranked in 2016 is the most walkable neighborhood in mid-sized cities in the Midwest.[187] However, the outlying parts of the city and the township districts between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti still contain markedly unwalkable areas.[188] Bicycle Between 2019 and 2022 Ann Arbor's Downtown Development Authority built four two-way protected bikeways downtown.[189] Early studies have shown a significant increase in bicycle use downtown since the construction of these bikeways.[190][191] In 2023, the city reported over 900 bicycle parking spaces downtown, though this is still a small portion compared to the over 8,000 car parking spots for cars.[192][193] Public transit The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (AAATA), which brands itself as "TheRide", operates public bus services throughout the city and nearby Ypsilanti. The AATA operates Blake Transit Center on Fourth Ave. in downtown Ann Arbor, and the Ypsilanti Transit Center. A separate zero-fare bus service operates within and between the University of Michigan campuses. Since April 2012, route 98 (the "AirRide") connects to Detroit Metro Airport a dozen times a day.[194] There are also limited-stop bus services between Ann Arbor and Chelsea as well as Canton. These two routes, 91 and 92 respectively, are known as the "ExpressRide".[195] Intercity buses Greyhound Lines provides intercity bus service.[196] The Michigan Flyer, a service operated by Indian Trails, cooperates with AAATA for their AirRide and additionally offers bus service to East Lansing.[197] Megabus has direct service to Chicago, Illinois, while a bus service is provided by Amtrak for rail passengers making connections to services in East Lansing and Toledo, Ohio. Railroads Michigan Central Depot, Ann Arbor The city was a major rail hub, notably for freight traffic between Toledo and ports north of Chicago, Illinois, from 1878 to 1982; however, the Ann Arbor Railroad also provided passenger service from 1878 to 1950, going northwest to Frankfort and Elberta on Lake Michigan and southeast to Toledo. (In Elberta connections to ferries across the Lake could be made.)[198][199] The city was served by the Michigan Central Railroad starting in 1837. The Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Street Railway, Michigan's first interurban, served the city from 1891 to 1929.[200] Amtrak, which provides service to the city at the Ann Arbor Train Station, operates the Wolverine train between Chicago and Pontiac, via Detroit. The present-day train station neighbors the city's old Michigan Central Depot, which was renovated as a restaurant in 1970.[201] Airports Ann Arbor Municipal Airport is a small, city-run general aviation airport located south of I-94. Detroit Metropolitan Airport, the area's large international airport, is about 25 miles (40 km) east of the city, in Romulus.[202] Willow Run Airport east of the city near Ypsilanti serves freight, corporate, and general aviation clients.[203] Roads and highways The streets in downtown Ann Arbor conform to a grid pattern, though this pattern is less common in the surrounding areas. Major roads branch out from the downtown district like spokes on a wheel to the highways surrounding the city. The city is belted by three freeways: I-94, which runs along the southern and western portion of the city; U.S. Highway 23 (US 23), which primarily runs along the eastern edge of Ann Arbor; and M-14, which runs along the northern edge of the city. Other nearby highways include US 12 (Michigan Ave.), M-17 (Washtenaw Ave.), and M-153 (Ford Rd.). Several of the major surface arteries lead to the I-94/M-14 interchange in the west, US 23 in the east, and the city's southern areas.[204] Sister cities Ann Arbor has seven sister cities:[205][206] Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (since 1965) The schools in Ann Arbor and Tübingen have regular exchanges.[207] Belize City, Belize (since 1967) Hikone, Shiga, Japan (since 1969) The schools in Ann Arbor and Hikone have regular exchanges.[208][209] Peterborough, Ontario, Canada (since 1983) Juigalpa, Chontales, Nicaragua (since 1986) Dakar, Senegal (since 1997) Remedios, Cuba (since 2003) See also Ann Arbor staging Ardis Publishing List of people from Ann Arbor Metro Detroit Iggy Pop
  • Condition: Used
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  • Subject: BOOTSY COLLINS
  • Featured Person/Artist: BOOTSY COLLINS
  • Theme: Celebrities, People, Topographical

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