E Pluribus Unum

There were other singers, there were other dancers, there were other writers, there were other band leaders, there were other arrangers. But no one put it all together to create such a ferociously intense expression of pure joy, yearning and attitude like James Brown.

More than anyone else in his generation, he showed us that music really is the language of emotion.

In 2003, he was honored by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and this is, in part, what they said then:

Soul Brother Number One, the Godfather of Soul, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, Mr. Dynamite-all these titles describe just one man. James Brown is arguably the most influential African-American musician in popular music in the past half-century and one of the most dynamic, exhilarating performers of our time. Singer Bonnie Raitt has said, "You couldn't even list how many people have been influenced by him. In the Mount Rushmore of musical figures, he'd definitely be on it."

Brown, with his impassioned vocals born of gospel and the complex rhythms of his beat, was at the forefront of not one but two major musical revolutions and has contributed invaluably to a third: In the 1960s he turned R&B into soul and a decade later reinvented his own invention when he turned soul into funk. And his music continues to be as influential as ever, as his recordings are sampled by innumerable rap and hip-hop performers. "Single-handedly, he has been the epitome of soul music," said Chuck D of Public Enemy, one of dozens of rap groups to use Brown's groundbreaking beats.