I LOVE James Brown. Let me start off by saying that. James Brown is, was, and always will be one of the greatest entertainers to have ever lived in this, or any other, generation. I was so saddened by the news of the death of James Brown, and he is one of the few musicians who had me in tears when his death was announced. And James Brown has the reputation of being the hardest working man in show business. And, he was indeed a hard working son of a bitch, but...

...is it kind of overkill? Could it possibly be a true fact that Prince is indeed the hardest working man in show business?

I'm just curious about the opinions of those here on the org.

hardest working? well its fairly obvious P's work ethic outstrips most artists if not all.

qulaity over quntity is however another debate

jonylawson said:

qulaity over quntity is however another debate

See, I agree with this point, too.

When you release and release and release and release, you're going to have a LOT of filler.

DJFreelan said:

CrabalockerFishwife said:

DJFreelan said:

See, I agree with this point, too.

When you release and release and release and release, you're going to have a LOT of filler.

All artists have filler. Prince has more than most artists, but he also has more 'killer'.

Prince definitely has more good than bad, without a doubt, but I can see where jonylawson when he says quality over quantity.

I love JB´s music and dont know much about his history, but Prince in the 80s - 90s was extremely workaholic. He did his albums, produced other artists, recorded tons of outtakes and in several cases, arranging and playing several instruments. Not to mention rehearsals, concert planning, choreography, etc.

Eh, I think James earned and should keep that title. Look at his output at his mid-late '60s peak. He was releasing tons of albums/singles and constantly playing live shows. He was also doing something similar to what Prince ended up doing by writing/producing lots of material for other artists.

I think an argument could probably be made that Prince looked at what James did and to a large degree emulated it. So, even if Prince was a harder worker James was the one that laid the blueprint down.

jonylawson said:

hardest working? well its fairly obvious P's work ethic outstrips most artists if not all.

qulaity over quntity is however another debate

yeah, well not everything JB or Miles released was a gem either

When JB was alive and producing he very well may have been; I would say presently, Prince most-certainly is with writing, producing, distributing, introducing talent, etc. all on his own...

No.

Don't you dare diss James like that.

rialb said:

So, even if Prince was a harder worker James was the one that laid the blueprint down.

- Interesting. It makes sense. I still cant imagine someone working harder than Prince in the 80s and part of the 90s.

GustavoRibas said:

rialb said:

So, even if Prince was a harder worker James was the one that laid the blueprint down.

- Interesting. It makes sense. I still cant imagine someone working harder than Prince in the 80s and part of the 90s.

James Brown.

Not nowadays anyway

smoothcriminal12 said:

GustavoRibas said:

- Interesting. It makes sense. I still cant imagine someone working harder than Prince in the 80s and part of the 90s.

James Brown.

James was working hard at fleeing from the cops.

rdhull said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

James Brown.

James was working hard at fleeing from the cops.

Still working.

smoothcriminal12 said:

rdhull said:

James was working hard at fleeing from the cops.

Still working.

at hitting that pipe..

I know..still working

kenkamken said:

You mention that title anywhere and people automatically think of James. People generally don't know what Prince accomplished, all the songs he's recorded himself, the ones he's written for others. It would be awesome to assemble the entirety into a box set, remastered albums with outtakes, finally release it all. It seems ever unlikely at this point.

This one I can actually seriously agree with. Kind of like when people say the King, people automatically think of Elvis. (Which, just for the record, Elvis is the king, but that's the best analogy I can think of.)

But, I also agree with everybody who has said that you'd be hard pressed to find a person who worked harder than Prince, especially in the 80's and damn near through most of the 90's.

Somebody insinuated I was blasting James. Hell, no. I said in my first post that I LOVE James Brown, and God only knows I wish I had a quarter of the dance rhythm that old boy had--but, for some reason, in my mind, I don't know why...I just find Prince to be the true hardest working man in show business. Absolutely no disrespect to James, because he's one of the best ever, but that's just the way I feel.

DJFreelan said:

I just find Prince to be the true hardest working man in show business. Absolutely no disrespect to James, because he's one of the best ever, but that's just the way I feel.

- Yeah, that´s what I think also. Let´s not forget that Prince wasnt only prolific on songwriting, but he used to produce, arrange and perform most instruments on his albums and his protegees. Not to mention other stuff not necessarily related to music, such as acting/directing, planning his tours/dancing, etc.

GustavoRibas said:

DJFreelan said:

I just find Prince to be the true hardest working man in show business. Absolutely no disrespect to James, because he's one of the best ever, but that's just the way I feel.

- Yeah, that´s what I think also. Let´s not forget that Prince wasnt only prolific on songwriting, but he used to produce, arrange and perform most instruments on his albums and his protegees. Not to mention other stuff not necessarily related to music, such as acting/directing, planning his tours/dancing, etc.

This is true. James also took a lot of credit from his bandmates (and ppl dont try and bring up Prince stealing ideas and claiming them as his own from bandmates because a song or two here and there doesnt equal to that).

JB sometimes did hundreds of gigs per year, not to mention at one point in his career he was putting out tens of singles a year off the back of multiple albums.

Shit, can't believe i'm going to say it but somebody like Rihanna is far busier than Prince.

Well, yes, Dez wrote Do Me, Baby. And yes, Morris Day come up with most of Partyup (but, then again, this is what created The Time, in a way, so...that's kind of pointless to even think that one.)

And yeah, James has released more music than Prince. But, I honestly think that's because Warner Brothers wouldn't let Prince release all he wanted to release. If Warner would've given Prince free reign for all he wanted to release, I'd say 60% or more of our favorite bootlegs wouldn't be just our favorite bootlegs, if you know what I mean.

This guy.

Pomade said:

This guy.

[Edited 1/2/12 14:38pm]

smoothcriminal12 said:

Pomade said:

This guy.

[Edited 1/2/12 14:38pm]

Whenever a new show surfaces on radio or tv, it seems like he's being named its host or producer.