Timmy84 said:

Girl4both said:

I heard James Brown used to beat Tammi Terrell. Control freak to the fullest. And used to dock pay from his bandmembers paychecks when they arrived late for reheasal.

[Edited 7/19/12 23:20pm]

Well that's what his routine consisted of: if you wasn't looking at him, you get a fine, if he saw your suit was out of place or your shoes was dirty or your hair wasn't combed right, you get a fine, if you didn't hear his cue on time, a fine. That's why whenever he shuffled his feet and did his moves, you could see him splaying his fingers so much people thought it was part of the act but that was James' method of telling you "you have to pay up" and he always had someone besides the stage writing down how much the musician or singer had to pay him for fucking up. And yeah, Ludie Montgomery and Gene Chandler both talked about James whupping the mess out of Tammi...

The reasons why they never smile

HuMpThAnG said:

Timmy84 said:

Well that's what his routine consisted of: if you wasn't looking at him, you get a fine, if he saw your suit was out of place or your shoes was dirty or your hair wasn't combed right, you get a fine, if you didn't hear his cue on time, a fine. That's why whenever he shuffled his feet and did his moves, you could see him splaying his fingers so much people thought it was part of the act but that was James' method of telling you "you have to pay up" and he always had someone besides the stage writing down how much the musician or singer had to pay him for fucking up. And yeah, Ludie Montgomery and Gene Chandler both talked about James whupping the mess out of Tammi...

The reasons why they never smile

Their faces were all " " He loosened up just a smudge over the years but you can still see a band whose faces basically were " " the whole time because they wouldn't know what James would do next.

yup

James joined Bobby's group in 1952 at the age of 19 according to himself on the doc Soul Survivor.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

James joined Bobby's group in 1952 at the age of 19 according to himself on the doc Soul Survivor.

Some stories say otherwise. I don't take James' word. I believe he didn't join until 1954. He already had his own group, the Ever Ready Gospel Singers. I doubt Bobby was part of that group. History on that part of Brown's first recording years are scarce and maybe because it was gospel, no one really looked into it. When he finally joined Bobby's group, it was after one of its members, Troy Collins, considered to be the group's best vocalist, died in a car accident. Turns out James did start out as just a singer if only to co-lead alongside Bobby Byrd and Sylvester Keels. This is when the group was still called the Avons. They then became the Toccoa Band and that's when the guys started playing instruments. I noticed a lot of people don't recall James performing with Sarah Byrd, Bobby's sister. Also, the interesting thing about James' biographies is that when they mention his early life, they do mention he sing in talent shows but don't mention the group he sung with. His first group was called the Cremona Trio when he was 12. They performed together until they got busted for stealing clothes in folks' cars leading to James' 8-to-16 year sentence, which I read, had actually been reduced to four years, and after three years, he got out after he and Bobby's family pleaded with the court. James' career continued in prison too with the band he had with Johnny Terry. James took some odd jobs, briefly took up boxing and performed in the local Toccoa baseball team before deciding that music would be his only option for success. This was between 1952 and 1954. He was a member of the group no doubt after 1954.