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A quote from the biography "James Brown - The Godfather of Soul" by James Brown with Bruce Tucker. Macmillan Publishing, 1986.

This was how legendary singer and showman James Brown described two important attributes that he feels a man needs in order to be successful in show business. And who should know better than James, after all, he's been banging out hit records and dynamite stage shows for over 50 years. The guy has outlasted and outperformed most of his contemporaries and although his stage acrobatics are not what they used to be 35 or 40 years ago, James shows no signs of quitting, even at age 73!

Let's call out a few of The Godfather's career highlights:

• He has over 100 charted records on Billboard's Hot 100 listings and has sold 83 million records.

• In 1968, James and six members of his band went to Vietnam and entertained our troops.

• In 1986, James was among the first group of performers inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He was the only singer in the group who had a hit record in the Billboard Top 10 on that night. It was "Living in America", the theme song from Rocky IV which eventually peaked at chart #4.

• He has two Grammy Awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award presented in 1992.

• In 1997 he received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

• In 2000 James was inducted into The Songwriter's Hall of Fame. He has written or co-written over 800 songs for himself or other performers.

• In 2003 he was awarded the prestigious Kennedy Center Award for Cultural Achievement.

• James has been in several movies including "The Blues Brothers" (1980 and 2000) and Rocky IV (1985).

• In the political arena, James has met with every U.S. President since Richard Nixon and was good friends with Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

In his teens James was a good athlete and excelled at baseball and boxing. In fact he was so good at baseball that some thought he might make it big in what was then called the Negro Leagues. He was a left handed pitcher with a good fast ball, a sharp curve, and a wicked floater. But what James really wanted to do was box. His idol was the lightweight champion of the world Beau Jack (1942,1943) whose real name was Sidney Walker. Beau Jack hailed from James' home town of Augusta, Georgia and young James patterned his fighting style after Jack's. James was actually a pretty decent semi-pro who boxed like he pitched - left handed. This always confused his opponents and usually worked to his advantage. Take note that I said usually. In one bout he caught a solid right that knocked him silly and changed his mind about boxing for a living. Also, he broke his leg twice in the same place ending any chance he had of making it big in professional sports.

But fate often sends us down roads that we normally would not travel. He always liked singing and was surprised at the reaction he would get from his audience - especially the girls. This gave him the idea that maybe this was something he could do to make a few bucks and have some fun at the same time.

Over the next several years he was involved in many singing groups - The Cremona Trio, The Ever Ready Gospel Singers, The Avons, The Toccoa Band, The Flames - which evolved into the Famous Flames and then James Brown and the Famous Flames. Their first charted R&B hit was "Please, Please, Please" recorded in 1956 on the Federal label which was a subsidiary of Sid Nathan's King Records. 1958 saw the next hit in "Try Me" which was a ballad and several other sellers that carried him into the early 1960s such as "Lost Someone" - 1961, "Night Train" - 1962, "Prisoner of Love - 1963 and "Out of Sight" - 1964. "Night Train" was a mostly instrumental tune where James called out the names of various cities. Sonny Liston, world heavyweight boxing champ (1962-1964), used this tune in his training to jump rope by. " Prisoner of Love" was a ballad that gave James his first top 20 hit on the Pop Charts. "Out of Sight" was the beginning of a new sound that didn't fully develop until 1965's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)". "Papa's Bag" and "I Feel Good" (this song would later become his trademark hit and the song he is most identified with) skyrocketed James into the Top 10 Pop Charts and was the start of a whole new sound called "Funk". It was a new sound technically because the beat was emphasized on the ONE, two, THREE, four as opposed to most songs where the beat is emphasized on the one, TWO, three, FOUR. From 1965 till the end of the decade, JB had 17 charted hits in a row.

It is important to note that during the early 60s James was developing a touring show that was like no other. It was called "The James Brown Revue" and featured his 18 piece band, other singers, dancers, comics and of course the star of the show...JB himself. The whole idea was to give the audience a complete night of entertainment and to provide the most for their dollar. During the entire 1960s "The James Brown Revue" criss-crossed the U.S. and Canada performing over 300 one-nighters per year. A 1962 album called " James Brown...Live at the Apollo" captured the excitement and feel of a live J.B. show and remained on the charts a record breaking 66 weeks. This album is considered by record industry critics to be one of the best and most influential live albums of all time.

Even though the James Brown Revue was a highly entertaining collection of talent, all things considered, the real reason why people anxiously showed up was to see the star of the show... James Brown...do his thing. No one else looked, sounded, dressed, moved or danced like J.B. His whole concept was to be as different as he could be from the average human being and he wanted to look like someone who you would pay to come see. JB's unusual looks are derived from an Afro-American, American Indian, and Chinese background. Plus, he added to it all with outrageous hairdos, self-designed outfits and assorted capes, a gravelly voice with a trademark scream, and a way of dancing with blinding speed that no one else could match. Breaking it down, the James Brown "Good Foot" dance was basically a combination of the Mashed Potatoes, the Camel Walk, the Slide and the Shimmy, with a few splits thrown in for good measure plus a few selected moves and fancy footwork from his boxing days. In my opinion he probably started aerobic dance and writer Bruce Tucker, referring to his nightly shows, says that James "performed a nightly seminar in dance history".

Other writers have expressed their thoughts about the J.B. experience. Valerie Wilmer wrote: "James Brown was a 'truth' singer and that made him a winner...Completely without shame or contradiction he went where no one save the preacher has gone before. He reached back in time for his feeling, to lay hidden verities at the feet of his listeners...When James Brown sank to the ground or tugged at your soul it was as if some dreadful, long-hidden secret was being revealed a last. More than any other singer of his generation he brought the soul of the dispossessed down front. And once there, showed he would not be moved. After Brown has done a song, there's nowhere else to go."

Writer Charles Shaar Murray wrote: "His triumph was his intensity...One taut, white-hot wire of pure expression, Brown transformed everything he touched. No one will ever make music like this again." Noted rock critic and author Dave Marsh has stated: "By critical acclimation, James Brown is now quite clearly seen as the most influential American popular musician of the second half of the twentieth century. Only Louis Armstrong stands before him in the century's first half."

So what is the Godfather of Soul doing today? At the age of 73 he has slowed down a bit, but still performs over 100 shows a year on a world-wide basis. This being a health and fitness website, you might be interested in learning that J.B. is currently touting the praises of...Colonics...of all things. It seems that many years of eating steaks and red meat were bloating and poisoning J.B.'s system and a doctor suggested colon flushes to clean him out. The colonic therapy worked so well that the result was a much trimmed down, neater, and more energetic J.B. who now recommends them whole heartedly to everyone. Not only is James totally candid about the colonics, but he cracks jokes about them during his shows!

Aside from colonics, gold records, honors, and awards, J.B. says he would like to be remembered as someone who brought people together. Often during his shows he tells the audience to shake the hand of the person next to them. This is his way of having people break the ice and start talking to each other. Why not be one of these people yourself? The next time the James Brown Show comes to your area, be sure to go see Mr. Dynamite himself. You'll have a "Funky Good Time" and before long you'll be shouting "I Feel Good!"