Early life

James Brown, an only child, was born to Susie (née Behlings) and Joseph ("Joe") Gardner Brown in the small town of Barnwell, South Carolina in the Jim Crow South during the Depression era. Although Brown was to be named after his father, his name was reversed mistakenly on the birth certificate. Because of this mix-up during the birth registration, Brown's name instead became James Joseph Brown, Jr.[1] As a young child, Brown was known to his family as Junior, and he was also known as Little Junior when he later lived with his aunt and cousin, since his cousin's nickname was also Junior.[1]

Brown and his family lived in extreme poverty.[9] When Brown was 4 years old, his parents separated after his mother decided to leave his father for another man.[10] After his mother left the family, Brown continued to live with his father and his live-in girlfriends until he was 6 years old. After that time, Brown and his father moved to Augusta, Georgia, and his father sent him to live with an aunt who ran a house of prostitution.[11] Even though Brown lived with relatives, he spent long stretches of time on his own, hanging out on the streets and hustling to get by.[9] Brown managed to stay in school until he dropped out in the 5th grade.[12]

During his childhood, Brown earned money by picking cotton, picking up coal, shining shoes, sweeping out stores, washing cars and dishes and singing in talent contests.[9] Brown also performed buck dances for change to entertain troops from Camp Gordon during the start of World War II as their convoys traveled over a canal bridge near his aunt's house.[10][11] Between earning money from these adventures, Brown taught himself to play a harmonica given to him by his father,[10] and he learned to play some guitar from Tampa Red (who was "dating" one of the girls from his aunt's house), in addition to learning to play piano and drums from others.[10] Brown was inspired to become an entertainer after watching Louis Jordan, a popular jazz and R&B performer during the 1940s, and His Tympany Five in a short film performing "Caldonia".[13]

As an adult, Brown illegally changed his name to remove the "Jr." designation.[14] In his spare time, Brown spent time practicing his various skills in Augusta-area halls and committing petty crimes. At the age of sixteen, he was convicted of armed robbery and sent to a juvenile detention center upstate in Toccoa in 1948.[15]

Brown, who was by then nicknamed "Music Box", formed a gospel quartet while he was incarcerated at the detention center. The group made their own instruments for prisons show, which included a paper-and-comb "harmonica," a "drum set" made of lard tins and a "bass" made of a broomstick and washtub.[10] Brown's quartet performed for the local prison crowd and performed shows for other prisons in the vicinity.[9]

While Brown was in reform school, he became acquainted with Bobby Byrd, who first saw Brown in a prison performance as Byrd watched and admired Brown's ability to sing and perform.[10] Byrd's family helped Brown secure an early release after serving only three years of his sentence on the condition that Brown would try to get a job and not return to Augusta or Richmond County. After brief stints as a boxer[16] and baseball pitcher in semi-professional baseball (a career move ended by a leg injury), Brown turned his energy toward music.[17]