The One

James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, was an absolutely electrifying live performer most famous for his work in the 1960s and 1970s, cranking out hit after hit from "Please Please Please" to "I Got You (I Feel Good)." In this ambitious biography, Smith (The Great Black Way: L.A. in the 1940s and the Last African American Renaissance) covers Brown's rags-to-riches saga, from his hardscrabble youth to the sad events near the end of his life. In his heyday, he was perhaps the most popular African American artist with a positive message, "I'm Black and I'm Proud," which was an anthem during the civil rights era. In his personal life, Brown had many brushes with the law and struggled with substance abuse. Through it all, he recorded and toured endlessly and earned his reputation as the "hardest working man in show business."