James Brown T.A.M.I. Show

"Please, Please, Please" was recorded by James Brown and The Famous Flames and was released as a single in 1956. It was the group's first recording. As the story goes, Little Richard wrote the words "please, please, please" on a napkin and James Brown was determined to make a song out of it.

James Brown singing "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" on the 1960s TV show Shindig!. The song was released in 1965 and was Brown's first song to hit the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100. It also won Brown his first Grammy Award, taking home the title of Best Rhythm & Blues Recording.

Watch the 1986 James Brown "Living in America" music video. The song was featured along with Brown himself in the 1985 boxing movie Rock IV starring Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren. "Living in America" won Brown a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Filmed in 2002, this concert performance of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" features The Godfather of Soul James Brown performing with Luciano Pavarotti. The song was originally recorded in 1966. It was written by Brown's onetime girlfriend and co-writer, Betty Jean Newsome, based on her observations regarding relationships between men and women.

This performance of his hit song "I Got You (I Feel Good)" was recorded in Italy in 1989 at the Legends of Rock 'n' Roll concert, which also featured Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Little Richard and B.B. King. Brown released "I Got You (I Feel Good)" as a single in 1965 and it became his highest charting song.

View the Get On Up movie trailer for the James Brown biopic starring Chadwick Boseman. The movie chronicles James Brown's rise from poverty and abandonment to become one of the most well-known and iconic musicians in history.