Pick a Day

For his interstate car chase and numerous drug, firearms, and assault offenses, James Brown is sentenced to six and one-half years in a South Carolina prison. He serves a little more than two.

After finding over $40,000 in cash and checks in his cell at the Stevenson Correctional Institute in South Carolina, officials move James Brown to a cell with tighter security.

James Brown is put on work release after spending months in jail on charges of drug possession and resisting arrest. He makes $3.80/hour counseling youths about drug abuse.

Soldiers in South Carolina are treated to a concert by James Brown, who is given a furlough from the work center where he is being detained so he can play for the troops. He includes his patriotic hit "Living In America" in the set.

James Brown is released on parole from a South Carolina prison after serving two years of a six-year sentence on drug and assault charges.

In his first public appearance since being released from prison in February, James Brown stars in the pay-per-view concert special James Brown: Living in America. For $19.95, viewers can see Brown perform at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles along with MC Hammer, Bell Biv DeVoe, C+C Music Factory, Kool Moe Dee and En Vogue.

James Brown sues the producers of the movie The Commitments, claiming his name and likeness were used without his permission (he loses the case five years later).

James Brown receives a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, recompense for the paltry three competitive Grammys (including one for Best Album Notes) he wins during his seminal career.

Steamboat Springs, Colorado, names their "James Brown Soul Center of the Universe Bridge" after the singer.

Part of Ninth Street in Augusta, Georgia, is renamed James Brown Boulevard in honor of their famous resident.

James Brown appears on The Simpsons in the episode "Bart's Inner Child," where his performance of "I Got You (I Feel Good)" on the Springfield green is cut short when the stage collapses due to shoddy construction.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland, with opening ceremony performances by Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Al Green, The Allman Brothers Band, Booker T. & the MG's, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, The Pretenders, John Fogerty, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, George Clinton, The Kinks, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, The Animals' Eric Burdon, and Boz Scaggs.

James Brown is charged with assault at his home in Aiken, South Carolina, after allegedly striking his wife Adrienne with a mirror.

ZZ Top, James Brown and The Blues Brothers perform at the Super Bowl XXXI halftime show in New Orleans.

James Brown gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

James Brown is admitted to a South Carolina hospital for addiction to painkillers. He's released a week later.

Blues Brothers 2000 opens in theaters. James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Erykah Badu are among the musicians to appear in the film.

James Brown Enterprises, which handles tours for The Godfather Of Soul, has its offices destroyed by fire, destroying music and memorabilia. An employee is later charged with arson in connection with the incident.

South Carolina Governor James Hodges declares James Brown the state's "Godfather Of Soul."

South Carolina's parole board pardons James Brown of all past offenses committed in the state, even the felonies, spurring James to spontaneously sing "God Bless America" at the conclusion of the hearing.

In a bizarre ad placed in Variety, James Brown announces his separation from his fourth wife, Tomi Rae, by featuring a picture of the couple and their two-year-old, James Brown II, posing with Goofy at Disney World.

James Brown, 70, is arrested on charges of domestic violence after he's seen pushing his fourth wife, Tomi Rae Hynie, to the floor. He's fined and released from jail the next day after pleading no contest. Brown also faced assault charges from his third wife, Adrienne Rodriguez, in the '80s and '90s.

Alongside stars like Beyoncé, Eddie Murphy, and Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson makes her acting debut in the movie Dreamgirls, based on the Supremes-inspired Broadway musical.More

James Brown, age 73, dies of congestive heart failure resulting from complications of pneumonia.

DNA tests prove that at least two of the 12 claimants to the estate and fortune of recently deceased soul legend James Brown are found to be legitimate. His will had already named six known children.

Bobby Byrd, a singer known for his work with James Brown (he does the "get on up!" retort in "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine") dies of cancer near Atlanta, Georgia, at age 73.

Elvis Presley tops the annual Forbes magazine list of most profitable dead celebrities, his estate having taken in $49 million over the past year. John Lennon makes the #2 spot; George Harrison, James Brown, and Bob Marley also make the list.

Clyde Stubblefield, the funky drummer who played on many tracks for James Brown, dies at age 73.