This book is a definitive biography of James Brown, an extraordinary and controversial superstar, that encompasses his entire life until his death on Christmas Day 2006. For decades, James Brown dominated the changing face of post-war popular black music. Others have been as inspirational in the short term and several of his successors have been bigger pop stars, but none has matched Brown's independent authority, sustained influence or commercial longevity. But while generations danced to the pulse of James Brown, at the end of the 1980s the man himself was back in a Southern US jail, a mile from there he was incarcerated in his teens. Between two internments, is the compelling story of a man who, by reaching from his roots and striving determindly for himself, came to represent in music and personal power, the post-war emancipation of black America. It is illustrated with rare photographs and includes a comprehensive discography.