Longtime personal manager and friend, Charles Bobbit, told reporters that "He was having pain before, but then the pain went away and he told me 'I'm going away tonight. I didn't believe him". Apparently the "Funky Brother" had the right feeling and within a few hours James Brown was gone.

Although Brown had health problems on and off through the years, the Godfather of Soul gave no indication of slowing down. Not only had he been touring on and off throughout the year with more than 100 shows under his belt, he was even schedule to play Times Square in New York on New Year’s Eve.

Born in poverty on May 3, 1933, in South Carolina, “Soul Brother Number One” had his own rags-to-riches experience including bouts with the law before finally focusing and starting a gospel group called The Flames in the mid-‘50’s. As with many of his R&B contemporaries of that time like Ray Charles, Brown fought to establish himself and find his own unique sound.

Live at the Apollo released in 1964 was a beginning of an era with this watershed album that opened the eyes and ears around the country that the new movement of Soul was about to begin. Brown followed that with the early funk sound of “Out of Sight” that cracked the Top 40 and then topped it the following year with the more defined James Brown sound of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", a song that not only reached the top 10 but reached the white audience he needed as well.

After that, as they say, the rest is history, James Brown dominated the R&B charts in the ’60s and ’70s and created a sound that can still be heard today. In response to the news Snoop Dogg stated, "I am hurt. That's my godfather, my soul inspiration, the hardest working man in showbizness of all time. He'll be missed”. Actor and rapper Ice Cube also was affected by Brown’s passing stated, "James Brown was the first solo singer that I loved as a kid. He was not only the Godfather of Soul, but the Godfather of Funk and Rap. Music will never be the same..."

If you never saw Brown live then you cheated yourself. He truly was the hardest working man in show business and proved it every time he walked on stage. His energy, his dance moves and his songs were unique and someone like this only comes to us once in a lifetime. With his death, we lose a legacy of music and a signature sound that is all funk and soul and without question, all James Brown.

• Photos from his appearance at the House of Blues in Chicago on January 12, 2006

• Random Noise appears on the second Tuesday of every month, exclusively in Lumino Magazine.

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