CNN Plans James Brown Tribute

Posted Apr 4, 2007 by Walt Belcher

Updated Apr 4, 2007 at 09:21 AM

  Over the weekend of what would have been James Brown’s 74th birthday, CNN will document the rise from poverty to prosperity and from petty criminal to musical icon of the man known by many titles: “The Godfather of Soul,” “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business” and “Soul Brother Number One” among them.  CNN’s Don Lemon reports the story of the James Brown that most people never knew for “CNN: Special Investigations Unit – James Brown, Say it Proud” premiering on Saturday, May 5, and Sunday, May 6, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. 

Through interviews with the Rev. Al Sharpton, music legends Little Richard and Bootsy Collins, bandmate Bobby Byrd and superstar Usher – as well as Brown’s family members, business manager Charles Bobbit and biographer Bruce Tucker, Lemon reveals the sensitive and complicated character behind the cultural legend.  Usher, who considered Brown one of his mentors, recounts how much Brown’s personal advice meant to him..