JB is dead

The outrageous, the inimitable, the self-proclaimed Godfather of Soul James Brown hit it and quit it for the last time yesterday. Aged 73 he died on xmas day after checking into an Atlanta, US, hospital with pneumonia.

He leaves behind a massive influence on modern music and a veritable library of great songs. By no means spotless – his rep tarnished by arrests for domestic violence and drugs – Brown was undoubtedly a giant of the past half century.