In December 2004 Brown was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which was successfully treated with surgery. He appeared at Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push, the final Live 8 concert, on July 6, 2005, where he did a duet with British pop star Will Young on “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag.” He also did a duet with another British pop star, Joss Stone, a week earlier on the UK chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Before his death, he was scheduled to perform a duet with singer Annie Lennox on the song “Vengeance” on her new album Venus, scheduled for release in early 2007.

In 2006, Brown continued his “Seven Decades Of Funk World Tour”, to be his last, performing all over the world. His latest shows were still greeted with positive reviews. His last Irish performance was at the Oxegen festival in Punchestown in 2006.

Brown was admitted to the Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia on December 24, 2006 after a dentist visit where he was found to have severe pneumonia Brown died the next day on December 25, 2006, Christmas Day, at around 1:45 a.m. (06:45 UTC) aged 73. The cause of death was heart failure, according to his agent. James was quoted saying “I’m going away tonight” sometime before he passed away. He then took three long, quiet breaths, and closed his eyes.

James Brown’s WIki

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!