It was in 1981 when the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, made his great comeback on the international stage. In the two preceding decades, he had completely redrawn the landscape of American music, helping to turn soul into a worldwide phenomenon before shifting its momentum towards funk with just a few tweaks on the rhythm. He was an artist of urgency speaking to a contemporary audience at a time of rapid change and fluctuating tensions. Yet, the late 70s saw a commercial decline in his style of funk, with key sidemen Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley and more leaving him to join the more successful Parliament-Funkadelic collective. Brown was still an icon, but he struggled to achieve the same mainstream pull as before.
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