Even though Brown lived with relatives, he spent long stretches of time on his own, hanging out on the streets and hustling to get by.Brown managed to stay in school until he dropped out in the seventh grade.ĭuring his childhood, Brown earned money shining shoes, sweeping out stores, selling and trading in old stamps, washing cars and dishes and singing in talent contests.Brown also performed buck dances for change to entertain troops from Camp Gordon at the start of World War II as their convoys traveled over a canal bridge near his aunt's house.Between earning money from these adventures, Brown taught himself to play a harmonica given to him by his father.He learned to play some guitar from Tampa Red (who was "dating" one of the girls from his aunt's house), in addition to learning to play piano and drums from others.Brown was inspired to become an entertainer after watching Louis Jordan, a popular jazz and R&B performer during the 1940s, and His Tympany Five in a short film performing "Caldonia".Īs an adult, Brown legally changed his name to remove the "Jr." designation.In his spare time, Brown spent time practicing his various skills in Augusta-area stalls and committing petty crimes. His father sent him to live with an aunt, who ran a house of prostitution. After that time, Brown and his father moved to Augusta, Georgia. After his mother abandoned the family, Brown continued to live with his father and his live-in girlfriends until he was six years old. When he later lived with his aunt and cousin, he was called Little Junior since his cousin's nickname was also Junior.James Brown is of Native American, specifically Apache, descent through his father, and also of African American and Asian ancestry.īrown and his family lived in extreme poverty.When Brown was two years old, his parents separated after his mother left his father for another man. As a young child, Brown was called Junior. Although Brown was to be named after his father, his name was mistakenly reversed on his birth certificate, and instead became James Joseph Brown, Jr.
James Brown was born to Susie (née Behlings) and Joseph ("Joe") James Gardner (who changed his name to Brown after Mattie Brown who raised him) in the small town of Elko, South Carolina in the Jim Crow South during the Depression era.