'The Godfather of Soul" is ready to hit YouTube.
James Brown, the late, lamented singer and songwriter, is getting his own official YouTube channel and online site, thanks to a collaboration between home entertainment company Shout! Factory and the James Brown Estate.
The channel and website debut Friday and will include a treasure trove of rare concert footage, such as Brown’s 1968 Boston concert following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We launched these YouTube, online and mobile experiences today as the 45th anniversary of the Boston concert is a major milestone we all wanted to commemorate,” Jeffrey Thompson, Shout! Factory's vice president of digital strategy and business development, said in a statement. “These digital destinations will continue to evolve as we program content specific to key events as well as discover and add new video assets, leveraging Shout! Factory’s unique content curation capabilities.”
Brown, a member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, was a trailblazing talent who merged jazz, blues and funk with hits like "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine." He died in 2006 at the age of 73.
