The Godfather of Soul · An Autobiography

**National Book Award winner James McBride goes in search of the “real” James Brown after receiving a tip that promises to uncover the man behind the myth. His surprising journey illuminates not only our understanding of this immensely troubled, misunderstood, and complicated soul genius but the ways in which our cultural heritage has been shaped by Brown’s legacy.**

*Kill ’Em and Leave *is more than a book about James Brown. Brown’s rough-and-tumble life, through McBride’s lens, is an unsettling metaphor for American life: the tension between North and South, black and white, rich and poor. McBride’s travels take him to forgotten corners of Brown’s never-before-revealed history: the country town where Brown’s family and thousands of others were displaced by America’s largest nuclear power bomb-making facility; a South Carolina field where a long-forgotten cousin recounts, in the dead of night, a fuller history of Brown’s sharecropping childhood, which until now has been a mystery. McBride seeks out the American expatriate in England who co-created the James Brown sound, visits the trusted right-hand manager who worked with Brown for forty-one years, and interviews Brown’s most influential nonmusical creation, his “adopted son,” the Reverend Al Sharpton. He describes the stirring visit of Michael Jackson to the Augusta, Georgia,** **funeral home where the King of Pop sat up all night with the body of his musical godfather, spends hours talking with Brown’s first wife, and lays bare the Dickensian legal contest over James Brown’s estate, a fight that has consumed careers; prevented any money from reaching the poor schoolchildren in Georgia and South Carolina, as instructed in his will; cost Brown’s estate millions in legal fees; and left James Brown’s body to lie for more than eight years in a gilded coffin in his daughter’s yard in South Carolina.

James McBride is one of the most distinctive and electric literary voices in America today, and part of the pleasure of his narrative is being in his presence, coming to understand Brown through McBride’s own insights as a black musician with Southern roots. *Kill ’Em and Leave *is a song unearthing and celebrating James Brown’s great legacy: the cultural landscape of America today.

**Praise for *Kill ’Em and Leave***

“The definitive look at one of the greatest, most important entertainers, The Godfather, Da Number One Soul Brother, Mr. Please, Please Himself—JAMES BROWN.”**—Spike Lee**

“*Please, please, please*: Can anybody tell us who and what was *James Brown*? At last, the real deal: James McBride on James Brown is the matchup we’ve been waiting for, a musician who came up hard in Brooklyn with JB hooks lodged in his brain, a monster ear for the truth, and the chops to write it. This is no celeb bio but a compelling personal quest—so very timely, angry, hilarious, and as irresistible as any James Brown beat.”**—Gerri Hirshey, author of *Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music***

“An unconventional and fascinating portrait of Soul Brother No. 1 and the significance of his rise and fall in American culture.”** *—Kirkus Reviews* **

**James Brown's explosive biography is now the major Hollywood film directed by Tate Taylor (THE HELP) and produced by Mick Jagger, GET ON UP**.

James Brown: A man who played 350 shows a year at his peak. Who broke the colour barrier of 1950s and '60s pop. Who supported the Civil Rights movement through his music, playing a racially charged Boston in the hours after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination and travelling to Vietnam to support black troops. Who won and lost several fortunes. And who became one of the greatest musical innovators of all time...

In his own words, this is the incredible life story of the Godfather of Soul, giving the inside story of his life and music, taking the reader on a journey from his impoverished childhood to his evolution into one of the most influential figures of the 20th century.

With photos, unmissable anecdotes about Little Richard, Elvis, Tina Turner, Otis Redding, Tammi Terrell, Michael Jackson, and many others, plus an updated introduction and epilogue and an exhaustive discography.