♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> Deanna Brown-Thomas, the daughter of the legendary James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, next on "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by the following.

At Wells Fargo, we are committed to diversity and understand our responsibility in supporting and empowering diverse communities.

Diversity and inclusion is integral to the way we work.

Supporting the financial health of our diverse customers and employees is one of the many ways we remain invested in inclusion for all, today, tomorrow, and in the future.

American Petroleum Institute -- through API's Energy Excellence Program, our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental and sustainability progress throughout the natural-gas and oil industry around the world.

Learn more at api.org/APIEnergyExcellence.

Reynolds American, dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against racism and discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

At AARP, we are committed to ensuring your money, health, and happiness live as long as you do.

♪♪ ♪♪ [ "The Payback" plays ] >> ♪ My brother, get ready ♪ ♪ Payback ♪ ♪ Get ready, you mother, for the big payback ♪ >> ♪ The big payback ♪ >> ♪ Whoo, yeah ♪ Yeah!

♪♪ Hoooo!

Come on!

♪♪ >> We're very honored to have the daughter of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul.

Deanna Brown-Thomas, welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Thank you for having me, Dr. Chavis.

>> We're honored to have you.

You know, you come from one of the most famous families in the world.

>> Yes.

Yes.

>> So your father was actually born in South Carolina but was raised up in Augusta, Georgia?

>> Yes.

He was born in Snelling, South Carolina, which is Barnwell County, and he was raised in Augusta, Georgia.

>> You actually, as a young daughter of James Brown, got a chance to travel with your father, and you saw him on the stage, but you saw all the preparation before getting on the stage.

>> Yes, I did.

I was part of that preparation sometimes as I was on the road with him.

I had to do his hair, Dr. Chavis, and you know how important his hair was.

Yes, his hair was very important.

So as I learned to do his hair, because there was a science to that, I would learn the business because I would hear my dad handle his business before he got to the stage.

He had a 75/25 rule.

And that 75/25 rule is, 75% of the business -- and you can apply this to anything you do -- is your contracts, your paperwork -- you know, make sure people are getting paid, make sure things are working in the logistics area right before you get to the stage.

Because if you don't, that 25% that you do for the stage or the performance or the presentation, whatever it is, it's a giveaway if you're 75% is not together.

>> Preparation.

>> Very important.

>> 75% preparation.

>> Handle your business.

>> All right.

That's a great lesson for all the people who are watching this show.

But, Deanna, now, you were actually born in New York.

>> Yes, I was born in Queens, New York.

We lived in St. Albans on Linden Boulevard.

>> In Queens?

>> Mm-hmm.

>> All right.

And then your father has lived in different places.

>> Yes, we moved to -- My mother -- My mother was his second wife, Dee Dee, Deirdre Jenkins.

Wanted to raise children down South, where he was from, instead of New York.

So we moved to Augusta, Georgia, and we stayed there.

And then, from there, we moved over to Beech Island, South Carolina, which is where his home is now.

>> Now, the James Brown Family Foundation, you're the president.

>> Yes.

>> Tell us about the foundation.

>> Well, my sister, Dr. Yamma Brown, is the vice president on the board.

I have my son and some people who've worked for my father and some music educators because of the programs that we have.

And we started that because dad's charitable work was very important to him, and we knew that.

And after his passing, we wanted to be sure that those things that were important to him, we could continue, even though we had to handle business, as well.

And so we continue giving away during the holidays the James Brown turkey giveaway.

He gave away hundreds of turkeys.

We still do.

James Brown toy giveaway.

Thousands of toys.

We still do.

And then, with that, we also created the James Brown Academy of Music Pupils because learning music was very important.

My dad only went to the seventh grade.

He did not know how to read music.

He did not go to school to learn music.

God gave him that talent.

>> Wow.

With a seventh grade education, >> Yes.

>> He became one of the masters of the music world.

>> Yes.

And he is the most sampled artist still to this day.

That's a seventh grade education.

>> And so now the James Brown Family Foundation focuses on education because your father, even though he only went to the seventh grade, knew the importance of education.

>> Yes, we do.

And music education, because, you know, there are a lot of students who are not going to get the opportunity to be great in sports.

Music saved dad's life.

He said that several times.

And with that, if it can save James Brown's life, it can save other lives.

So creating this program that we've done, James Brown Academy of Music Pupils, where it's a year-round program, we do it in the summer as well as after-school program during the school year, teaching kids how to learn how to play instruments.

But it's not just about music, Dr. Chavis.

We focus on the whole child.

We mentor, we help if they need help in school, we take them to get haircuts, we teach them how to drive.

We are there.

We support them in other programs that they do outside of JAMP, because it's important that children understand that they have support.

>> Exactly.

From the James Brown Family Foundation perspective, just tell us from what all you know and working with your father and what you've seen firsthand today, how important music education is, particularly to not just African-Americans but to all children.

>> To all children.

You're absolutely right.

Music is a universal language that we can all understand, no matter where we come from, especially when the music is good.

But Dad didn't have that opportunity to go to music school.

He went as far as the seventh grade, so he knew how important it was for young kids because a lot of funding goes to sports.

Music and arts, like you said, are the first thing that goes.

But music has been documented to help young kids in math, science, and reading.

The discipline that music calls for helps in those academics.

It's not the other way around.

It's music helping in those academics.

You can talk to doctors, scientists who are excellent in what they do, but a lot of times their hobby is music.

And my father said, You put an instrument in a child's hand, you'll see that child's life change.

And I've seen that at the James Brown Academy of Music Pupils.

We've seen children's grades get better.

We've seen children's behavior get better.

We've seen parents be shocked because they didn't know that the children had the talent that they had.

So to put an instrument in a child's hand, the childs get to find out who they are in this world through music.

It's -- It's -- It's spiritual.

It's very spiritual.

>> Well, you know, you're making an excellent point.

The importance of music education being transformative to young lives up into adult life.

You know, your father has done so much.

He was not only the world's greatest presence on the stage, but the stuff he did off stage and parallel to the stage -- he owned radio stations, he was an entrepreneur, businessperson.

Talk to us about the business side of your father's legacy.

>> That's the amazing part, because my father, again, went as far as the seventh grade.

He couldn't go any further because he had to stop going to school, first of all, because of insufficient clothing.

He didn't have the proper clothing to continue school.

Then he had to go to work, working on the fields, picking cotton, working in the railroads, pulling coal.

>> Your father picked cotton?

>> Yes, because my grandparents were poor, very poor and uneducated, and they were in the segregated South.

So he had to stop going to school to go to work to help bring a few pennies in.

Yes.

He picked cotton.

He worked on the railroad pulling coal.

He was a little bag boy in the Chinese grocery stores in Augusta, Georgia.

He did what he had to do.

But even he said music changed his life because once he realized the talent that God had given him, it was a flow, a ever -- ever-flowing talent, and that -- that talent saved his life.

He talked about that so very much.

So if it did it for James Brown, it would definitely do it for another child.

So we have children that -- Our school, I love it because we bring them all together.

They black, they white, they affluent, they're low-income.

But the music brings them together.

And it's amazing because these are children -- Some of these children wasn't even born when my dad was alive, but they love his music.

>> Yes.

And even today, the music of James Brown is admired, embraced by millions of people throughout the world, not just the United States.

The name James Brown, Godfather of Soul.

Talk to us from your personal experience about soul music.

How would you define soul music?

>> Well, I'm not going to give you a definition.

I'm going to give you the definition that my father gave me because I don't reinvent the wheel.

He invented the wheel and kept it rolling.

>> Yes.

>> Soul meant survival.

He sang soul music to survive.

He, one time, was doing an interview.

This young white guy asked him, "Mr. Brown, where do you get that from?

How do you bring all that out?

Where does it come from?"

Dad had one answer.

"God.

God gives me what I have.

God gives me what I need, and I share it with you."

>> So it was God-inspired.

>> God-inspired.

>> Spiritual.

There's a spiritual basis to soul music.

>> We are his workmanship in Christ Jesus to do good works.

God gave him the good works, the workmanship.

He did the good works.

And the blessed part about it is, like you said, it's still giving.

He is still the most sampled artist.

People are still singing his music, playing his music, re-recording his music, and we're using it to teach children, a whole new generation.

>> The James Brown Band became one of the most famous bands.

Your father was the most famous person on stage.

Then he had this backup system.

This band also became an award-winning orchestra.

>> ♪ Gonna have a funky good time, baby ♪ ♪ Gonna have a funky good time ♪ Whoo!

♪ Gonna have a funky good time ♪ ♪ Take 'em up ♪ ♪ We gotta take it higher ♪ Whoo!

♪ We gotta take it higher ♪ ♪♪ >> He was an innovator innovator.

>> Innovator innovator, revolutionist.

And like you said, it was more than music.

Civil rights.

He stood up.

He wasn't afraid.

"Say it loud -- I'm black and I'm proud."

When George Floyd was assassinated, that song was on the playlist of so many young people.

You know, a whole new generation.

>> Even the Black Lives Matter movement.

They play -- >> They base -- >> "I'm Black and I'm Proud."

>> Yes.

On James Brown.

That song's over 50 years old.

>> ♪ Say it loud ♪ >> ♪ I'm black and I'm proud ♪ >> Hey!

♪ Say it loud ♪ >> ♪ I'm black and I'm proud ♪ >> ♪ Say it loud ♪ >> ♪ I'm black and I'm proud ♪ Looky here.

♪ We demand a chance to do things for ourselves ♪ >> I was in my mama's belly when they went in the studio and made that song.

>> Well, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, James Brown, your father was one of the strongest supporters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I remember that James Brown -- You could always count on James Brown to support the civil-rights effort.

Voting rights, civil rights.

Your father was always there.

>> Yes.

The clips, I like to watch and talk about it with the young generation so that they can understand the history, because that's missing in the schools, too.

[ Chuckles ] And it looked like it's going to get worse with the history that they need to understand of African-Americans and how important it was with the things that a lot of, like yourself, went through so that we have shoulders to stand on.

And we thank you, Dr. Chavis, for still being on the battlefield.

But I like to watch those clips where Dad's -- for example, when he was down in Mississippi for the march after Dr. Evers was assassinated.

>> Yes.

Medgar Evers.

>> Medgar Evers was assassinated.

And also after Dr. King was assassinated when he was in Boston and how he took control of the crowd.

>> Very famous.

He went on the stage.

Everybody just knew that Boston was getting ready to go up in flames.

Your father quelled that crowd like nobody else in America could.

>> And you see how he asked the police to get back?

If I can't get more respect from my own people?

Come on.

>> Yes.

>> It was -- It was, "Brothers and sisters, let's work this thing out.

Let's do this."

And then went right back to getting down.

>> Well, your father was not only -- had the beat, he had the content of the lyrics.

>> Which we don't hear now.

>> So important.

>> Yes.

>> You know, it's just not the vibration of the sound.

It's the messaging that comes through.

Your father was a master messenger.

>> Yes, he was.

Like I said, a revolutionist, you know?

The messages in it -- The messages in his songs you don't even hear no more.

You could just take the music out, take the beat out and just read the lyrics.

We do that with our students.

We have them just read the lyrics.

"Reality don't lie."

That's a lyric.

>> Speaking of the lyrics that your father wrote and put out to the whole world to receive, he talked a lot about freedom, justice, equality.

But he also talked a lot about love.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> You know, the spirituality of love, you know?

And it was so uplifting.

To me, one of the key points of soul music, it lifts you up from where you are to make you see the world in a much better place.

Tell us, because you were with your father before he got on the stage, while he's on the stage, and after.

What is the aftermath of such these performances, what you've seen yourself?

What was the afterglow of James Brown?

>> It's a man's world, but it wouldn't be nothing without a woman or a girl when you're talking about those... >> Yes.

>> ...those titles and how spiritual they are.

And that's real.

Because without a woman, how you get here?

You can't even be born.

That's how deep that song was.

>> ♪ This is a man's world ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪♪ ♪ But it wouldn't be nothing ♪ ♪ Nothing without a woman or a girl ♪ >> Well, he was a strong supporter of the rights of women.

A lot of people don't know because a lot of times in R&B and soul, people think sometimes it's to put down of women.

Your father actually uplifted women.

>> Yes, he did.

"It's a Man's World."

And go back to those titles.

"I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I'll Get It Myself)."

>> That work ethic.

>> "Don't Be a Dropout."

>> In light of all of what African-Americans and other communities of color are still going through in America today, can you tell...young people today what you think is most important about not only getting an education, but how to use your education to improve your own quality of life?

>> Go right back to that title.

"I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I'll Get It Myself)."

One of Daddy's lines, "If you don't know it, you can't do it."

Go learn it, get the education and then go and handle your business.

You can work for someone or you can start your own business.

You could do your own thing.

"Funky President" talks about owning your own land, having your own business.

Daddy used to always talk about how strong Black people were when we were together, when we worked together.

The numbers that we provide just in the retail space, the -- the income that we can bring these businesses for the monies that we spend.

Use your creative that God gave you and create.

Create your own.

This is what Daddy used to talk about.

Black power.

Own your own.

>> And in Augusta, Georgia, where I used to shine shoes on the steps of a -- thank you -- in front of a radio station called WRDW.

I used to shine shoes in front of that station.

I think we started off and you'd get $0.03, then up to $0.05 and I finally got to $0.06.

[ Audience shouting ] But now I own that station.

[ Cheers and applause ] You know what that is?

That's Black power.

>> The James Brown Family Foundation today, tell us what you believe is your top priority for the James Brown Family Foundation.

>> First we want to do what "thus saith the Lord."

We continue the legacy of James Brown as we knew him, as we knew his heart, as we knew what was important to him.

We are working on music education and helping others through food, health, education.

So that's what we want to stick with.

We want to stick with those things that I saw my father do -- help people.

See, my daddy came from very poor beginnings, so he knew what it was like to be hungry.

He knew what it was like to not have.

Here's a young -- Here's a young Black man, young Black boy who came from the south, segregated south, with nothing.

But when he left this world, he left it with some gems -- the messages in his music.

If we would just listen to them and take heed... >> And he was successful.

He was a multi-millionaire.

You know, he was very successful on the business side as well as on the creative side.

And I think that when people study your father's life, it's very inspirational, very transformational.

>> Yes, it is.

I just saw a picture the other day of him and my mom back in the '60s, breaking ground for the Gold Platter Restaurant in Macon, Georgia, that he opened up.

Now, I'm going to show you how he was way ahead of his time, which you already know, Dr. Chavis.

So now there's a Walmart, right?

You can go in Walmart shopping and there's even places you can go in there and eat.

So you could eat, grocery shop in Walmart.

Well, the Gold Platter, you could do the same.

You could grocery shop... >> What year was this?

>> ...and get a hot meal.

In the early '60s in Macon, Georgia.

>> Wow.

He was ahead of the times.

>> Way ahead.

For a man who did not have an education to be able to teach us what he taught us that we could still learn from today... because the lessons are not old.

They're still relevant.

His teachings are still very relevant.

>> Lastly, what gives you your greatest hope today?

>> When I work with the young kids at JAMP and I see them working and learning and learning it from a perspective where they're getting it from the original... We're celebrating 50 years of hip hop.

James Brown is hip hop.

Sampled all over the world, still to this day.

So when I see these young kids, I got a young seven-year-old who does James Brown fabulously.

He wasn't even born when my father was alive.

So right there shows you that his music is powerful still, impactful still, and very relevant.

"Listen to the lyrics" is what I tell everybody.

And heed to the lyrics.

I promise you, you will learn something.

So I'm going to keep putting it into the young kids like my dad taught me.

>> Yes.

>> Because that's the future.

And with the little -- the little bit that I have, I want to pour it into them so that they can live a better life.

>> Deanna Brown-Thomas, thank you for joining "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Thank you.

>> For more information about "The Chavis Chronicles" and our guests, please visit our website at thechavischronicles.com.

Also, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles is provided by the following... At Wells Fargo, we are committed to diversity and understand our responsibility in supporting and empowering diverse communities.

Diversity and inclusion is integral to the way we work.

Supporting the financial health of our diverse customers and employees is one of the many ways we remain invested in inclusion for all today, tomorrow, and in the future.

American Petroleum Institute.

Through API's Energy Excellence Program, our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental and sustainability progress throughout the natural gas and oil industry around the world.

Learn more at api.org/APIEnergyExcellence.

Reynolds American -- dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against racism and discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

At AARP, we are committed to ensuring your money, health and happiness live as long as you do.

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