Chuck Brown dies: 'Godfather of Go-Go' passes away at 75

[swag]

Source: WJLA

Chuck Brown, the legendary musician who is known as the "Godfather of Go-Go," passed away Wednesday, his daughter confirmed to ABC7's Sam Ford.

Brown's passing comes about a week after the Washington Post confirmed that the musician, considered the pioneer of Go-Go music, had been hospitalized with pneumonia.

Brown's 1970 hit, "Bustin' Loose," hit #1 on the MCA charts. The song was later sampled in the 2002 Nelly song, "Hot in Herre."

He had recently postponed numerous shows due to his failing health.

Read more: Link to sourcehttp://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/05/chuck-brown-dies-godfather-of-go-go-passes-away-at-75-76052.html

[bluesbassman]

1. Dang has it been a rough year for musicians. RIP Mr. Brown.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. I remember go-go from my DC days. Used to go to a club on Georgia Avenue.

Go-go is some funky, heavily percussive stuff. I never understood why it never broke out beyond DC.

[Samantha]

3. I liked Chuck Brown but my friend Larry was his number one fan

Last edited Thu May 17, 2012, 08:21 AM - Edit history (2)

Maybe about five years ago, Larry had to leave to go to California because his father had died. The next day, I heard Chuck Brown would be appearing at Border's to sign his latest CD. I knew instantly that Larry would have been the first in line had sad circumstances not taken him away for a few days.

We worked together, and at our place of work were mandatory staff meetings. I had brought with me that day a CD I had bought used when I first heard Eva Cassidy sing. I instantly became a big fan, but at that time, her CD's were difficult to come by. I found one at the University of Maryland's CD exchange. It was the CD she had made with Chuck Brown. I am sure he made the CD to give her recognition on the music scene a big bump. She was very shy about performing in public.

Listen for a moment and fall in love with a song:

So I skipped the staff meeting, and along with my Chuck Brown/Eva Cassidy CD, went to Border's. I picked up two of Chuck Brown's new CD's. As I stepped in front of his table, I said, "I am wondering if you would do me a favor since I am purchasing two of your new CD's. I have the CD you made with Eva Cassidy, and I am wondering if you would autograph that. I can't tell you how much I loved her music."

Chuck Brown looked at me and said, "It almost killed me when she died. I was looking forward to making another album with her." He looked so sad. I then told him that a great friend of mine who worked in the same place as I was his biggest fan. He would have been first in line had he not had to go to California for his father's funeral. So I am wondering if you would sign this CD for him, one for me, and my CD you made with Eva Cassidy.

He graciously signed all three.

When my friend returned to work about a week later, he came to my desk with the sadness of recent days clearly still reflected on his face. "Larry, I have something for you. Chuck Brown appeared at Border's while you were gone, and I purchased his new CD and asked him to autograph it for you."

I handed the CD to Larry who read the words Chuck Brown had inscribed. "To Larry, may peace be with you at this time." Larry cried. And then I cried to see his tears.

I will never forget the big heart of Chuck Brown, as well as his music. RIP, Mr. Brown.

Sam

[pinboy3niner]

4. Great story, Sam

Thanks for sharing it.

[Blue_Tires]

5. r.i.p.

[swag]

6. A nice Adam Serwer remembrance

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/05/rip-chuck-brown

Judging by my college experience, for folks outside of the DC area, Go-go music probably conjures images of mod dancers in high boots. Within DC, though, it refers to the city's predominant musical genre, pioneered by the incomparable Chuck Brown, known as the Godfather of Go-go, who died Wednesday. The Root's Natalie Hopkinson, who recently wrote a history of Go-go music, has a great retrospective on the social and cultural trends that birthed Go-go:

In the years that followed the uprising, Chuck would tell the kids more than just that. At a time when urban planners and policymakers ceded authority over inner-city Washington to the hustlers and the pimps, Chuck Brown showed kids how to play music. He showed them how to hype the audience through West African-style call and response, how to slow down ecstatic crowds to groove to the same sultry, slow-boiling conga beat. He showed them how to knit the audience into a community and to train them to come back, night after night, generation after generation.

Chuck taught D.C. natives to take those charred ruins of the civil rights movement in riot-blackened places like U Street and use them to make art. Not the kind of art that crosses over onto pop-music charts or that gets co-opted by multinational entertainment companies or even gets an NEA grant, but, nonetheless, the kind that generations of black Washingtonians have used for fellowship.

Despite the migration of DC residents south, either permanently or to historically black colleges and universities, Go-go never quite managed to make it beyond the DC metro area. Some artists tried—you can hear it's influence in a few nationally released tracks, like Jill Scott's "It's Love," Ludacris' "Pimpin' All Over the World," and of course Wale's "Pretty Girls," but it remains a DMV (DC-Maryland-Virginia) thing. There's really nothing on Earth like a go-go, and absent the immediacy of being there, hearing the music, and dancing to it maybe the genre's appeal just can't really be understood. I'll spare MoJo readers an account of my first time at a Go-go, but aside from his profound role in shaping the culture of the city, every semi-awkward dude in DC owes Brown a debt of gratitude for his contributions to a genre of music that tends to be less uh, labor-intensive for men.