Godfather of Go-go Chuck Brown dead at 75 following battle with pneumonia
By Aislin Taylor
PUBLISHED: 19:36 EST, 16 May 2012 | UPDATED: 01:43 EST, 17 May 2012
Go-go music pioneer Chuck Brown has died after being hospitalised for almost a month with pneumonia.
The funk singer was 75.
Brown took his last breath today at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
Legend: ‘Godfather of Go-go’ Chuck Brown has died from pneumonia, aged 75
Hospital spokesperson Gary Stephenson confirmed the sad news this afternoon.
He had been in hospital care since April 18 with a pneumonia.
The legend cancelled several performances in the weeks leading up to his death, as he was still a constant fixture on the club circuit.
Brown’s hit Bustin’ Loose – with his group, the Soul Searchers – helped define Go-go’s sound. It spent several weeks atop the R&B chart in 1979.
In sickness: The funk singer was hospitalised for almost a month since April 18
The term ‘Go-go’ is a sub-genre of funk, developing from the mid-Sixties to late-Seventies.
Rapper Nelly later sampled the song in his monster 2002 track Hot In Here – which won him a Grammy.
Eve also sampled his Blow Your Whistle in her 2007 single Tambourine.
The end of an era: Brown’s 1979 hit Bustin’ Loose – with his group, the Soul Searchers – helped define go-go’s sound
Brown is said to have admired the new crop of artists who sampled his songs.
Spike Lee, a longtime fan who used Go-go for the movie School Daze spoke out about Brown’s death.
He said: ‘Chuck Brown will always be Bustin’ Loose – the Godfather of Go-go.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2145557/Godfather-go-Chuck-Brown-dead-75-pneumonia.html