With some 800 songs in his repertoire, James Brown has influenced contemporary artists from virtually every popular music genre — rock, soul, jazz, R&B. As a kid, he'd already sensed a feeling of invincibility after being accidentally electrocuted four minutes straight until his shoes smoked. He would later realize that the moment could be much bigger than James Brown. He constantly compared himself to Elvis Presley, who Brown felt was the only other artist comparable to him in his lifetime. Brown kept up a rigorous tour schedule well into his 70s. His trumpeter Hollie Farris remembered they were doing a show in South America when the doctor gave him shots, put a catheter in him, only to take it out, do a one-and-a-half-hour show, and then come back and put the catheter back in.

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