He could have been a professional boxing challenger or baseball player – as he tried both for a while – but a leg injury put him back towards the music career that he had already been starting. It all turns out for the best as James Brown has become the colossal hitmaker that we now know: a total of 114 entries on Billboard’s R&B singles charts, 17 of them reaching number 1 and a not less than 800 songs in his repertoire.The showmanship feature of his Live Act also became a landmark. In 1962 as his record label refused to produce a live album that they thought would never sell, James Brown put up his own money and released ‘Live At the Apollo’. It immediately was a success for people who had never seen him live but could easily hear and imagine the energy and excitement of James Brown screaming on stage until his back got soaked wet.From gospel and blues in his early records James Brown later moved towards more rhythmic vocals and complex funk sounds. James Brown has constantly influenced popular music styles around the world. He’s influences spread out on funk, rock, afro-pop and disco. Newer generations of his fans keep being influenced the godfather of soul and often use his funky grooves as samples on rap recordings.James Brown received the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1992.