James on May-December marriages: "... I would warn against anyone marrying a person with more than a ten-year age difference. It almost never works. It is difficult to find things to talk about, to use similar reference points, and to operate at the same speed of life. Another problem is that both sides usually don't want the same things at the same time."
Source: I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul. pages 247-248.
James about Deidre: "It wasn't one of those love-at-first-sight things. We met several times, and things just grew from there."
Source: James Brown: The Godfather of Soul. page 156.
James about Deidre's leaving him: "She was a very good woman and we had a lot of good years together, but she did not want a man who was in the entertainment business."
Source: James Brown: The Godfather of Soul. page 248.
James on having children: "This is an issue couples have to be straight on and agree on before they walk down that aisle; otherwise there is no way their marriage will survive."
Source: I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul. page 248.
Full page ad in Variety, August 2003: "Due to Mr. James Brown and Mrs. Tomi Rae Brown's heavy demanding tour schedule, they have decided to go their separate ways. There are no hard feelings, just a mutual show business decision made by both parties ... Mr. Brown says, we both love each other but it has become difficult to function together. With love and affection we both reached this decision. We were a great team and we both have a great future."
Source: SmokingGun.com
James about meeting Adrianne: "We met, our eyes locked, our souls touched. By the end of the taping, without having to say or do anything, we both knew that we were in love.
Source: I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul. page 214.
James' message on funeral program for Adrienne: "Dear Adrienne, Honey my life will never be the same, wait for me. I want to be the first guest on your T.V. show in heaven. Yours always, James."
Source: Jet. Jan 29, 1996.
James about Velma: "As busy as I was, I couldn't get home as often as before, and when I did get home, I could tell Velma and I were drifting apart. More and more I came home a stranger. She was the best home woman I've ever had, and she never tried to stop me from making it. she could see what was happening, and she didn't try to fight it at all. She always had a kind word to say. And later on, she never tried to turn the children against me. After a while I started living with another woman in Macon. Her name was Dessie. We got a house and everything, but she didn't break up Velma and me. It was time. Time and distance. I still visited, but it just couldn't be put back together. Through it all, though, we tried to stay friends, and we are friends right today."
Source: James Brown: The Godfather of Soul. page 90.
James on marriage: "To make it in life, you and your wife need to be in the same business. That has been my problem all along. My wives didn't know what I was doing. I would come back home from the road to a stranger. That's no good."
Source: James Brown: The Godfather of Soul. page 266.
Tomi about her marriage to James: "Our life together is decidedly unsensational. We're simple people, homebodies who like to work hard and have fun together. We love each other very much. It's not about age, or money, or race, or professional status. We don't choose who we love; we love who we choose. I choose to love him, and we have vowed not to let the press destroy that. James Brown is a good man and a good husband, even if every once in a while it becomes a rough ride. I thank God He has given me the strength to hang on and to make this work."
Source: I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul. pages 255.
Marriages of James Brown
Children of James Brown
James Brown and Tomi Rae Hynie Timeline
h3]Resources: I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul, 2005by James Brown and Marc Eliot
James Brown: The Godfather of Soul, 2003
by James Brown and Bruce Tucker
Soul Survivor: The James Brown Story (DVD)
