Music: Golden Brown; JOE RILEY gets the Liverpool low-down from the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.

Byline: JOE RILEY

OST music bibles say he was born on May 3,1928, in South Carolina, which would make him 75.

He says be was born in 1933 in Georgia, which would add up to just 70 -and HE should know.

But whatever the case,James Brown,alias the Godfather of Soul, aka The Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness,doesn't need a passport.

He's been around since records were made out of shellac and spun at 78rpm. Then came vinyl. Then came the CD Age and digital.

Now here comes James Brown again: ``I'vegot a new thing on the horizon,''he declares.

``I'vebeen promising that for a long time,and now it's here.

``I'vegot everybody goin' once more,and even here in America we get crowds of 100,000 and sellout wherever we go.''

By comparison,one gets the impression that Mr Brown (that's what he likes to be called) is doing Liverpool a favour by coming to the Summer Pops; just a cosy 4,500 seats under canvas on the banks of the Mersey.

``But it's whereI wanna be,'' he insists,as he's chauffeured to a gig in Milwaukee in the back of a big shiny limo.

``I have a lot of respect for musicians from Liverpool because of the fact that they took the chance, even when at first nobody approved.''

The Liverpool gig on July 15 comes a day before another by one of Mr Brown's topBritish fans,Paul Weller (who may be turning up a day early to be in the audience).

Everyone in the business loves JB. His music even appears in Paul McCartney's wish-list top10.

And perhaps the man himself knows why?

``Pop was the only way you could get anything going: Little Richard, Chuck Berry,Jerry Lewis, they all sort of did it as an up thing, you know.

``But once they saw me, wellI was different. I didn't come from rock `n' roll. I came from gospel.That's a whole different dimension.

``I was doing something so new and so different that they didn't know what it was at first.''

And so began a career that would, at peak production, see a record every three months spinning on to the turntables.

To match, there was a work schedule already winning him lifetime achievement awards galore by the late 1980s. It was as if the boy who was abandoned by his mother at the age of four to be raised by an aunt,quit school in the seventh grade,and by 16 had had his first of several brushes with the law, wanted to work in order to forget the past.

As for the present,I'vedone my homework,but surely, from the thousands of gigs stretching over five decades,he won't remember a Teen Age Music International (TAMI) show at the civic auditorium in Santa Monica in October `64?

Wrong.

``I sure do. Gerry And the Pacemakers,plus Billy J Kramer. I love those fellas. We were all in the show together with Chuck Berry,The Beach Boys and Marvin Gaye.

``They became very good friends of mine. And Gerry And the Pacemakers and I also did a going- away party for Elvis Presley,along with The Animals. The Liverpool boys were special people looking for a special sound. I always remember them in the same way as I remember Bill Haley. Those people had a special place in the music world and will always be around.''

AMES Brown's only other UK appearance this summer is at Earl's Court. In London,as in Liverpool, the fans will virtually demand the inclusion of certain hits.

``I'vegotta do I Feel Good; Please Please Please; Sex Machine and It's A Man's World,''concedes the singer.

``Those songs are very, very important to people,as well as to me.I'vegot to sing those songs,but by the same token, I like to put some unexpected things into a programme.''

One of them,I suspect,could be a George Harrison song called Something.

``I love all the Liverpool sounds and still do,'' says James Brown. ``And I have to tell you, that with Something,George Harrison said that out of 121 cover versions,I put paid to them all. So that made me feel so good.''

But even a legend must have his own heroes?

``Well,my main model was Louis Jordan,''he says -and there's a sting in the tail.

``The people around today, with the exception of the likes of Paul McCartney,Elton John and BB King,most of them don't know what they'redoing.

``They need to go back and read and listen and check upon their music history. The history of yesterday is also the history of today.

``Even now,I put a new dimension on things, so that people are more aware of people like James Brown and the good things of life.

``They love it that you have put in so many years. But things go to and fro,and,like anything that's been around for a long time, you have to put them in a new bag that keeps them fresh.

``You'vegot to keep pretty like the Queen. You can't run out of style. And,oh boy,are we gonna have a good time in Liverpool.

``I've really enjoyed this interview,''he tells me,adding what I think is a compliment: ``I hope that you live 200 years,and I live 200 years minus one day so that I will never know that people like you have passed away.''

Summer Pops, July 15.

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GREAT MINDS: James Brown with his Mersey mucker Paul McCartney at the Songwriters'Hall of Fame annual dinner in 2000