10 Musicians Who Committed Real Crimes, Did Real Time - And Had Real Impact

Much like Chuck Berry, the importance of James Brown in popular music cannot be disputed. Known as the ‘Godfather Of Soul’ and often tagged ‘the hardest working man in show-business,’ he was one of the instigators of funk, and a legend of 20th century music famed for his spectacular live shows. It wasn’t all ‘feeling good’ however, as his arrest in a crazy incident in 1988 showed. After a group of insurance agents apparently sneaked into Brown’s office to use the bathroom, the police were called when he supposedly confronted them with a shotgun – although he disputed allegations that he waved and threatened them with it.

Regardless the police arrived and Brown led them on a high speed car chase across state lines. It was reported that Brown tried to ram police vehicles with his pick up truck during the chase, and that it only ended after the authorities shot out two of his tires – though even then Brown tried to continue driving on the wheel rims for miles. He was eventually convicted of failing to stop for the police and sentenced to six years in prison, but acquitted of other charges including assault with deadly intent.

It seems that this incident, and many of his other legal problems, were down to drug use – he was sentenced to 90 days of rehabilitation in 1998 after another car chase – but his legendary status wasn’t impacted by the issues. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honours in 2003, and continued touring until his death at the age of 73 in 2006.