1- James holds the record for the performer who has had the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting #1. He has had 96 top 100 hits.
2. James Brown tried to become a professional boxer and then a baseball pitcher, but a leg injury wrecked his chances of fame on the field.
3- He regularly donated Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas toys, at last count in 2006 he had given away 3,000 turkeys and 20,000 Christmas toys.
4- In 1992, a news anchor mistakenly reported that James Brown has died. A sample of that broadcast became the basis for the song James Brown Is Dead
5- James had an electronic doll with motion made after him, ‘Singin, Dancin’ James Brown,’ that would sing his hit I Feel Good with the mouth moving to the words and head and body moving to sound of the music.