James Brown (editor)

James Brown (born 26 September 1965 in Leeds) is a British journalist and media entrepreneur.

In 1985 James Brown was a contributor to the alternative newspaper Leeds Other Paper. In 1986, following work on his fanzine Attack on Bzaag, Brown was hired as freelance features writer for Sounds; from there he soon joined the magazine NME. In 1991 Brown became the manager of Fabulous, a rock band composed of various NME journalists. After leaving NME, he wrote features for the Sunday Times magazine.

In 1994, Brown launched the magazine Loaded, which became an early example of the modern "lads' mag" format. Brown won the British Society of Magazine Editors' "Editors' Editor of the Year" award for his work on the title.

Known for his heavy drinking and use of cocaine, Brown's staff had mixed feelings about his style, acknowledging his brilliance but criticising his "tyrannical" management. "James's whole style of man-management is all about fear, just making everyone feel that they're totally and utterly dispensable," one told The Independent for a 1997 feature after Brown had left for GQ. "If he's in the mood to have a go at you in front of everybody, he will. He could pick on anybody. The mood changes were frighteningly sudden." Another compared his experience on the magazine to that of a "battered wife" who keeps returning to her husband. "You could walk into the office at Loaded and you could tell if James was there or not," the photographer Derek Ridgers recalled. "If people were smiling, you knew he was out. And if they all looked a bit miserable, you knew he was in." Brown himself has said that he was depressed and over-indulging in alcohol and drugs during this period. "I could see that if I didn't move on, there was a danger of me becoming a drug addict and an alcoholic," he said.

In the 1997 Independent interview, Brown expressed pride in his accomplishment in beginning Loaded, stating, "The facts are there. I started the most influential magazine in Britain in the last 10 years and made my last company millions and millions and millions of pounds after an outlay of virtually nothing, and I've got something like six or seven major publishing awards." A former employee, interviewed for the same feature, disagreed, suggesting Brown's success had been a "glorious fluke" and adding: "He's had his hit single, but that's really all he's had and there are a lot of one-hit wonders out there."

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