Please, Please, Please
| "Please, Please, Please" | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Single by James Brown and The Famous Flames | |
| B-side | "Why Do You Do Me" |
| Released | March 1956 |
| Format | Seven-inch 45 rpm record |
| Recorded | King Studios, Cincinnati, Ohio, February 4, 1956 |
| Genre | Rhythm and blues |
| Length | 2:43 |
| Label | Federal (no. 12258) |
| Writer(s) |
|
| Producer(s) | Ralph Bass |
"Please, Please, Please" is a rhythm and blues song performed by James Brown and the Famous Flames. Written by Brown and Johnny Terry and released as a single on Federal Records in 1956, it reached number six on the R&B charts. The group's debut recording and first chart hit, it has come to be recognized as their signature song.
In 1952, James Brown was released from a youth detention center in , after Bobby Byrd and his family sponsored him. Brown's warden agreed to the release on the condition that Brown not return to Augusta. After his release, Brown briefly pursued a career in sports before starting his musical career as a gospel vocalist with the group the Ever-Ready Gospel Singers. When a member of Bobby Byrd's vocal group, the Avons, died in 1954, Byrd asked Brown to join his group. A year later, after performing as the Five Royals, they became the Flames, playing all over Georgia and South Carolina.
That same year, the group began touring the chitlin' circuit, attracting a following, with Brown on lead vocals. Brown won his position of lead singer after an onstage "fight" with Byrd over vocal power. Upon relocating to Macon, Georgia, Brown befriended rising rock'n'roll musician Little Richard. The group began gaining attention from record executives associated with King Records in Cincinnati, Ohio.
According to Etta James, Brown and his group came up with the idea for their first song, because Brown "used to carry around an old tattered napkin with him, because Little Richard had written the words, 'please, please, please' on it and James was determined to make a song out of it".
According to Bobby Bennett, Johnny Terry composed the recording by himself. The band recorded a demo of the song at a radio station in Macon. While that station's DJ didn't care for the recording, radio listeners requested copies of the song, proving its popularity.
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Wikipedia