Bobby Byrd - Meeting James Brown and The Formation of The Famous Flames

Meeting James Brown and The Formation of The Famous Flames

In 1952 Bobby Byrd was playing baseball against the inmates of the Alto Reformatory prison team and met James Brown who was serving time there on armed robbery charges. Byrd befriended him and arranged for Byrd's family to oversee Brown's parole. It began a personal and professional association that lasted until 1973 and although Byrd had twenty years plus as a solo performer it is his association with Brown for which he is chiefly remembered. Contrary to belief, the group had already changed its name to the Flames when Brown, who had brief careers as a boxer and a player in a semi-professional baseball team after his parole, asked Byrd for a spot in the group, with Brown first settling as a drummer. Eventually Brown was driven to perform as lead singer as he felt lead vocalists got more attention from women. Byrd recognized early that Brown was unique and that it would be impossible to control him: "I didn't need him in competition, I needed him with me, that's why I worked so hard to get him over to my group.". In 1956, Clint Brantley signed on as the group's manager. With Johnny Terry and Nash Knox on board, the group became The Famous Flames under Brantley's suggestion and won them a deal with Ralph Bass' Federal label, which was a subsidiary of Syd Nathan's King label, in February 1956. Their first record, "Please, Please, Please", which Byrd said he wrote with Johnny Terry, was issued under the strange billing, James Brown and the Famous Flames, which didn't go well with the rest of the group and after three sessions, the original Flames broke up. At the final session Byrd and Brown wrote the rhythm & blues dancer "Can't Be the Same," which was one of many collaborations with Brown for which Byrd failed to gain credit.

The Flames without Brown changed their name to Byrd's Drops of Joy but found the going tough so that when Brown approached them to reform the Flames they agreed. The power within the group was now with James Brown. At this point, The Famous Flames ceased being a vocal/instrumental group, and became a straight vocal group, as there was no need for additional instrumentalists, since Brown, in the interim, had already began to employ his own road band, the old J.C. Davis outfit, which became the first incarnation of the new James Brown Band (now a separate entity from The Flames,who were now all vocalists save for Byrd, who sang and occasionally also doubled on keyboards). Original Flames members Bobby Byrd and Johnny Terry returned, and new Flames members Bobby Bennett and Lloyd Stallworth were added. Along with Brown, these four men comprised the definitive and longest-lasting lineup of The Famous Flames . Original Flames guitarist Nafloyd Scott also returned, and was added to the band.

With this lineup the group would have a series of hits between 1959 and 1964 and participated on many of the albums that helped to bring R&B to a crossover audience, including the landmark million-selling 1963 live album, Live at the Apollo. Byrd and the Famous Flames also appeared together on a couple of appearances on Ed Sullivan, made a brief appearance in the film, Ski Party and upstaged headliners The Rolling Stones at the rock concert, The T.A.M.I. Show. Byrd (and fellow Famous Flame Lloyd Stallworth) was credited as a songwriter on the Flames hit, "Lost Someone", though Brown was the only member who sung on the recording. Its success led Brown to record more songs on his own but the majority of his early hits were as a member of the Famous Flames including songs such as "Try Me", "I'll Go Crazy", "Bewildered", "Baby You're Right", "I Don't Mind", "Shout and Shimmy" and "Oh Baby, Don't You Weep". As was the case with some recordings, the Famous Flames were often not credited on album covers though ironically enough on recordings in which Brown appeared by himself, the group was credited, leaving fans to erroneously believe the Famous Flames was actually Brown's backing band, instead of the singing group that they actually were. The group continued performing together until 1968 when they left over monetary issues. The last Flames-associated recording to be released was the pre-funk soul hit, "Licking Stick - Licking Stick", which Byrd contributed vocals to, without the other members, who had departed before Byrd did that summer.