The James Brown Mystery

CNN

A strange phone call reveals a question from the grave – was The Godfather of Soul murdered? Almost 40 years ago, a songwriter found herself in musician James Brown’s inner circle. The relationship would nearly destroy her career. Decades later, she’s trying to solve the mystery of James Brown's death…and her own life. When she makes a call to CNN reporter Thomas Lake, the two stumble into a world of secrets, intimidation, and suspected foul play. read less

Our Editor's Take

To fans, he's the Godfather of Soul, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business. To musicians, he's the most sampled artist of all time. The James Brown Mystery podcast reveals a complicated person in a complex world. People may remember that James Brown died at the end of 2006. He was 73, and heart failure was the reported cause, so it seemed sad but unremarkable. There was no autopsy and no investigation. No foul play appeared to have occurred, until now.

Thomas Lake hosts this eight-part true crime podcast. A CNN Digital senior writer, Lake has written for both online and print publications. He authored the book Unprecedented: The Election That Changed Everything. Lake started The James Brown Mystery in 2017 because a stranger contacted him. This woman told him that Brown did not die the way the media projected.

The podcast's story begins when the circus singer, Jacque Hollander, calls and texts Lake several times. Lake had written a story about Brown's son-in-law Darren Lumar. When Hollander read Lake's story, she decided to contact him. What she said was compelling enough to convince Lake to meet her.

Lake met with Hollander, who told him she had worked with Brown. They had a complicated relationship, but said that Brown had confided in her. Brown had spent much of his life in fear of the federal government. "If I can calm a riot, I can start one," Brown told Hollander. He believed the FBI and the CIA had been watching him since 1968. The night after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, there was a concert in Boston. Brown kept the crowd peaceful, and people took notice. But were Brown's political views to put him at risk?

Through this podcast, Hollander and Lake work together to learn the truth about Brown's death. Their quest becomes perilous. Powerful people make it clear that they do not want this mystery solved. True crime listeners may appreciate the story in The James Brown Mystery podcast.

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Introducing: The James Brown Mystery

Introducing: The James Brown Mystery

A strange phone call reveals a question from the grave – was The Godfather of Soul murdered? Almost 40 years ago, a songwriter found herself in musician James Brown’s inner circle. The relationship would nearly destroy her career. Decades later, she’s trying to solve the mystery of James Brown's death…and her own life. When she makes a call to CNN reporter Thomas Lake, the two stumble into a world of secrets, intimidation, and suspected foul play. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episodes

Introducing: The James Brown Mystery

Introducing: The James Brown Mystery

A strange phone call reveals a question from the grave – was The Godfather of Soul murdered? Almost 40 years ago, a songwriter found herself in musician James Brown’s inner circle. The relationship would nearly destroy her career. Decades later, she’s trying to solve the mystery of James Brown's death…and her own life. When she makes a call to CNN reporter Thomas Lake, the two stumble into a world of secrets, intimidation, and suspected foul play. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Circus Singer

The Circus Singer

In 2017, CNN reporter Thomas Lake receives a phone call from a circus singer who tells a wild, hard-to-believe story: James Brown didn’t die of natural causes in 2006; instead the Godfather of Soul was murdered. After months of calls from the circus singer, Lake decides to fly to Chicago to meet Jacque Hollander in person. There Jacque proves her connection to James Brown and shows Lake a videotape of a polygraph test she took in 1995 that was administered by a former FBI agent. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Still struggling to wrap his mind around the circus singer’s story, Thomas Lake investigates Jacque Hollander’s role in the Atlanta music scene, learns how she first met James Brown and his third wife Adrienne, and finds out how Jacque became part of Brown’s inner circle. Jacque in turn reveals the events of one harrowing night she says she spent with James Brown in 1988, the night her life changed forever. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thomas Lake asks the circus singer more questions about her friendship with Adrienne Brown, who believed there was a criminal organization surrounding the Godfather of Soul that she called “The Machine.” Lake learns that both women were convinced US government agents spied on them and tried to kill them. It turns out James Brown too suspected he was being watched by the CIA during his lifetime. So Lake dives even deeper into the mystery behind government surveillance and celebrity. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Angel of Death

The Angel of Death

The circus singer tells Thomas Lake about other government men who turn up in her life, including a mysterious new guy she falls in love with named Steve. Jacque Hollander goes to South Carolina to report she’s been raped by James Brown. She also goes to Texas to visit Steve. The visit doesn’t go as planned and is made worse when she learns James Brown’s third wife Adrienne has died. Jacque is convinced it was murder and somehow her boyfriend Steve is involved. Lake calls the detective who investigated Adrienne’s death and together they discover a clue in a long-forgotten notebook that may confirm Jacque’s worst suspicions about Adrienne’s death. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Blood and the Notebook

The Blood and the Notebook

The detective investigating Adrienne Brown’s death gets a tip from an informant who says a doctor in California is responsible for Adrienne’s untimely death. Thomas Lake visits this doctor to ask if he killed Adrienne Brown. Meanwhile, one of James Brown’s friends says he has a vial of blood which proves that the Godfather of Soul was murdered. And when Jacque Hollander gets a threatening phone call, she thinks it’s from someone who wants her to keep quiet about James Brown’s death. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jacque Hollander suspects a backup singer for James Brown is involved in his death death. The singer vehemently denies this and says Jacque misunderstood a story she heard. Brown’s lawyer asks Jacque to pick up a duffel bag from a storage unit that contains things from James Brown’s final days. A man named Ghost asks if the duffel bag contains poison used to kill James Brown. Brown’s lawyer initially tells Jacque to throw the bag into a lake before telling her to contact authorities. Jacque makes an appointment to bring the duffel bag to a prosecutor. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jacque Hollander takes the duffel bag to a prosecutor in Georgia who agrees to look into the circumstances of James Brown’s death. We learn that right before he died, the Godfather of Soul wanted to move to New York City. But one member of Brown’s inner circle doesn't want him to leave South Carolina. Thomas Lake digs deeper into Brown’s closest advisors to find out why, and flies to California to talk with a woman who may know more about Brown’s last moments alive. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tonight I Saw a Falling Star

Tonight I Saw a Falling Star

A prosecutor tells Jacque Hollander that powerful people don’t want James Brown’s death to be investigated. Jacque hears back from the CIA as to whether or not the agency has a file on her, and Thomas Lake examines Brown’s possible affiliation to the CIA. Ghost calls again, demanding Lake stop his reporting. The duffel bag Jacque turned over to the prosecutor disappears, while Jacque continues her search for the truth about the deaths of James Brown and his third wife, Adrienne. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices