Lynn Goldsmith – James Brown – Zaire, 1974

James Brown. “I first met him in 1974. He was scheduled to play at a three-day music festival in Zaire to coincide with the heavyweight fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman-the RUmble in the Jungle. I had arranged to fly there on a charter plane with all the musicians. The equipment for the shows had been rented and sent over separately. James Brown, who was the headliner of the event, insisted on using his own equipment and that it had to fly with him on the plane. Bill Withers, a great artist in his own right, who was selling more records than James Brown at the time, had once been an aircraft mechanic. He knew it was an overloaded plane and that James was putting everyone at risk. He tried to talk with him. It was no use. The plane was delayed for five hours due to arguments over whether or not the plane could even get up in the air. Mr. Brown didn’t care. He was going to get his way no matter the cost. When we did attempt a takeoff, the plane taxied longer than it should have on the runway. It could not lift into the air. The pilot announced we were too heavy to get off the ground and that everyone had to move to the back of the plane. James was in the third row and refused to move. He said, ‘I am the star of this motherfuckn’ show and I’ not moving and neither is my band.” Withers couldn’t stand brown’s diva attitude that was putting us all in physical danger. He headed down the aisle to take james on. The next thing I knew, some people tackled him. I wish Bill had gotten to him. We barely cleared the trees at the end of the runway.”

Lynn Goldsmith’s imagery is in numerous collections: The Smithsonian, The Polaroid Collection, The Kodak Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the permanent collection of Museum Folkwang. She is a multi-awarded portrait photographer whose work has appeared on and between the covers of Life, Newsweek, Time, Rollingstone, Sports Illustrated, People, Elle, Interview, The New Yorker, etc. Her subjects have varied from entertainment personalities to sports stars, from film directors to authors, from the extra-ordinary to the ordinary man on the street.

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