When James Brown died 15 years ago, his will made clear that he wanted most of his money to go to needy children. A new deal is a huge step in making that happen and ending what the New York Times describes as "one of the longest and most contentious estate conflicts in entertainment." Primary Wave Music will pay an estimated $90 million for the rights to Brown's music, as well as control over his name and likeness, reports the Times. A story at Billboard confirms the price tag. Primary Wave also gets Brown's real estate, raising the possibility of creating a museum at his South Carolina mansion, a la Elvis' Graceland. The company has struck similar deals with the estates of Whitney Houston, Prince, Luther Vandross, and Teddy Pendergrass.
The money will fund a scholarship trust created by Brown "in perpetuity," says Russell Bauknight. who has effectively served as the executor of Brown's will since 2009. The scholarships will go to poor children in Brown's native South Carolina, as well as in Georgia, where he grew up. The deal might have gone forward years ago, but the estate had been embroiled in litigation brought by Brown's children as well as a woman he married in 2001, who turned out be to married to someone else when she wed the iconic singer. Bauknight and a former estate administrator, Adele Pope, are actually still tangled up in legal fights, and those must be resolved before the scholarships can be paid, per the Times. (A CNN investigation raised the possibility that Brown might have been murdered.)
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