"James Brown" recorded three terrific Christmas albums during his career, but his second one, "A Soulful Christmas" ("KS 1040"), released in December 1968, will be the focus of this article in memory of the hardest working man in show business. The album cover featured a photo of "James Brown" looking hilarious in a Santa Claus outfit. It is obvious he is wearing either a fat suit or stuffing underneath the costume, since he was slim. "James Brown" released three singles from the album, "Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto", "Tit for That", and "Let’s Unite the Whole World at Christmas", all released in November 1968 and receiving considerable airplay on soul radio stations.


Although Brown's three Christmas albums have long been out of print, several of his recordings from those albums were released on a compilation CD in 2003 entitled "The Best of James Brown: The Christmas Collection". The CD includes the aforementioned "Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto", the chestnut "Let's Make Christmas Mean Something this Year" from Brown's first Christmas album in 1966 and the heartwarming "Christmas is Definitely Here to Stay" from James Brown's second Christmas album in 1970. "James Brown" made some of the most important and most cherished music of any generation and his Christmas music is among some of his best work and in light of his passing on Christmas Day 2006 is worth being a part of any Soul music lover's Christmas music collection.