James Brown was murdered in 2006, new report claims

At the time, it was reported that the legendary musician died of congestive heart failure

James Brown death: Was the 'Godfather of Soul' murdered in 2006? (Getty Images)

A new three-part investigative report has suggested that James Brown‘s death in 2006 may actually have been murder.

At the time, it was reported that the legendary musician died of congestive heart failure, but CNN now reports that over a dozen individuals close to Brown, including his manager, widow, son, and friends, are calling for a criminal investigation into his death.

“He changed too fast,” Dr Marvin Crawford, who signed Brown’s death certificate at an Atlanta, said. “He was a patient I would never have predicted would have coded... But he died that night, and I did raise that question: What went wrong in that room?”

He added that he recommended an autopsy but that the singer’s daughter, Yamma Brown, declined. She did not offer an explanation as to why when asked by CNN.

The investigation was reportedly sparked in 2017 when a circus singer name Jacquelyn Hollander called a reporter claiming that she worked with Brown as a songwriter during the 1980s and that she had information on Brown’s death.

She alleged that Brown raped her and that, after the incident, she began to collect documents relating to the singer and his associates. CNN reportedly examined more than 1,300 pages of text messages from Hollander’s iPhone, alongside tens of thousands of pages of police and court records.

After the death of Brown’s third wife, Adrienne Brown, in 1995, while recovering from plastic surgery, a friend claimed that she was murdered. Days before her death, she had allegedly contacted her divorce attorney Robert Harte and said she was afraid for her life.

In 2017, an examination of notes by police informant Linda Bennett saw her claim that Adrienne was killed by a doctor unconnected to her cosmetic surgeries, including an alleged detailed confession by the doctor who claimed to have switched her prescriptions with drugs which would kill her. The doctor denied the allegations.