James Brown’s Widow Says He Was Drugged & Murdered, Begs For Police To Investigate

James Brown, Tomi Rae Brown

James Brown’s Widow Says He Was Drugged & Murdered, Begs For Police To Investigate

It’s been almost 13 years since legendary singer James Brown tragically died on Christmas Day in 2006. While his cause of death was said to be heart failure, his widow and fourth wife, Tomi Rae Brown, has recently pleaded for police to launch an investigation and find out what really happened to him. James did not have an autopsy performed at the request of his daughter, Yamma Brown Lumar.

Tomi claims that his close friends gave him drugs, specifically cocaine, just before he died. Her accusations come just months after more than a dozen people demanded an autopsy or criminal investigation be conducted. Tomi said,

“I think he could have been murdered. They were feeding him drugs and not paying him. You don’t give somebody drugs when you are looking out for them. It was crack cocaine and Phencyclidine. Everywhere I looked there was this stuff. I’d throw it away and more could come.”

James Brown (2005) 

She added more details and hinted that James would indirectly request the drugs.

“He would be on the phone: ‘Bring me my green suit. Bring me my brown suit.’ And the suit would have something in the pockets.”

James was a pillar in the war on drugs back in the 70s. He went as far as firing Bootsy and Catfish Collins after they were caught using LSD during a concert in 1971. His widow said he turned to drugs after being provided with them constantly, and she did her best to steer him clear of it all.

“People gave it to him. He was never into drugs until he got to his 40s. He was into education, stopping the race war. But then some people around him gave him this stuff. I’d say, ‘James you’re an old man, this is not going to help you.’ When I was there I would keep him away from that. We would dance, make love, go for rides, do whatever we had to do. He had so much energy, more than I had.”

James’ body was not only mummified but also went through an ancient preservation procedure to help the body from decaying. The body is reportedly in his daughter, Deanna Brown Thomas’s possession after the singer was buried on her property in South Carolina back in 2007. A funeral service, officiated by Reverend Al Sharpton, still happened in James’ honor despite a dispute between the late singer’s children.

His legs were even removed to conduct DNA tests for people who say he is their father.

Meanwhile, his nine known children have said Tomi 

 “embarked on a series of duplicitous business machinations calculated to deprive Brown’s children of their rightful interests in Brown’s music under the Copyright Act.”

She added,

“I held this man when he had cancer, for 10 years I put up with some heavy duty, not so fun hard stuff, helping his children when he told me not to. Then they betrayed me — and their little brother. I was “Mama Rae” to them, but I’d no idea how much they hated me.’

“Just let this end. I can’t do it anymore. I’m tired. [The family] keep[s] coming, they are rabid and I don’t know why. I have never fought for anything except to be my husband’s wife. I just want to bury him, get him off his current resting place — the last place he wants to be. I hold out an olive branch and I forgive them. I know how hard it was to be a family member of James.”

Tomi and James married in 2001 after meeting in the 90s, during Tomi’s days as a Janis Joplin impersonator in Las Vegas. They had a son, James Brown II in 2001. Things went left as James put out a full-page notice in Variety that they were separated in 2003.

Do you believe Tomi’s claims? Tell us in the comments!