Primary Wave Music buys James Brown’s Estate For $90M To Move Forth On His Legacy

James Brown wanted to use his estate to fund scholarships for needy children. Fifteen years after the death of the “Godfather of Soul,” that wish is coming closer to reality, the New York Times recently reported. 

Primary Wave Music, which already owns interests in Whitney Houston’s estate and Prince’s among others, is buying James Brown’s estate’s assets for an estimated $90 million. The deal will include music rights, real estate and control of the singer’s name and likeness.

The executor of the estate, Russell L. Bauknight, said the money will be used to endow the Brown scholarship trust “in perpetuity.” The deal includes a provision for Primary Wave to contribute a “small percentage” of some deals to the scholarship trust.

The estate has been involved in litigation for 15 years as several people, including five children of Brown, tried to get the will set aside and gain significant shares of the estate. Additionally, there are lawsuits filed by the current and former executors which must be decided or settled before any money can be paid out, Mr. Bauknight said.

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The family of entertainer James Brown has reached a settlement ending a 15-year battle over the late singer’s estate back in July, and last year, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Tomi Rae Hynie, purportedly one of Brown’s former partners who claimed to be his wife who made one of several bizarre headlines after Browns death, after she was reportedly locked out of his 60-acre estate while photographers captured her sobbing and shaking its iron gates, begging to be let in, had not been legally married to Brown and therefore did not have a right to his multimillion dollar estate.

Justices also ordered a circuit court to “promptly proceed with the probate of Brown’s estate in accordance with his estate plan,” which outlined creation of a trust that would use his music royalties to fund educational expenses for children in South Carolina and Georgia.