Velma Warren Brown Forgot She Divorced the Godfather of Soul
Clark Dark reporting for YouThinkWhat on James Brown's first wife Velma Warren Brown's claim to his estate. Clark?
Picture it. The year is 1953.... Richmond County Georgia. The city of Augusta is located in this county. Augusta is the hometown of the soul singer/entertainer James Brown. He has just married 19 year old Velma Warren Brown.
Picture this. It's 16 years later Velma Warren Brown is 35 years old with three sons, Teddy, Terry and Larry, all from Brown. She has filed for divorce from the now widely famous singer Brown.
Fast forward to December 2006. The world mourns the death of James Brown. Controversy ensues as his last wife, back up singer and dancer, Toni Rae Hynie, makes claim to his estate. She claims to have married him in 2001. That union is in dispute due to the fact Hynie concealed a prior marriage from Brown, prompting him to file for an annulment.
Today nearly one year after his death there are reports of one Velma Warren Brown, age 73, making claim to his estate. She says they never divorced. She says Brown never served her with papers for divorce nor had she signed any papers for divorce. However the New York Times says a Nexis/Lexis legal database search found a Georgia divorce record for James Brown and Velma Warren was filed in Richmond County in 1969 and it appears Velma Warren Brown made the filing.
An attorney and trustee for the Brown estate, says there is in fact, a filed divorce decree from 1969 in the county records.
Had Velma Warren Brown's statement been true, that she and Brown did not divorce,
it would make the subsequent marriages of Brown in 1970-81 to Deidre "Deedee" Jenkins and his 1984-96 marriage to Adrienne Rodriguez invalid. It would also decisvely bring to a close any claim made on his assets by Brown's fourth wife Toni Rae Hynie.
Velma Warren Brown's attorney David B. Bell, who filed the papers stating her claim says he was unaware of the divorce decree filed in Richmond County.
We suppose the divorce just slipped her mind. Time does that. As you get older you forget certain things.
Who am I? Oh that's right I'm Clark Dark for... YouThinkWhat
Visit Our Forum: Tell Us What You Think! READ MORE! CONTINUES HERE!
Picture it. The year is 1953.... Richmond County Georgia. The city of Augusta is located in this county. Augusta is the hometown of the soul singer/entertainer James Brown. He has just married 19 year old Velma Warren Brown.
Picture this. It's 16 years later Velma Warren Brown is 35 years old with three sons, Teddy, Terry and Larry, all from Brown. She has filed for divorce from the now widely famous singer Brown.
Fast forward to December 2006. The world mourns the death of James Brown. Controversy ensues as his last wife, back up singer and dancer, Toni Rae Hynie, makes claim to his estate. She claims to have married him in 2001. That union is in dispute due to the fact Hynie concealed a prior marriage from Brown, prompting him to file for an annulment.
Today nearly one year after his death there are reports of one Velma Warren Brown, age 73, making claim to his estate. She says they never divorced. She says Brown never served her with papers for divorce nor had she signed any papers for divorce. However the New York Times says a Nexis/Lexis legal database search found a Georgia divorce record for James Brown and Velma Warren was filed in Richmond County in 1969 and it appears Velma Warren Brown made the filing.
An attorney and trustee for the Brown estate, says there is in fact, a filed divorce decree from 1969 in the county records.
Had Velma Warren Brown's statement been true, that she and Brown did not divorce,
it would make the subsequent marriages of Brown in 1970-81 to Deidre "Deedee" Jenkins and his 1984-96 marriage to Adrienne Rodriguez invalid. It would also decisvely bring to a close any claim made on his assets by Brown's fourth wife Toni Rae Hynie.
Velma Warren Brown's attorney David B. Bell, who filed the papers stating her claim says he was unaware of the divorce decree filed in Richmond County.
We suppose the divorce just slipped her mind. Time does that. As you get older you forget certain things.
Who am I? Oh that's right I'm Clark Dark for... YouThinkWhat
Visit Our Forum: Tell Us What You Think! READ MORE! CONTINUES HERE!