James Brown had at least nine children, and some counts reach thirteen. Wikipedia lists eleven he acknowledged, though that figure carries a citation-needed flag. Six adult children were named in his will when it was read on January 11, 2007.
Most readers searching for James Brown children want three things: who the children are, how many there were, and what happened to them after 2006. The answers are messier than a simple list, because the sources disagree and the family spent fifteen years in court
Quick Facts About James Brown Children
| Detail | Fact |
|---|---|
| Full name | James Joseph Brown |
| Born | May 3, 1933, Barnwell, South Carolina |
| Died | December 25, 2006, Atlanta, Georgia (age 73) |
| Number of children | 9 to 13, depending on the source |
| Children acknowledged (per Wikipedia) | 11 |
| Adult children named in the will | 6 (Terry, Larry, Daryl, Yamma, Deanna and Venisha) |
| Marriages | 3 (Velma Warren, Deidre Jenkins, Adrienne Rodriguez) |
| Eldest son | Teddy Brown (1954 to 1973), died in a car crash |
| Youngest child | James Brown II, born June 11, 2001 |
| Children who have died | Teddy Brown (1973) and Venisha Brown (2018) |
| Grandchildren (per Wikipedia) | 8, plus 4 great-grandchildren |
| Will signed | August 1, 2000 |
| Estate dispute settled | July 9, 2021, after about 15 years |
| Estimated estate value | $5 million to $100 million or more |
| Burial | Crypt at a daughter’s home in Beech Island, South Carolina |
How Many Children Did James Brown Have?
The honest answer is somewhere between nine and thirteen. Wikipedia’s infobox gives “9 to 13,” and a 2022 AfroTech piece syndicated on Yahoo Finance profiles nine. The difference comes from children who were never formally acknowledged.
A 2007 report in the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph said DNA tests showed Brown fathered at least three children outside his marriages. LaRhonda Pettit, born in 1962, was the first of those identified. Wikipedia describes her as a retired flight attendant and teacher living in Houston.
Another man, Michael Deon Brown, was born in September 1968. Brown pleaded no contest to a paternity suit over him in 1983 but never officially called him his son.
Even the names shift between sources. An older Wikipedia version lists Lisa Brown and James Joseph Brown III among the children. The current one lists Cinnamon Brown, Jeanette Bellinger and LaRhonda Petitt instead, and spells Pettit two ways. Treat any single list with caution, including this one.
The Mothers Behind the Family
Brown married three times before his final relationship. His first marriage, to Velma Warren in 1953, produced one son. They divorced in 1969 but stayed close friends until his death.
His second wife was Deidre “Deedee” Jenkins, whom he married in 1970. They had two daughters and separated in 1974, after what one of those daughters describes as years of domestic abuse. They divorced in 1981.
His third marriage, to Adrienne Rodriguez in 1984, made headlines for abuse complaints. She died in 1996. Wikipedia does not list children from that marriage.
The last child came from his relationship with Tomi Rae Hynie, a backup singer he hired for his band. Their son was born in 2001, and the legal status of her marriage to Brown later became the center of the estate fight.
The Sons of James Brown
1: Teddy Brown
Teddy was the eldest son, born in 1954 during Brown’s first marriage. He died in a car crash on June 14, 1973, at 19. Billboard has reported on his death, and it left Brown’s family with a loss decades before the estate battle began.
2: Terry and Larry Brown
Little public information exists about Terry Brown, the second son, beyond the fact that Brown acknowledged him in his will. According to the AfroTech profile, Larry Brown has kept a low profile. Both were among the six adult children named in the will.
3: Daryl Brown
Daryl is the most visible of the sons. He played in his father’s backing band, and in 2014 he published a memoir titled “My Father the Godfather,” which describes growing up as James Brown’s son.
4: James Brown II
James Joseph Brown II was born on June 11, 2001, to Tomi Rae Hynie. Brown gave him his own name, the only child he did that for, according to Hynie’s Wikipedia entry. His paternity was disputed after Brown died, but DNA testing confirmed he was Brown’s biological son.
The AfroTech profile says he is an aspiring musician who posts song covers on Instagram. He was not named in his father’s will, which was signed about ten months before he was born.
The Daughters of James Brown
1: Dr. Yamma Noyola Brown Lumar
Yamma chose a career far from the stage. According to Atlanta Magazine, she earned a doctorate from the Mercer University School of Pharmacy. She was one of the six adult children named in the will.
2: Deanna Brown Thomas
Deanna has become the family’s public voice on her father’s legacy. The AfroTech profile says she runs the James Brown Family Foundation. On April 24, 2023, she accepted her father’s induction into the Atlantic City Walk of Fame on his behalf.
3: Venisha Brown
Venisha was born in 1964 and died in 2018 at age 53. Billboard reported the cause as complications from pneumonia, the same illness that led to her father’s death. She was also named in the will.
4: Lisa Brown and Other Daughters
The New York Times, as cited by AfroTech, calls Lisa Brown the first daughter, but little is known about her life. Wikipedia’s current list adds LaRhonda Petitt, Cinnamon Brown and Jeanette Bellinger. Public reporting on them is thin, and this article does not guess at details it cannot source.
What James Brown’s Will Said About His Children
Brown signed his will on August 1, 2000, in front of attorney J. Strom Thurmond Jr. When it was read on January 11, 2007, Thurmond confirmed the six adult children were named: Terry, Larry, Daryl, Yamma, Deanna and Venisha.
Tomi Rae Hynie and her son were not named. The will predated the boy’s birth and the disputed marriage, and a separate irrevocable trust from that same year left them out as well.
Deadline reported that Brown left most of his fortune to a trust and his personal effects to some of his children. He also set aside $2 million for his grandchildren’s education. The trust was meant to fund scholarships for disadvantaged children in South Carolina and Georgia.
The plan reflects something Brown said publicly for decades. He dropped out of school as a boy and later recorded “Don’t Be a Drop-Out,” with royalties going to dropout-prevention charities. A week before he died, he was still handing out toys and turkeys at an Atlanta orphanage.
The 15-Year Fight Over the Estate
The dispute began within weeks of Brown’s death on Christmas Day 2006. On January 24, 2007, his children sued to remove the estate’s personal representatives, including attorney Albert “Buddy” Dallas, citing perceived impropriety and alleged mismanagement. A week later, Hynie sued to challenge the will and be recognized as his widow.
A compromise reached in the late 2000s would have divided the estate among Hynie and the children. Digital Music News reported that the South Carolina Supreme Court later overturned it because it disregarded the will.
In January 2015, a probate judge ruled Hynie was the legal widow. The state Supreme Court then stepped in and paused the lower court’s work, and in 2018 the Court of Appeals also called her the wife. On June 17, 2020, the South Carolina Supreme Court reversed course, ruling she was never legally married to Brown and had no claim to his estate.
The Associated Press reported that the family reached a settlement on July 9, 2021, and the terms were not disclosed. The New York Times, as reported by Rolling Stone, said the deal was expected to give heirs termination rights over Brown’s older publishing deals on his 900-song catalog. It also said James II was recognized as a participant in the settlement.
The fight even reached Brown’s body. Family members disagreed over a burial site for more than two months, and the AP reported his casket sat in cold storage at a funeral home during that time. He was eventually buried in a crypt at his daughter’s home in Beech Island, South Carolina.
The estate’s value has never been settled. Estimates range from about $5 million (Entertainment Weekly) to $100 million or more (The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline), so any single figure should be read as an estimate.
Where the James Brown Family Stands Today
AfroTech reported in December 2021 that the estate was sold to Primary Wave Music for $90 million. The proceeds were directed to the James Brown scholarship trust, according to the estate’s executor, Russell L. Bauknight. That matters because the estate said in 2018 that no scholarship money had been paid, as the probate litigation had blocked it.
AfroTech also noted that it was unclear how the sale would interact with any litigation still pending at the time. This is worth rechecking before relying on it.
Deanna Brown Thomas continues to lead the family foundation and appears at tributes to her father. Daryl Brown’s book remains the most direct first-hand account from any of the sons. James Brown II is the youngest of the family and the only one born after his father’s most public years had passed.
The sons and daughters are best understood as people who inherited a name and a fight over it. Brown left them a scholarship plan, a catalog that hip-hop has sampled for decades, and a family story shaped as much by lawyers as by music.