JAMES BROWN'S DAUGHTERS DEANNA & YAMMA Our Father's Complicated Legacy

THE MUSIC LEGEND'S DAUGHTERS LOOK BACK ON HIS BARRIER-BREAKING CAREER AND HIS HEARTBREAKING HISTORY OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

- DANIELA AVILA

James Brown mesmerized fans with his soulful vocals for more than five decades. But that powerful voice could also incite fear in his family at home. "His voice was a little scary to listen to sometimes because there were times when I heard him scream," recalls Brown's pharmacist daughter Yamma Brown, 51, who-along with her radio and TV personality sister Deanna Brown Thomas, 55-often witnessed her father hit their mother, Deidre Jenkins, when she was young.

Yamma was about 6 when she decided to stand up to her dad during one of his many moments of rage and attempted to pull Brown away from her mom. "Those types of memories are [imprinted] in your brain," Yamma says. That episode was the last time she saw her famous father hurt her mother, but their rocky home life left a lasting impact on her and Deanna. "There was a time when I didn't like my father because of this type of behavior," Deanna says. "I saw a lot growing up-which could have damaged me for a lifetime."

The sisters eventually forgave their dad, who died of congestive heart failure caused by pneumonia in 2006 at age 73, and found peace with their tumultuous childhood. "To heal and grow, we give each other grace," Yamma: says. "He was human because he was flawed." Now the sisters are revisiting Brown's complicated legacy. The new docuseries James Brown: Say It Loud (available on demand and streaming on the A&E app and aetv.com) chronicles his life and career, from growing up in the Jim Crow-era South and dropping out of school in seventh grade to becoming a music legend and social justice crusader. "