A new CNN investigative series about James Brown is about to be launched in the wake of a dozen people close to the legendary singer who want an autopsy or a criminal investigation into his death.
Among the skeptics about how Brown died on Christmas Day 2006 are Dr. Marvin Crawford, who signed the death certificate and said in an exclusive interview with CNN that he never believed Brown died of natural causes.
“He changed too fast,” Crawford said. “He was a patient I would never have predicted would have coded. … But he died that night, and I did raise that question: What went wrong in that room?”
Brown’s official cause of death at age 73 was a heart attack and fluid in the lungs. His manager, widow, son and several friends and associates all claim to have questions about the death — questions that can only be answered by forensic investigators, according to CNN.
CNN’s three-part series, which features interviews with nearly 140 people, also examines the 1996 death of Brown’s third wife, Adrienne, who reportedly died while recovering from plastic surgery.