Concurrent Term for Singer Brown

A judge on Friday urged imprisoned soul singer James Brown to refrain from using drugs but did not lengthen his jail time for having drugs in his system during a probation check in December.

Circuit Judge Rodney Peeples revoked a probationary sentence Brown received July 24 after his conviction for resisting arrest and carrying a pistol. Brown could have been ordered to serve a one-year jail term.

But Peeples dismissed six months of that sentence and ordered the “Godfather of Soul” to serve the remaining time concurrently with a six-year prison term that Brown began serving Dec. 29 after his conviction on charges stemming from a Sept. 24 car chase.

Brown, 55, said he is faring well in prison. He said he is getting a much-needed rest, learning to cook and counseling other inmates at the State Park Correctional Institute near Columbia.