Motown Funk Brother James Jamerson’s Home Town Renames Street In His Honor

The birthplace of the late Motown bass playing giant and ever-influential “Funk Brother” James Jamerson is to rename a street in his honor next month.

The town of Edisto Island in South Carolina was the birthplace of the musician whose fluid basslines illuminated so many timeless Motown classics. Also a member of Edisto’s New 1st Missionary Baptist Church, he then moved to Detroit with his mother as a teenager. He went on to make unforgettable contributions to such landmarks as the Miracles’ “Going To A Go Go,” the Temptations’ “My Girl,” the Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love,” the Four Tops’ “Bernadette,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and endless others.

On August 19 at 4.30pm, the street will be renamed James Lee Jamerson Memorial Highway at the corner of Steamboat Landing Road and Highway 174. Guest speakers will include local dignitaries. Immediately afterwards, from 6pm to 8pm, a musical tribute to Jamerson will take place at Edisto Beach Civic Center. A “dynamic stage show” is promised, with a live performance by the Charleston Funk Brothers, singers and dancers recreating some of Motown’s greatest hits on which he featured.

The gathering will be hosted by Carlette Geddis and Greg Estevez, and MCs are Anthony McKnight and Kidd Shanard of Magic 107.3. Monetary donations are requested to help underwrite the event, and more details are available at the Edisto Chamber of Commerce website.

This follows the passing of a motion in the South Carolina General Assembly granting a request that the Department of Transportation “rename Steamboat Landing Road in Charleston County ‘James Lee Jamerson Memorial Highway’ and erect appropriate markers or signs along this road containing these words.”

In the summer of 2021, some 38 years after his death, Jamerson’s gravesite in Detroit, which previously featured only a simple faceplate as per the rules of Woodlawn Cemetery, was upgraded with a new headstone. The black marble block has an image of the great bassist and the inscription “Loving husband, father, son and musician,” and is topped by a bronze sculpture of his Fender Precision bass.

Listen to uDiscover Music’s James Jamerson playlist on Spotify.