In the movie "Dream Girls," who is Eddie Murphey's character based upon?

Eddie Murphy portrays James "Thunder" Early in the Dreamgirls movie. James "Thunder" Early is depicted as a cross between James Brown, Marvin Gaye, and Jackie Wilson.

"Dreamgirls is a Broadway musical, which opened on December 20, 1981 at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway. The musical ran for four years and 1,522 performances, and won six 1982 Tony Awards. Allegedly based upon the history of Motown act The Supremes, Dreamgirls follows the story of a young female singing trio from Detroit, Michigan called "The Dreams", who become music superstars."

"The basic plot of Dreamgirls is derived from the history of The Supremes, a girl-group from Detroit, Michigan, which was Motown's most successful group act during the 1960s.[4] Effie White is a doppelgänger for Florence Ballard, original lead singer of the Supremes; the character's vocal stylings and personality are based upon soul singer Etta James. Diana Ross, who became the central focus of the Supremes and later left the group to pursue a solo career and a brief venture into films, is here adapted into the character of Deena Jones. Supremes member Mary Wilson is represented by Lorrell Robinson. Curtis Taylor, Jr., represents Berry Gordy, Jr., the founder of Motown, who pushed the Supremes towards pop success and became romantically involved with Ross. James "Thunder" Early is depicted as a cross between James Brown, Marvin Gaye, and Jackie Wilson. C. C. White is a collective representative for The Supremes' songwriters, who included the Holland-Dozier-Holland team and Smokey Robinson. Michelle Morris is representative of Cindy Birdsong, Florence Ballard's replacement in The Supremes, which was renamed "Diana Ross & the Supremes" at the time of that line-up change.

Dreamgirls is most dissimilar from The Supremes' story in its second act, which ends with Effie finding success as a solo performer. In real life, Florence Ballard's solo career was unsuccessful and the singer sank into poverty, depression, and alcoholism, dying of cardiac arrest at the age of thirty-two in 1976, just after her career had been revived. The play also shows inspiration from the 1976 feature film Sparkle, which itself was inspired by The Supremes' story.

Michael Bennett, Henry Krieger, Tom Eyen, and the Dreamgirls producers denied and downplayed the connections between the musical's plot and the Supremes' life story, hoping to avoid legal issues from Motown Records and Diana Ross. Mary Wilson loved Dreamgirls, and even named her first autobiography, Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme, after it. Diana Ross, however, was reportedly angered by the musical, and expressed her dislike of it in the media. Though the Deena character mirrors Diana Ross, Sheryl Lee Ralph stands to the fact that she was not trying to imitate Ross, but portrayed Deena in a similar yet distinct style."

He's a composite of several soul singers like James Brown and Jackie Wilson.

I have not seen the movie yet. sorry

i think he sings the sopranos.

(the theme song)