AUGUSTA, Ga. (Reuters) - Soul singer James Brown has been placed in a hospital in South Carolina because family members were concerned about his health. The Augusta, Georgia, Chronicle, quoting Aiken County sheriff's reports, said in its online edition that Brown, 69, was served at his Beech Island home. Aiken sheriff's spokesman Lt. Michael Frank was quoted as saying Brown had been taken to a Columbia-area hospital after being taken to the emergency room of Aiken Regional Medical Center for a mental health evaluation but not being admitted. Officials were not immediately available to comment on the report. An attorney for Brown, Albert "Buddy" Dallas, was quoted as saying that the self-styled "Godfather of Soul" was taking a "long, well-deserved rest" after five years of touring. The newspaper said deputies confiscated a .30-caliber Winchester rifle and a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun from Brown's home on Thursday. Brown has spent more than 40 years in show business and was honored a year ago with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He spent two years in prison after leading police in 1988 on a high-speed car chase through Georgia and South Carolina. Brown's wife, Adrienne, died in January 1996.