Pop superstar Michael Jackson headlined a throng of fans, friends and family who paid a final, soulful tribute to James Brown, at a funeral ceremony in the hometown of the late ”Godfather of Soul.”
”James Brown, I shall miss you, and I love you so much,” Jackson said in a brief eulogy, his thin voice cracking with emotion. ”James Brown is my biggest inspiration,” he said to loud cheers.
More than 8 000 people packed the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia, and many filed silently past the white-lined golden casket, in which Brown, known for his flashy outfits, lay clad in a black suit and gloves and a ruby shirt.
The sombre mood turned electric and joyful as friends of the soul icon played some of James Brown’s groove-driven hits, such as I Got You (I Feel Good) and Get Up.
The crowd swayed, clapped and sang along as the bands, which included former Temptations singer Ali Woodson, Minister Derrick Monk, and The Soul Generals, belted out their tributes to the ”hardest working man in show business”.
Also among those who took the stage was Tomi Rae Hynie, who had lived with Brown for the past five years and mothered one of his children.
Brown’s booming voice reverberated across the arena as footage of some of his electrifying performances was played on a giant screen during the ceremony dubbed a ”homecoming celebration”.
”Yes, he was an amazing entertainer, but he was also an amazingly influential black activist,” said Lee Sullivan, an Atlanta poet.
Brown’s powerful reach extended into United States political and cultural life in the late 1960s when he gave voice to the civil rights movement with such hits as Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud.
”He was born with little, inherited nothing and left a lot,” said African-American leader Jesse Jackson. ”Good God,” he said using one of Brown’s famed exclamations. ”What a life, what a legacy!”
Brown, who shaped American rhythm-and-blues, funk and disco genres for a half-century and was a charter inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, died of complications from pneumonia in the state capital, Atlanta, on December 25. He was 73.
”God had a birthday concert for Jesus on Christmas Day,” Deanna Brown, one of the music star’s daughters, said in a tearful eulogy.
Brown, also known as ”Mr Dynamite,” had performed as many as 100 shows a year, and at the time of his death, he had been scheduled to headline a New Year’s Eve bash at the BB King Blues Club and Grill in New York.
”He was a mighty powerful man,” said Donna McCloud, a 30-year-old chemical engineer who flew in from Kingston, Jamaica to pay her respects to the famed soulman.
”His influence is felt throughout the world,” she said.
Born in the small South Carolina town of Barnwell in 1933, Brown moved at the age of four to Augusta, where he grew up in a brothel run by his aunt.
Brown, who once shined shoes for small change and has had several run-ins with the law, skyrocketed to fame in the 1950s and has sold millions of records.
”Nobody started lower and went higher than James Brown did,” the reverend Al Sharpton said of the singer, songwriter and bandleader, who electrified audiences with his husky voice, dazzling footwork and tight rhythms for five decades.
”James Brown was a man’s man. He stood up like a man, he lived like a man, and, on Christmas Day, he died like a man” said Sharpton, a civil rights activist who was once Brown’s road manager.
Saturday’s event was the final tribute for Brown, who was honoured on Thursday at the famed Apollo Theatre in New York’s Harlem neighbourhood, and at a private ceremony that relatives held in Augusta on Friday.
Known for his frequent costume changes, Brown was clad in a different outfit at each of the three ceremonies.
After Saturday’s tribute, family and close friends escorted the coffin for a private burial. – AFP
