Soul legend's final homecoming

2006-12-27 08:38

Maynard Eaton

Atlanta - Soul legend James Brown will be buried on Saturday in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia after a viewing at New York's Apollo Theatre, where he often played.

Brown, 73, died in a Georgia hospital on Christmas Day of complications from pneumonia.

Brown's managers said that at the request of Brown's long-time friend and activist Al Sharpton, "Apollo Theater has allowed (public) viewing of James Brown in state?with family and management in attendance," Intrigue Music said.

Thousands of celebrities, dignitaries, friends and fans are expected to queue at the Apollo to bid farewell to the man whose music helped fuel rhythm and blues, funk, disco and Hip Hop.

On Friday, the CA Reid Funeral Home in Augusta, Georgia will hold a private ceremony for Brown's family members, which will be followed by a Saturday "Homecoming Celebration" at the city's 8 000-capacity James Brown Arena, also open to the public.

"It will be a chance for all of the fans from the Augusta area and the people he grew up with, to have a chance to see him before he's gone for the last time," said funeral home co-president Marcus Reid.

"The Apollo will be the national stage, while Augusta will be his 'home-going,'" he added.

Brown, a towering musical figure who shaped American rhythm-and-blues, funk and disco genres for a half-century died lamenting that he would be unable to perform in one final blow-out gig on New Year's Eve.

"Mr Brown's greatest regret was he wouldn't play on New Year's Eve" at the BB King Blues Club and Grill in New York City, family friend Charles Bobbit told reporters on Monday.

He said that Brown had been coughing for some months, but had taken a turn for the worse over the past couple of weeks.

"He expired very quietly," said Bobbit. He said Brown's last words were: 'I'm going away tonight.'"

His final performance on Thursday was at the emporium that helped launch his career 50 years ago.

In his final moments, the legendary singer "lay at the foot of the bed and he sighed, very, very quietly three times, then he closed his eyes and he was dead."

The self-proclaimed "Soul Brother Number One" and "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business," inspired generations of musicians, from Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Michael Jackson to rappers who heavily sample his groove-driven music.

His powerful reach extended into US 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" (1968).

'Godfather of Soul'

In a White House statement, President George W Bush said he and his wife, Laura, were "saddened" by Brown's death.

"For half a century, the innovative talent of the 'Godfather of Soul' enriched our culture and influenced generations of musicians," Bush said.

Brown was a charter inductee in 1968 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

"This much is certain: what became known as 'soul music' in the '60s, funk music in the 70s and rap music in the 80s is directly attributable to James Brown," The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum wrote on its website.

Among a slew of awards, Brown won two Grammys, a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 1992 and received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in December 2003.

The singer grew up in poverty in the South, turning to music in the late 1950s after early scrapes with the law.

Born in 1933 in Barnwell, South Carolina, his parents separated when he was four. He grew up in a brothel run by his aunt in Augusta, where a giant statue of him stands in a square that bears his name.

Brown was married four times. He had a child with his last wife, backup singer Tommie Raye Hynie.

- AFP