VARIOUS: Thousands of James Brown fans wait for the chance to bid farewell to the "Godfather of Soul"

Thousands of James Brown fans lined up on Thursday (December 28) in New York's Harlem neighbourhood to say farewell to the late "Godfather of Soul" at a public viewing of his body. The 73-year-old entertainer -- whose voice, showmanship and bold rhythms brought funk into the mainstream and influenced a generation of black music -- died on Christmas of congestive heart failure in Atlanta. Brown's body, inside a gold casket, was driven on a 20 block trip by a horse-drawn carriage before it made it's way through the streets of Harlem to the Apollo Theater. Outside the theater, hundreds of Brown's fans including a few impersonators, waited to see their icon, whose legacy reached far beyond just his musical influence. Several hours after the casket arrived at the Apollo, fans were let in to view Brown's body. Brown's hits played in the background as well wishers passed by to pay tribute to the music legend. Reverend Al Sharpton, who arranged the viewing, stood by Brown's body, which was draped in one of Brown's iconic flashy suits. After viewing the body, fans poured out of the theater with mixed reactions. Antoinette Taylor and her friends came out of the theater dancing to a Brown song playing on a small radio being held by Taylor's friend. Taylor who walks with the aide of a walker, said she was there to celebrate Brown's life and his legend. "It was beautiful. It was awesome to see him stretched out like that." Taylor's friend was fixated on just how good the singer looked even after he died. "He even had on the matching shoes. A real typical James Brown outfit. He couldn't have gone any better than what he was. And then on the sign says in red and white "Godfather."" Other fans weren't as celebratory. They were fixated on the man that died and the music that he left behind. "I don't know what we gonna do for funk. I don't know what we gonna do now that we lost the Godfather," long-time fan John T. Thomas said. And Marc Pickett, a performer himself, said he was deeply impacted by seeing Brown's body. "The reality hits you, you know - he's gone." The public viewing at the Apollo will continue into the evening. Later Brown's body will be taken to his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, for a private service on Friday (December 29). Another public viewing is planned for Saturday (December 30) before Brown is buried. The Grammy-award winning singer was one of America's great showmen and band leaders. He created a revolutionary sound that mixed funky rhythms and staccato horns behind his own often explosive vocals. Hip hop and rap artists revered him and extensively used his beats as the backdrop for their own music, while singers like Michael Jackson drew on his dance style. Brown, the self-proclaimed "hardest working man in show business," performed more than 100 live shows this year and had been scheduled to perform in New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve. Brown had more than 119 singles on the charts and recorded over 50 albums. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a lifetime Grammy achievement award. His big hits included "Please, Please, Please," "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine)" and "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World." But Brown's personal life was quite turbulent. He was jailed in 1988 for drug, weapons and vehicular charges after a car chase through Georgia and South Carolina that ended when police shot out the tires of his truck. He left prison in 1991. He was named to President Reagan's council against drugs, but was arrested several times in the mid-1980s and 1990s and charged with drug and weapons possession.

ITN Source | January 4, 2007

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