RIP james brown

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I know RIP ( http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=61088 )

 

Mourners pay final tribute to James Brown

 

AUGUSTA, Georgia - Mourners Saturday paid a last tribute to "Godfather of Soul" James Brown, whose body lay in state at a public funeral ceremony in his hometown deep in the US South.

 

Fans of the towering music icon filed silently past the open, white-lined casket set among huge wreaths at the center of the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia.

 

The Reverend Al Sharpton, a civil rights advocate, former presidential contender and close friend of Brown, was scheduled to participate later in the day in what was dubbed a "Homecoming Celebration."

 

The event was was the final tribute for Brown, who was honored on Thursday at the famed Apollo Theater in New York's Harlem neighborhood, and at a private ceremony relatives held in Augusta on Friday.

 

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 Christmas Day. He was 73.

 

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.

 

For the past days, mournful and adoring fans have flocked to a statue of Brown leaving flowers, records and messages at its feet.

 

The bronze statue, depicting Brown microphone-in-hand and shrouded in an American flag, stands in a square named after the famous singer.

 

Augusta recently adopted "We Feel Good" as its city motto -- a play on Brown's 1965 hit "I Got You (I Feel Good)." AFP