AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Civil rights leaders, entertainers and legions of fans turned out in force on Saturday for a celebration and funeral for James Brown, whose music and message embodied a generation of revolutionary change for black Americans.
Brown lay in an open-topped golden coffin at the front of the James Brown Arena, which was renamed in honor of Augusta's most famous native son in August. Brown died of congestive heart failure on Christmas Day at the age of 73.
The legendary showman, known as the "Godfather of Soul," was dressed in a black suit and gloves with a ruby red shirt. Jewels sparkled on his lapels and the tips of his shoes.
An overwhelmingly black crowd of about 8,000 packed the arena for the public funeral and celebration following a private funeral on Friday and a viewing of his body at the Apollo Theater in New York.
Some in the crowd at the arena had waited since 9 p.m. on Friday for the start of the public viewing of the body.
Many more disappointed people crowded the outside of the arena but were unable to get in.
"James Brown in my opinion is the greatest singer of all time and I am his number one fan," said Jesse Williamson, 59, who said he first saw Brown perform in 1963.
My youth was "a humiliating time (to be black) but as time went on Martin Luther King, James Brown and others made a difference," he said, referring to the system of racial segregation in the U.
S. South and the civil rights movement.
Brown's music, with its staccato horns and guitars and his often explosive vocals, brought funk into the mainstream and has influenced pop and dance music since the 1960s.
Hip-hop artists revered him and dozens have employed his beats as the backdrop to their own songs. Entertainers such as Michael Jackson, who built their careers in part on their dancing, have drawn inspiration from Brown's style.
The funeral was due to include a musical tributes and speeches.
In advance of the event, civil rights leaders Al Sharpton, a friend of Brown's, and Jesse Jackson appeared before the crowd and soaked up applause.
Activist-comedian Dick Gregory and singer MC Hammer also were on hand for the service, which opened with a rousing set of gospel music.
Brown was born in South Carolina and grew up in poverty in Augusta, beginning his musical career as a juvenile offender in jail.
He later settled in as the most famous son of the city, also known for the Master's golf tournament, and earned a reputation for charitable giving and for eating at local restaurants.
Brown's personal life was turbulent and in 1988 he was jailed for three years for drug and weapons charges.
He had 119 hits including "Please, Please, Please," "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "It's a Man's World" and "Living in America" but his musical influence outweighed his chart success.
He began touring in the 1950s on the all-black rhythm and blues circuit and his rise to national prominence coincided with the era of civil right. Brown became a living embodiment of black pride with "Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)."
"Back in those days you could only get work in a cotton field or as a sharecropper," said Joe Louis Reliford, who grew up in Waycross, south Georgia, and first saw Brown perform in the late 1950s.
"James Brown opened up the door," he said, adding that the show set off a storm among Waycross' black community and many tried to imitate his dance and fashion style.
Brown, who insisted on being called Mr. Brown, styled himself "the hardest-working man in show business" and performed more than 100 live shows this year.
He was due to perform on New Year's Eve in New York's Times Square.
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