By Matthew Bigg
AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Civil rights leaders, entertainers and fans turned out in force on Saturday at a funky funeral for James Brown, whose music and message embodied a generation of revolutionary change for black Americans.
Even singer Michael Jackson made a rare public appearance, entering the funeral to massive applause as Brown's band, The Soul Generals, performed Brown's old hits to an overwhelmingly black crowd of 9,000.
Brown's body lay in an open-topped golden coffin in front of the stage at the James Brown Arena, which was renamed in honour of Augusta's most famous native son in August.
He 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.
It was his third costume change in three days, CNN reported, following a private funeral on Friday and a viewing of his body at the Apollo Theatre in New York the day before.
Some fans said they had waited since 9 p.m.
local time 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.
Williamson said his youth was "a humiliating time (to be black) but as time went on Martin Luther King, James Brown and others made a difference" in over coming racial segregation.
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 Jackson, who built their careers in part on their dancing, have drawn inspiration from Brown's style.
The funeral started with a video of Brown's most recent concerts in London, followed by a rousing gospel set, and included a tribute by civil rights leader Al Sharpton.
CHANGED THE WORLD'S BEAT
"The whole world changed their beat because of James Brown," Sharpton said.
Sharpton invited Michael Jackson, who has spent little time in the United States since being acquitted of child molestation charges in 2005, on stage.
"James Brown is my greatest inspiration," Jackson said, telling the crowd how his mother would wake him up at night so he could watch Brown on television.
"I've never seen a performer perform like James Brown and I knew right then and there that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life," he said.
Also on hand were civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, activist-comedian Dick Gregory and singer MC Hammer.
Brown was born in South Carolina and grew up in poverty in Augusta, beginning his musical career while a juvenile offender in jail.
He later settled in 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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