Friday, 29th December 2006 (1433 views)

Fans have turned out in their thousands to pay their respects to singer James Brown, who died in the US on Christmas Day.

The singer's body lies in an open gold coffin at New York's Apollo Theater, allowing many of his fans to send the great man off in style.

The ostentatious casket, which is in keeping with Brown's personality and on-stage performances, was driven from a Georgian funeral parlour on Wednesday before arriving in Harlem on Thursday morning, from where it taken on a horse-drawn procession to the theatre.

Brown's singing career began at the Apollo in 1956 and, according to friend and manager, Charles Bobbit, there had been plans to return there for a number of shows.

"He told me two weeks ago to book the Apollo for two days," he remembered.

"He said, 'Let's play two days at the Apollo, and we'll see the lines again around the block.'"

Brown died of heart failure at the age of 73.

 

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