He was supposed to be playing BB King’s on New Year’s Eve but he’s appearing at the Apollo instead. This from New York 1:
The Godfather of Soul will get a New York-style tribute Thursday, when he lies in state at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
Tomorrow afternoon and evening the public will get the chance to say their goodbyes to James Brown in person, starting at 1 p.m. His close friend Reverend Al Sharpton will deliver a sermon at 7:30 p.m.
The viewing brings Brown’s life and career full circle, since the Apollo is where he made his debut more than 40 years ago.
He will be buried in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, where dozens of fans gathered Tuesday to remember the rock legend.
There will be a private service for the family Friday in Augusta on Friday, led by Sharpton. Saturday, there will be a Homecoming Celebration at the James Brown Arena, which will be open to the public.
Brown died of heart failure Christmas morning at an Atlanta hospital, where he was being treated for pneumonia.
The revolutionary performer is often viewed as the inspiration for rap and funk music. His trademark dancing inspired other music greats, like Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger.
Sharpton, a longtime friend of Brown’s, says Brown was more than just an entertainer.
"I never had a father at home growing up, but I had James Brown,” said Sharpton. “I had him personally and I had him with the world. James Brown was not just a guy who made a lot of hits. He changed culture for us. He made the common man matter. We’ve lost more than an artist. We lost a way of life."
“He is one of few people that I have ever known that believed what he was doing,” said Brown’s personal manager Charles Bobbit. “He was all for children, all for America, and all for love."
Brown won several Grammies, including one for lifetime achievement. He was also one of the first artists inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Brown’s life was marred by drug addiction. He also spent time in prison in the early 1990s.
He was set to play BB King’s Blues Club in Times Square this weekend.
And, Director Spike Lee said Wednesday that he is on board to make a movie based on the singer’s life. The film, which will be produced by Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment, is an authorized biography agreed to by Brown before his passing. Production could begin late next year.
Meanwhile, Brown’s widow says she hasn’t been allowed back into the home the couple shared.
Tomi Rae Hynie told the Augusta Chronicle that when she returned yesterday to the South Carolina home the couple shared, she found the gates padlocked and security guards barring her entrance.
Brown’s lawyer says the singer’s partner was locked out of their home for legal reasons. He says the couple was not legally married because Hynie was already married to another man when she married Brown in 2001, making her marriage to the singer null. Hynie later annulled the previous marriage, but she and Brown were never remarried.
Hynie says she does not own a deed to the house, but does have a legal right to live there with the couple’s 5-year-old son.