Bush, Jagger pay tribute to Godfather of Soul

A day after James Brown died of a heart attack, admirers from Rolling Stones' frontman Mick Jagger to the U.S. president to rapper Snoop Dogg have been paying tribute to the man known as the Godfather of Soul.

"His passing is a huge loss to music," said Jagger, whoadmits he was inspired by Brown's rapid footworkon stage.

"He was a whirlwind of energy and precision, and he was always very generous and supportive to me in the early days of The Stones. I've always been a huge admirer of him as a performer and a band leader."

Brown died in Atlanta on Monday at age 73, after being admitted to hospital two days earlier because ofpneumonia.

U.S. President George W.Bush said Brown was "an American original his fans came from all walks of life and backgrounds. James Brown's family and friends are in our thoughts and prayers this Christmas."

Fans leave mementos for Brown

On Tuesday, fans left candles on Brown's Hollywood Walk of Fame star in Los Angeles and left mementos and flowers at his statue in his boyhood hometown of Augusta, Ga.

Brown,one of the major musical figures of the past five decades,was among theinitial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Elvis Presley andChuck Berry.

'He'll be missed, but his music and his legacy will live on through me, in every way you can imagine. Soul Brother No. 1 we miss you, James Brown.' -Rapper Snoop Dogg

A founding father ofrap, funk and disco, Brown was known for hits such as I Got You (I Feel Good), Get Up (I Feel Like Being Like A) Sex Machine and It's a Man's Man's Man's World.

A musical innovator throughout his career, Brown'srevolutionary rhythms not to mention his flamboyant outfits, shimmering footwork and wild hairstyles profoundly influenced generations of musicians, from Jagger, Prince, David Bowie and Michael Jackson to Public Enemy, Ice-Tand the dozens of other rappers who sampled his tracks.

He won a Grammy award for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for Papa's Got a Brand New Bag (best R&B recording) and for Living In America in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.)

Brown's Say It Loud I'm Black and I'm Proud, released at the height of the civil rights movement in the United States in 1968, was an inspirational message for a generation of black musicians, both in the country and beyond its borders.

"I am hurt," rapper Snoop Dogg said after hearing of Brown's death.

"That's my godfather, my soul inspiration, the hardest working man in show business of all time. He'll be missed, but his music and his legacy will live on through me, in every way you can imagine. Soul Brother No. 1 we miss you, James Brown."

"Y'all lost the Godfather of Soul, but I lost my father," Brown's daughter, Venisha Brown, told the Augusta Chronicle.

"I know the whole world loved him just as much as we loved him, so we're not mourning by ourselves."

Refunds for Canadian shows

Often termed "the hardest working man in show business," Brown was scheduled to perform in Times Square in New York on New Year's Eve.

He had a tour of Canada planned in early January that would have taken him to Montreal, Ottawa, Orillia, Ont., Edmonton, Calgary and the B.C. cities Coquitlam and Prince George.

People who planned to attend these shows have been promised refunds where they bought their tickets.

Sharpton to conduct funeral

Brown's funeral arrangements have yet to be determined.

"He made soul music a world music," said Rev. Al Sharpton, a friend and admirer of Brown's who will officiate at the funeral.

"What James Brown was to music in terms of soul and hip hop, rap, all of that, is what Bach was to classical music. This is a guy who literally changed the music industry. He put everybody on a different beat, a different style of music. He pioneered it."

Brown's wife locked out

The controversy that often dogged Brown's personal life continued after his death, as his attorneys locked the gates to his home, barring his wife, Tomi Rae Hynie, and their son from the property.

The couple had had a sometimes tumultuous relationship. Brown pleaded guilty in 2004 to a domestic violence charge stemming from an argument with Hynie and paid a fine.

'I don't have any money. I don't have anywhere to go.' -Brown's partner, Tomi Rae Hynie

Hynie, 36, returned to Brown's home in Beech Island, S.C., on Monday to find it padlocked.

Brown's lawyer said Tuesday she was locked out ofthe home for estate legal reasons.

"It's not a reflection on her as an individual," lawyer Buddy Dallas said. "I have not even been in the house, nor will I until appropriate protocol is followed."

The lawyer said Brown and Hynie were not legally married and the estate has been left in trust to his children.

Hynie, who was one of Brown's backup singers,was already married to a Texas man when she married Brown in 2001,making her marriage to Brown null, Dallas said. She later annulled the previous marriage, but she and Brown never remarried.

"I suppose it would mean she was, from time to time, a guest in Mr. Brown's home," Dallas said.

But Hynie argued that she has a legal right to live in the home with the couple's five-year-old son.

"I don't have any money. I don't have anywhere to go," she told a reporter outside the house.

Dallas said Hynie had another home nearby and the couple had not seen each other for several weeks before Brown's death. Hynie said she was at a retreat at the time of his death.