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Augusta, Ga. – More than 8,500 James Brown fans filled an arena bearing his name Saturday in a final, joyful farewell to the singer that seemed as fitting for a civil rights leader as for the godfather of soul.

For mourner Maynard Eaton, Brown was a political figure above all.

“‘I’m black and I’m proud’ was the most influential black slogan of the 1960s,” he said, referring to the chorus of the Brown standard “Say It Loud.”

Brown’s body lay in front of the bandstand in a black jacket and gloves, red shirt and sequined shoes. Fans lined up in the rain before dawn to get in. When James Brown Arena was full, they gathered on the streets outside to listen to the service over a public address system.

The Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and a tearful Michael Jackson were among those who took turns at the podium overlooking the casket.

“We come to thank God for James Brown, because only God could have made a James Brown possible,” said Sharpton, a longtime Brown confidant who also spoke at a ceremony Thursday at the Apollo Theater in New York and a private service Friday in North Augusta, S.C.

Michael Jackson, whose arrival sparked a roar from the crowd, bowed before the casket and shared a hug with Sharpton as Brown’s latest backup band, the Soul Generals, began to play.

“James Brown is my greatest inspiration,” the pop star told mourners, adding that when he was a child, his mother would wake him whenever Brown was on TV.

“When I saw him move, I was mesmerized,” Jackson said. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life because of James Brown.”

Brown died of heart failure Monday in Atlanta while hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia. He was 73.

Brown was born in Barnwell, S.C., in 1933 and spent much of his childhood in Augusta, singing and dancing for change on street corners.

Even when he became an international superstar, Brown considered Augusta his home. The city was the site of his annual distribution of Thanksgiving turkeys to needy families.

It was also the scene of a drug-fueled police chase that landed him a 15-month stint in prison.

The city named a street after Brown a decade ago and last year erected a statue of him in a downtown park.

This year, the community’s main auditorium was named in his honor.