James Brown entombed in temporary spot

NEW YORK, Mar 11 (Reuters) James Brown, the ''Godfather of Soul'' who died on Christmas Day, was entombed at a private family ceremony presided over by the Rev Al Sharpton, the minister's office said in a statement.

Brown, who died in Atlanta at the age of 73 on December 25, was laid to rest in a temporary place pending the completion of a public mausoleum in an as-yet undisclosed location, Sharpton's office said.

Local media reports said the singer's body was placed in a crypt at Beech Island, South Carolina, where one of his daughters lives.

Brown's children, close friends and other family members were with Sharpton and other clergy.

''The children used their own funds to pay for their father's entombment so that their father could be put to rest without further delay,'' Sharpton, who was a friend of Brown, said in the statement.

Brown had left ''a substantial estate and substantial holdings ... which are currently being disputed in court,'' and Brown's children ''wanted to see their father entombed in a resting place without delay, rather than await court decisions,'' he said.

The body had been kept in a temperature-controlled room at Brown's home in South Carolina in the bronze and gold-plated coffin used for his funeral in Augusta, Georgia, on December 30, a funeral director told Reuters in January.

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 1950s. Hip-hop artists revere him, often using his beats in their own songs.

Reuters DKS VP0440