Musical greats left stage of life in style
NEW YORK — Elvis, Whitney, Prince, and, now, Aretha: The funerals and public memorials of music royalty have been as varied as the work they created, from small family affairs to days of tributes as huge in death as they lived their lives.
A look at the sometimes elaborate sendoffs for some of the industry’s greats:
James Brown
He died Dec. 25, 2006. Along with thousands of fans, Michael Jackson, Little Richard and Stevie Wonder were among dozens of celebrities who attended or performed at various events. There was a public memorial at New York’s Apollo Theater on Dec. 28. Another memorial drew more than 8,000 fans to the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Ga., on Dec. 30.
Brown’s body (which underwent three wardrobe changes in Augusta) was placed in a bronze casket polished to a high shine. It was driven through the streets of New York to the Apollo in a white, glass horsedrawn carriage. There was a similar procession in Georgia, where fans screamed when Jackson entered the arena.
Michael Jackson
The sudden death of Jackson at age 50 convulsed fans around the globe on June 25, 2009. After a private service, a public memorial on July 7 at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles was broadcast live around the world. The audience has been estimated at more than 1 billion.
Jackson’s bronze casket, similar to Brown’s, was plated with 14-karat gold and lined with blue velvet. Each of Jackson’s brothers wore a single white sequined glove to honor him. The celebrities on hand included Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie, Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson.
Whitney Houston
Her family declined to hold a public service after her sudden death in Los Angeles on Feb. 11, 2012, at age 48, choosing to honor the pop icon with a televised, invitation-only funeral at New Hope Baptist Church in her hometown of Newark, N.J. And what a funeral it was on Feb. 18. It lasted four hours at her childhood church that seated 1,500. Her shining casket was transported by a gold-colored hearse and topped with roses of soft purple and offwhite.
Performances by Stevie Wonder, CeCe Winans, Alicia Keys and others were mixed with hymns sung by the church choir.
Elvis Presley
It was a procession fit for a king. Presley died at Graceland in Memphis on Aug. 16, 1977. The crowds in the aftermath got so thick that then President Jimmy Carter called out 300 National Guard troops to manage things.
Prince
Death, as in his personal life, was a private affair for Prince Rogers Nelson, but the world mourned after he was found unresponsive in the elevator of his Paisley Park home and studio complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on April 21, 2016. He was 57 and an autopsy revealed an accidental fentanyl overdose.
At Paisley Park, fans stood sobbing outside the chain-link fence, leaving flowers, drawings and other tributes. The funeral was held at the Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall where he often worshipped.