He was admitted to hospital in Atlanta after being diagnosed with severe pneumonia but died at 0145 local time (0645 GMT), said Frank Copsidas.

The star was famous for hits including I Got You (I Feel Good), Papa's Got a Brand New Bag and Living in America.

"He is such an influence, I learned so much from him," Mr Copsidas told the BBC World Service.

He was dramatic to the end, dying on Christmas Day


Reverend Jesse Jackson

"On Friday he had his toy giveaway, which is his annual toy giveaway in Augusta, Georgia.

"On Saturday, he went to his dentist up in Atlanta, and his dentist told him something was wrong, and he sent him to a doctor immediately."

String of hits

Brown was born in 1933 in South Carolina.

He joined a gospel group as a young man after his release from jail for trying to steal a car.

Brown's songs have been widely sampled by other artists




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He had his first hit on the US rhythm and blues chart, Please Please Please, in 1956.

Brown had 94 hits on Billboard's mainstream Hot 100 in the US, according to his official website, and by the end of his career, he had a repertoire of 800 songs.

However, he achieved only one top 10 single in the UK - Living in America, from the soundtrack of Rocky IV, which reached number five in 1986.

The star was credited with spreading the popularity of funk around the world, influencing a new generation of black music which spawned rap and hip-hop.

Brown, who had surgery for prostate cancer in 2004, appeared in London in October as part of the BBC's Electric Proms line-up.

Hall of Fame

At the time, he described how he planned to carry on as a performer, saying: "Everyone's got soul, whether it's talking, hip-hop, rap, gospel.

"I don't wanna change, because then I'd have to name myself Sam Smith or Ted Wright or somebody. I'm going to be James Brown."

Brown won the Award of Merit at the American Music Awards in 1992Last month Brown played at a ceremony at London's Alexandra Palace which saw his induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame, 20 years after entering the US equivalent.

"He was dramatic to the end, dying on Christmas Day," said US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who has been a friend of Brown since 1955.

"He'll be all over the news all over the world today. He would have it no other way," he told Associated Press.

Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Andy Peebles said he was "a one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-repeated star".