Brown's Widow: James Wanted A 'Graceland'

Hours after her husband passed away at the hospital, Tomi Rae Brown, James Brown’s widow, found herself locked outside the home where she lived together with the singer and their 5-year-old son.

Brown’s widow said on Monday when she returned to their Beech Island, South Carolina home from the hospital where the singer died of heart failure, she found the gate padlocked at the request of Brown’s lawyer and accountant.

James Brown's widow is desperate to turn the soul star's home into a museum for devoted fans, maintaining the singer "wanted a Graceland".


Tomi Rae Hynie, 36, was locked out of Brown's home by his lawyers following his unexpected Christmas Day death. They insist her 2001 marriage was illegitimate because she was already the wife of a Pakistani man she met in Texas in 1997 at the time.

Despite the allegations, Hynie is adamant she'll not only gain entry to the Augusta, Georgia residence, but she'll also fulfil Brown's last wishes by converting it into a museum.

The soul legend's agent Frank Copsidas confirms he was keen for the memorial.

He tells the New York Post: "He said his house could be another Graceland. He said: 'Elvis did it, why can't I?'"

Brown will be buried near the house on Saturday after a public funeral.
IOL