Thousands of friends, family and fans - including Aretha Franklin and Al Green - flocked to Dallas to celebrate the legacy of Johnnie Taylor.
The hometown R&B star, known best for his 1968 hit "Who's Making Love" and his 1976 hit "Disco Lady," died of a heart attack.
A viewing Tuesday at Good Street Baptist Church attracted 7,000 mourners, said Barbara Kennedy, Mr. Taylor's niece. On Wednesday, nearly as many paid final respects at the funeral of the "Philosopher of Soul."
The funeral was a mixture of church ceremony and house party. At 1 p.m., when the service started, more than 1,000 mourners who couldn't fit in the church milled about outside, either standing by the velvet-roped front walk or under a large tent next door, where two TV monitors broadcast the service. Cars lined the streets for blocks.
At least 3,500 people crowded into the church, including a star-studded guest list that included Ms. Franklin, Mr. Green, Bobby Womack and Millie Jackson, Ms. Kennedy said. In the adjoining chapel, another 1,000 watched on television.
Timothy Garner, who had sung and played with Mr. Taylor in the early '90s, remembered his former boss. "He always had a smile and a kind word, especially for the young, upcoming artist," Mr. Garner recalled. "He was a God-fearing man. He never worried that friends like B.B. King or Aretha [Franklin] were more successful than him; as far as he was concerned, they had theirs and he had his, and that was enough."
Sometimes, a party vibe threatened the solemnity of the occasion. The tent televisions were occasionally obscured, and the cadences of the service were barely audible over conversation.
"I got here at nine o'clock," Millie Brown complained from a sidewalk across the street. "We couldn't even get in. They should've organized things better; this is such a mess."
"When we opened the doors, between 8:15 and 8:30 [a.m.], there was already a mile of people," Ms. Kennedy said. "...We did everything we could to get everybody seated."
Good Street had been Mr. Taylor's church since 1971, she added. "It was the place where he'd have wanted this to be."
After the service, people filed past the casket for hours. The funeral procession didn't leave until 4:20.
"He was a very honest, loving, down-to-earth person, to me," Ms. Kennedy said. "You always think of celebrities as special, but he drove himself around every day. He helped the hungry like a normal person. The city of Dallas lost someone who not only loved the city but the people in it."