A 73-year-old woman from Georgia has come forward as wife to the late singer James Brown since the early 1950s, and mother to three of his children.

Georgia native Velma Warren Brown, 73, filed papers in Aiken County court Wednesday asserting she married the Godfather of Soul in 1953, had three children with him and never divorced. Her attorney, David Bell, says their union was never officially terminated, reports the New York Daily News.

The two reportedly lived together for 17 years.

The Daily News also reports that Velma claims she and her alleged husband of more than half a century met early last December, just weeks before he died on Christmas Day, aged 73. The woman says she waited so long to make her status public because “it's something that she had just never thought about.”

Bell said: “They kind of went their separate ways, but he always kept in touch with her.”

Lawyers for James Brown have dismissed Velma’s claim, saying she remarried. They cite court documents that show she and Brown divorced in 1969. Louis Levenson, a lawyer representing James Brown's estate, said: “If Ms Brown believed that she was not divorced, she's admitting to having herself committed bigamy.”

Since Brown’s death less than a year ago, at least three persons have come forward claiming to be his blood-relatives. They cite DNA tests as infallible proof that they are his children.

Former backup singer Tomi Rae Hynie claims she was the legendary artist’s fourth wife. She is also seeking part of his inheritance. Her lawyer, Robert Rosen, said Velma Brown's claim has no validity, telling the Associated Press: “They were divorced and I mean she got remarried.”

Earlier this summer, James Brown's longtime lawyer, Buddy Dallas, said that a total of 10 people had undergone DNA testing in order to determine if they were the singer's progeny.