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Wednesday, Jul 08, 2009
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Thousands pay tribute to music icon Jackson

Andrae Crouch Singers open the memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Michael Jackson's glittering, gold-plated casket was placed at the front of the stage at a public memorial as a gospel choir sang. - PHOTO: AFP

Los Angeles: In one of the biggest celebrity send-offs in history, Michael Jackson’s family, friends and fans held a memorial service for the ‘King of Pop’ on Tuesday, as millions of people from around the world tuned in to watch on television and the internet.

The service started out more spiritual than spectacular, opening with a church choir singing as his golden casket was laid in front of the stage and a shaft of light evoking a cross as Lionel Richie gave a gospel-infused performance.

Pastor Lucious W. Smith of the Friendship Baptist Church in Pasadena gave the invocation, followed by Mariah Carey singing the opening performance with a rendition of the Jackson 5 ballad “I’ll Be There,” a duet with Trey Lorenz.

“We come together and we remember the time,” said Smith, riffing off one of Jackson’s lyrics. “As long as we remember him, he will always be there to comfort us.”

The memorial service opened with soul great Smokey Robinson reading letters of condolence from Diana Ross and Nelson Mandela.

Ross, who introduced Jackson and his brothers to the entertainment industry in 1960s, wrote that Jackson was “part of the fabric of my life in a way that I can’t seem to find words to express.”

Mr. Mandela wrote that “Michael was a giant and a legend in the music industry and we mourn with the millions of fans worldwide.”

Then Jackson’s casket was wheeled in as a gospel choir sang.

“In his beautiful and very human heart MJ wanted nothing more than to give to the world and perhaps be loved back in return,” said Jackson family pastor Lucious Smith. “Through his words, his music and his countless good deeds Michael did so much to try to heal our world.”

The public tribute followed a private memorial service at a Hollywood Hills cemetery after which Jackson’s flower-laden casket was loaded into a hearse for the procession to the Staples Centre, where celebrities and fans entered the arena on a wide black carpet.

There were three notable absences at the services: Jackson’s old friend Dame Elizabeth Taylor said, “I love him too much to share my grief with millions of others.” Diana Ross said she preferred to mark his death with silence, while his ex-wife Debbie Rowe, who may launch a legal battle for custody of the two children she had with Jackson, said her attendance “would be an unnecessary distraction to an event that should focus exclusively on Michael’s legacy.”

The traffic snarls and logistics nightmares that had been feared by police and city officials had not materialised. The thousands of fans with tickets began filing in early and encountered few problems, and traffic was actually considered by police to be lighter than normal.

“I think people got the message to stay home,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Miguel Luevano. “When you have people staying home, it clears up those freeways.”

Deputy Police Chief Sergio Diaz, operations chief for the event, said authorities had expected a crowd of 250,000. Besides reporters and those with tickets to the memorial service, the crowd around the Staples Center perimeter numbered only about 1,000, he said.

It was not clear what will happen to Jackson’s body. The Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills cemetery is the final resting place for such stars as Bette Davis, Andy Gibb, Freddie Prinze, Liberace and recently deceased David Carradine and Ed McMahon.

But Jackson’s brother Jermaine has expressed a desire to have him buried someday at Neverland, his estate in Southern California.

Jackson died on June 25, aged 50, of heart failure. — Agencies

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