Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Michael Jackson's body transported to Staples Centre



Michael Jackson's body was today on its way to his final public appearance at a memorial in downtown Los Angeles, at the end of a private service at a cemetery in Hollywood Hills attended by the Jackson family and about 200 of the star's closest friends.

The casket, believed to be a $25,000 gold-plated limited edition, set out at 9.20am in a hearse at the front of a motorcade of 16 black limousines and buses accompanied by police escorts. The family had considered flying in the body by helicopter, but it was deemed too dangerous to land among so many fans at the venue for the memorial, the downtown Staples Centre.

The private mourners gathered at the family home in Encino before 8am local time, to commemorate the singer who died suddenly aged 50 on 25 June after a cardiac arrest. A mass of flowers and cards from fans had to be barricaded off by police. Jackson's mother, Katherine, who has custody of his three children, travelled in the first limousine to the Forest Lawn cemetery where she had the chance to pay her own respects before the public events in front of thousands of fans and millions of television viewers began.

The Rev Jesse Jackson, a family friend, told the BBC that the service inside the cemetery's Hall of Liberty was organised in accordance with the Jehovah's Witness faith.

The service ended at about 9am local time (5pm BST).

The casket will be placed on view at the Staples Centre, in front of up to 20,000 people who began to arrive as early as 7am. The memorial will include stars such as Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie and Jennifer Hudson. Jackson's brother is expected to sing the Charlie Chaplin classic Smile.

Up to 250,000 people are expected to flood the area, even though police have blocked off streets around the event to all but ticket-holders.

Among those attending will be some of the 8,750 fans who won tickets in a lottery that attracted 1.6m entries. They were each presented with a gold memorial programme which features photographs of Jackson with world dignatories such as Nelson Mandela, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr and the Clintons.

Others will watch in an overflow theatre, where the memorial will be broadcast on a giant screen. The event is being televised live by TV networks around the world and will be streamed on websites. BBC2 has cleared its schedule to carry the event.

Barack Obama briefly interrupted a visit to Russia to pay his respects before the service.

"I don't think there's any doubt he was one of the greatest entertainers of our generation, perhaps any generation," he told CNN. "I think, like Elvis, like Sinatra, like the Beatles, he became a core part of our culture."

Also at the memorial service will be the actor Brooke Shields, and Shaheen Jafargholi, the 12-year-old from Wales who reached the finals of the TV show Britain's Got Talent. In his audition he fluffed his performance, but on being asked by Simon Cowell for a second song he chose Jackson's Who's Lovin' You and wowed the audience.

Among those not attending are the singer's ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, and his close friend, the actor Elizabeth Taylor.

Taylor announced last night on Twitter that she would stay away. "I just don't believe Michael would want me to share my grief with millions of others. How I feel is between us. Not a public event." She had been asked to speak at the service, she said, but "I cannot be part of the public whoopla".

Rowe, the mother of Jackson's two oldest children, had planned to attend the memorial but backed out yesterday. "The onslaught of media attention has made it clear her attendance would be an unnecessary distraction," her lawyer, Marta Almli, said in a statement.

According to reports, relatives, including Jackson's three children, attended a brief "celebration of life" service at the cemetery last night, holding a vigil by his casket.

Since the recipients of the public tickets to the memorial service were announced, a series of advertisements have appeared on sites such as eBay and Craigslist, offering tickets for tens of thousands of dollars. However, both sites told the BBC they were seeking to remove such adverts.

Jackson sold an estimated 750m albums during his musical career, which began as a child with the Jackson 5 and spanned three of the most celebrated pop albums ever: Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad. However, his celebrity was tainted by ridicule over his ever-changing appearance and a series of allegations concerning child abuse.

Coroners in LA are still investigating the cause of his sudden death and his possible use of painkillers and other prescription drugs.

There is also the tangled issue of Jackson's huge assets and debts. A court filing has estimated that his net estate may still be worth more than $500m, including a 50% stake in the Sony-ATV music publishing catalogue, featuring songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

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