Tuesday afternoon (Jul. 7) an all-star list of musicians, athletes and other celebrities paid tribute to Michael Jackson during a memorial ceremony in downtown Los Angeles.
“I just want to say ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him so much,” 11-year-old Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson said before almost collapsing in the arms of her Aunt Janet.
Watched by millions around the world, the service was broadcast by the major TV networks and cable channels from Tokyo to Paris to New York. The broadcast was also streamed everywhere online in one of the biggest celebrity send-offs ever seen.
The service took place on the same stage where Jackson had been rehearsing for a concert series in the days before his June 25 death at age 50. Mariah Carey sang the opening performance – her rendition of the Jackson 5 ballad “I’ll Be There,” a duet with Trey Lorenz that she made a hit to new generations in the early 1990’s.
Millions of fans around the world gathered at odd hours to watch the ceremony, Among those who saluted Jackson were Motown music mogul Berry Gordy Jr., Brooke Shields, the Rev. Al Sharpton and basketball greats Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant. A very pregnant Jennifer Hudson sang Jackson’s hit “Will You Be There.”
“This is a moment that I wished I didn’t live to see,” Stevie Wonder said just before his performance of “I Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer.” Usher broke down in tears after singing “Gone Too Soon.”
In the eulogy, Sharpton highlighted all the barriers Jackson broke and the troubles he faced. “Every time he got knocked down, he got back up,” Sharpton said, and the applauding crowd jumped to its feet.
“There wasn’t nothing strange about your daddy,” he said later, addressing Jackson’s three children in the front row. “It was strange what your daddy had to deal with!” After he left the stage, chants of “Mi-chael! Mi-chael!” filled the arena.
The ceremony wrapped up with group performances of “We Are the World” and “Heal the World” sung by Lionel Richie, Hudson and Jackson family members – including his children – before a backdrop of symbols of religions from around the world. They were joined onstage by children in white and several other people who had participated in the ceremony. Then members of Jackson’s family took the stage to thank the crowd and share their own thoughts in the final moments.
An estimated 20,000 people were in the Staples Center as Jackson’s flower-draped casket was brought to the venue in a motorcade under law enforcement escort.
Acting as pallbearers, Jackson’s brothers each wore a gold necktie and a single sequined white glove and sunglasses.
Jermaine Jackson took the stage and sang the standard “Smile” as he fought back tears.
Jackson’s hearse had been part of a motorcade that smoothly transported his body 10 miles across closed freeways from a private service at a Hollywood Hills cemetery to his public memorial and awaiting fans.
More than 1.6 million people registered for the lottery for free tickets to Jackson’s memorial. A total of 8,750 were chosen to receive two tickets each.
Jackson’s final resting place is yet to be disclosed. Jermaine Jackson has expressed a desire to have him buried someday at Neverland – the late singer’s estate in Southern California.