July 7, 2009

Stirring Tribute to Michael Jackson Fit for a King

By Gil Kaufman (MTV.com)

Michael Jackson, who died on June 25 at the age of 50, will be remembered as many things: an amazing dancer, singer and performer; the greatest pop star the world has ever seen; a loving friend, brother and father; a humanitarian and a complex superstar who drew the world into his embrace and provided the soundtrack to millions of lives with music that will live on forever.

The singer was memorialized in a spectacular memorial service on Tuesday (July 7), which featured moving performances from friends such as Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie; fans Usher, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Hudson. Family and admirers also provided touching reminiscences.

Beneath the image of a sun-soaked church window which filled the large screen at the arena, the Andrae Crouch gospel choir sang the traditional hymn "Soon and Very soon" as the singer's gold-plated casket was brought to its resting place in a circle of light in front of the stage.

Pallbearers, which included Jackson's family members, set the flower-bedecked casket down while wearing Jackson's signature single sequined white glove. Applause broke out inside the Staples Center, where the mood was at turns celebratory and somber, and fans shouted "We love you, Michael!" during the pauses in the nearly three-hour long program.

Dressed in a flowing black gown, Mariah Carey belted out her famous cover of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There," joined by her longtime friend and protégé, Trey Lorenz, who sang with her on the 1992 "MTV Unplugged" performance that became a hit single for her.

Queen Latifah spoke of Jackson's power to bring people together and make them believe in themselves. She recalled buying the Jackson 5's "Dancing Machine" as a child and trying, in vain, to copy his dance moves.

"Michael was the biggest star on earth. He let me know that as an African-American you could travel the world ... there was a world outside America. Other people, all you people who came here to pay respect to someone you felt was one of you, a human being first," she said, her voice cracking.

Latifah then read a new verse called "We Had Him" from the great American poet Maya Angelou, whose words have stirred hearts at presidential inaugurations. "Without notice, our dear love can escape our doting embrace, sing our songs among the stars and walk our dances across the face of the moon," the poem said.

The event opened with Motown legend Smokey Robinson reading a tribute to Jackson from the singer's longtime friend and mentor, Diana Ross, and a note from former South African President Nelson Mandela as the words "In Loving Memory of Michael Jackson King of Pop 1958-2009" were beamed onto the screen behind him.

Accompanied by the gospel choir, Lionel Richie, the co-writer with Jackson of the famine-relief hit "We Are the World," looked grief-stricken at first as he sang the Commodores' spiritual "Jesus Is Love," his powerful voice rising to a crescendo at the end. Next, Motown founder Berry Gordy took the stage to honor Jackson, who he said was like a son to him. "He raised the bar and then broke the bar," Gordy said.

Los Angeles Laker All-Star Kobe Bryant honored Jackson's charitable acts. Fellow Lakers legend Magic Johnson said he became a greater basketball player by watching the singer's moves onstage and fondly remembered being asked to appear in Jackson's 1992 video for "Remember the Time."

Usher provided an emotionally-charged take on "Gone Too Soon," passionately singing the 1993 Jackson single with gritty abandon as he laid his hand on the singer's casket and walked mournfully across the sea of flowers at the foot of the stage while a montage of vintage pictures of a smiling Jackson played behind him. Breaking down in tears at the end, the singer removed his sunglasses, was embraced by the entire Jackson family and made his way to family matriarch Katherine, kneeling down on one knee to kiss her.

Another fellow Motown peer and onetime child star Stevie Wonder said, "This is a moment that I wished that I didn't live to see come." Sitting at a piano and singing his mournfully appropriate 1971 ballad "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer," he pleaded, "Michael, why didn't you stay?" mid-song before surging into another ballad, 1974's "They Won't Go When I Go."

Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, visibly pregnant with her first child, thrilled the crowd with a funky, syncopated cover of Jackson's 1993 single "Will You Be There," from the "Free Willy" soundtrack and Dangerous album. As a group of dancers formed a circle around her, Hudson paused while Jackson's shaky voiceover from the original boomed out over a dramatic background, pleading, "In our darkest hour/ In my deepest despair/ Will you still care?/ Will you be there?"

In one of the day's most moving tributes, longtime friend and former child star Brooke Shields tearfully recalled the many photo captions over the years that referred to their friendship as "odd."

For the two of them, she said, "It was the most natural and easiest of friendships. ... We had a bond and maybe it was because we both understood what it was like to be in the spotlight from a very, very young age. I used to tease him and say, 'You know I started when I was 11 months old, you're a slacker ... you were, what, 5?'"

"His laugh was the sweetest and purest laugh of anyone's I had ever known," Shields recalled.

Still wearing his single white glove, brother Jermaine Jackson then sang a tender version of his brother's favorite song, "Smile", penned by Charlie Chaplin and used in the classic film "Modern Times."

Longtime family friend the Reverend Al Sharpton, who stepped up to rouse the crowd, repeated the fiery refrain, "Michael never stopped," when talking about Jackson's many accomplishments and resiliency in the face of his many obstacles.

"Because he didn't accept limitations, because he refused to let people decide his boundaries, he opened up the whole world," Sharpton thundered. "He put on one glove, pulled his pants up and broke down the color curtain. ... It was Michael Jackson that brought blacks and whites and Asians and Latinos together. It was Michael Jackson that made us sing, 'We Are the World' and feed the hungry."

Speaking to Jackson's three young children, Sharpton said, "I want his three children to know, wasn't nothin' strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with, but he dealt with it," as the audience rose to their feet and the singer's sons and daughter burst into applause alongside their friends and family.

Others stars who took the stage included "Britain's Got Talent" sensation Shaheen Jafargholi, with his version of "Who's Loving You." Kenny Ortega ("High School Musical"), who was directing Jackson's This Is It stage show, presented what he said was one of the singer's favorite moments from the show that Ortega promised would have been a triumphant comeback.

The performance of "We Are the World" by the members of Jackson's multicultural backing band was accompanied by the lyrics to the song projected, with many letters replaced by the religious icons of the world's faiths. The singers were joined by the day's other performers as well as Jackson's family, including the singer's children, and, finally, a choir of teens who sang along to the peace anthem "Heal the World."

The projected global audience for the Jackson memorial is projected to be around 1 billion, in addition to fans crowded in the Staples Center and around Nokia Plaza. Fans and hundreds of international news outlets tweeted and live-blogged the proceedings in real time, bringing the world together in a way that would likely have brought joy to Jackson, whose many charitable efforts were aimed at bridging racial, ethnic and spiritual divides.