Smokey Robinson read messages from Diana Ross and Nelson Mandela. Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz performed the song Ill Be There. And Queen Latifah read a poem from Maya Angelou.
Police officers in front of the Staples Center early Tuesday in preparation for the memorial for Michael Jackson. We had him, Ms. Latifah read. Whether we knew who he was or did not know, he was ours.
Michael Jackson, the pop star whose life was a complicated tale of celebrity, was honored Tuesday at a memorial service at the Staples Center here as millions watched on live television. He died at age 50 on June 25 in Los Angeles.
The 20,000-seat center was filled almost to capacity by fans who had won free tickets in a random lottery, and friends and others who had known him since he began his career singing with his brothers in the Jackson 5.
Berry Gordy, the Motown founder who helped develop the Jackson 5, said of him at the service, I think he is simply the greatest entertainer that ever lived.
At about 8:30 Tuesday morning, family members and close friends of Mr. Jackson attended a private service at the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, a San Fernando Valley cemetery. After the service, which lasted less than an hour, the group, and the casket, made its way downtown to the center.
About 50 movie theaters around the country, from Los Angeles to Washington broadcast the memorial service, The Associated Press reported, which also featured performances and remarks by Stevie Wonder, Usher, Lionel Richie, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Martin Luther King III.
In Hong Kong, the singer William Chan and the Taiwanese pop star Judy Chou led an audience in observing a 30-second silence, The A.P. reported, and many of those attending clutched red roses and wore black; some donned fedora hats like those Mr. Jackson favored.
There are certain people in our popular culture that just capture peoples imaginations, President Barack Obama told CBS News in Moscow. And in death, they become even larger.
He added, Now, I have to admit that its also fed by a 24/7 media that is insatiable.
Before the memorial service began, Mr. Jacksons casket, covered in red flowers, was carried into the center by pall bearers who each wore one white glove a signature Jackson attire and placed in front of the stage. Celebrity guests from Mickey Rooney to Barbara Walters to Kobe Bryant came in on a black carpet.
Brooke Shields told the crowd that she and Mr. Jackson, whom she met when she was 13, bonded because they both understood what it was like to be famous at such a young age.
She recalled a giggling fit they shared in Elizabeth Taylors bedroom, a friend to both of them. And she recounted her question to Mr. Jackson: Whats up with the glove?
Jermaine Jackson's “Smile."
A song that was nicely set up by actress Brooke Shields. Her speech will likely stand as one of the day's best, offering personal, humorous looks at the pop singer, as well as some touching insights. She would hold his hand, Shields noted, as long as it wasn't covered with Jackson's famed white sequined glove.
And his favorite song, Shields noted, was “Smile," a tune originally used in Charlie Chaplin's “Modern Times." Michael covered the song on his 1995 double-disc set “HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I."
Michael's brother Jermaine performed the song here immediately after Shields' speech.
The older brother keeps his composure for the most part, the wobble in his voice echoing Michael's own, but during an a capella moment near the end, he almost loses it. It's possible in this overwrought moment to see the lineage that extends from Louis Armstrong -- who also employed a very tricky smile -- to the man being celebrated here, as above all an African American icon. To feel the sorrow, compromise and determination behind every entertaining smile.
Jennifer Hudson's “Will You Be There."
The knockout “American Idol" vocalist took on Jackson's 1991 single, transforming it into a rousing, feel-good anthem. The set had a bit more choreography than the other performances thus far, and it moved the proceedings away from the more restrained recent performances.
But it worked, for the most part, and that's largely due to the strength of Hudson as a vocalist who can reach for the stars as well as any singer. Things drifted a bit toward Hallmark-like hokeyness toward the end, as Hudson stepped back to make way for Jackson's recorded vocals. In a truly angelic white dress, Hudson takes the stage and sings, 'Hold me like the River Jordan,' the opening refrain from the song.
Where Hudson goes, seriousness descends like a misty cloud. The dancers around her would be ridiculous, encircling her in a weird tribal ring except we know they are Michael's dancers, and this must be his own routine, from the comeback that never happened. Then the fallen star's own voice comes over the loudspeakers doing the last verse in voice over.
Ushers “Gone Too Soon."
One of Jacksons later ballads, the song appeared on 1993s Dangerous and was among the albums final singles. Usher, in black, oversized aviator sunglasses, was accompanied largely by organ and brief orchestral flourishes, but he didnt let the sparseness keep him confined to the stage.
Usher wandered close to Jacksons casket, just off to the side, covered in roses. As the song winded down, Usher lost his composure, took off his sunglasses and broke into tears.
Usher was moving on pure emotion, and as Ann Powers noted from inside the Staples Center, it was a bit strange, perhaps uncomfortable, to see him singing directly at Jacksons coffin. Yet, Ushers vocals were pristine.
He choked up near the song's end,and the Jackson family enveloped him in a group hug. I am not sure how to react. It felt like a very private moment, one not often captured on national television.
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