Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Usher To Perform At Michael Jackson Memorial

July 6, 2009

Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey and Lionel Richie are all scheduled to perform at Michael Jackson’s public memorial in Los Angeles tomorrow (July 7).

Other stars set to appear at the Staples Centre include Jennifer Hudson, Usher, Smokey Robinson and basketball players Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant.

Martin Luther King II and Shaheen Jarfargholi – a former contestant on Britain’s Got Talent – are also due to attend.

The public ceremony, which gets under way at 6pm (GMT), is set to be a celebration of Jackson’s life and career.

A total of 17,500 tickets were issued to fans, with 11,000 allocated seats in the Staples Centre and 6,500 in the nearby Nokia Theatre, where the service will be shown on video screens.

Organisers said more than 1.6million people had applied for tickets to the ceremony, which will also be broadcast to an expected television audience of one billion people.

There are conflicting reports over what songs performers will sing at the concert.

It has been claimed that Carey will perform the Jackson 5’s ‘I'll Be There’, which she has also released as a single.

Jackson’s family are expected to attend the Staples Centre following a private ceremony at a cemetery in Hollywood.

At present, it is not clear whether Jackson’s body will be buried during the “family function”.

Jackson, who was widely regarded as the King of Pop, died on June 25. He was 50.

(by Jason Gregory)

Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Usher To Perform At Michael Jackson Memorial

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