Jackson memorial date set, ex-wife to fight for custody of kids. Photo / AP
UPDATED:
The family of late pop star
Michael Jackson
have finalised arrangements for a public memorial service, it has been claimed.
Online reports say fans will farewell the icon at a memorial scheduled for 10am on Tuesday, July 7, (5am, July 8 NZT) at the Staples Center - the same venue where Jackson had been rehearsing for his comeback gigs - in downtown Los Angeles.
Rehearsal video
This is the last video shot of Jackson preparing for his This Is It! comeback gigs, and gives us an idea of how superb the show would have been.
The poignant footage shows the star singing
They Don't Care About Us
, a song from his
HIStory
album, as he danced along with eight male dancers at the Staples Center arena in Los Angeles.
He does a few of his signature moves and appeared to be on top form.
Grammy executive producer
Ken Ehrlich
, who was present at the rehearsal, said: "He wasn't giving it full out. But vocally he had started to really project. I thought he was in great form."
Judge for yourselves.
Memorial
Radaronline reports that concert promoters AEG Live, which owns the Staples Center and the adjacent Nokia theatre, will use both facilities for a memorial service that's set to be one of the biggest celebrity farewells since
Elvis
left the building.
Sources reveal that the event will be ticketed, with fans expected to pay US$25 to sit in the stands, while they rub shoulders with family, friends and a slew of Jackson's celebrity pals -
Elizabeth Taylor
and
Diana Ross
are expected to attend.
Fans unable to get their hands on memorial tickets will be able to farewell the gloved one, too. Giant video screens are to be erected outside the venues to accomodate the thousands of fans expected to make a pilgrimage to the Staples Centre.
The website's report also claims that commemorative T-shirts will be on sale during the memorial. The merchandise, originally intended for Jackson's "This Is It" comeback concerts, will reportedly be on sale outside the venues.
Funeral
Details of Jackson's funeral remain sketchy. E! Online reports that arrangements are still being made, but that the singer's body will finally be interred at Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills, followed by the already reported memorial at Staples Center on Tuesday at 10 a.m (local time).
Debbie Rowe: 'I want my children'
Debbie Rowe
, Michael Jackson's former wife and biological mother of his two eldest children, has broken her silence over custody of the singer's kids.
Rowe has vowed to fight for custody of the two children,
Prince Michael
, 12, and
Paris Michael Katherine
, 11, she had with the late singer.
Jackson's third child,
Prince Michael II
, 7, has a surrogate mother.
"I want my children," she said in an 90-minute interview with the NBC TV network in Los Angeles.
Jackson stipulated in his will that his mother
Katherine
was to be appointed guardian of his three children upon his death. He also nominated showbiz pal Diana Ross as a guardian, should anything happen to his mother.
Jackson's mother has been granted interim custody of the children.
Answering speculation that she was not the biological mother of the two children, Rowe said she was prepared to undergo DNA testing to prove that she is in fact their mother.
She said she would submit to psychological testing.
She also said she would seek a restraining order against Jackson's father, Joe, to stay away from the children.
"I am stepping up, I have to," she said.
Jackson and Rowe married in 1996, and she surrendered her parental rights in 1999, insisting Jackson was a good father.
Rowe was left out of Jackson's will, which was drawn in 2002.
"I have intentionally omitted to provide for my former wife, Deborah Jean Rowe Jackson," the will states.
Rowe's lawyer will reportedly be at a custody hearing on Monday to represent her.
'I wish it was me'
Michael Jackson's brother,
Jermaine
, says he wishes he could trade places with his dead borther during an emotional
Today Show
interview.
The first family member to give an in-depth interview since Jackson died last week, Jermaine shared his feelings about his brother's death.
"He went too soon," he said during the interview filmed at Jackson's Neverland ranch.
"I wish that it was me. I've always felt that I was his backbone, someone to be there for him. I was there and he was sort of like Moses. The things he couldn't say, I would say them."
He also spoke about the devastating phone call from his mother telling him that his brother was dead.
"She was crying, saying he was dead. To hear my mother say, 'Michael is dead,' to feel and hear the tone in her voice to say her child is dead, is nothing that anyone can ever imagine.
"I tried to console her," he said, "but I wanted to see Michael and I wanted to see my brother. To see him there lifeless and breathless was very emotional for me. But I held myself together because I knew he's very much alive in his spirit, and that was just a shell. But I kissed him on his forehead, and I hugged him, and I touched him and I said Michael, 'I'll never leave you. You'll never leave me.'"
In other developments...
*
As speculation mounts over a possible connection between Jackson's death and his alleged drug use, it has emerged that there will be no public viewing of his body at Neverland Ranch this weekend. In a statement, the family said: "Contrary to previous news reports, the Jackson family is officially stating that there will be no public or private viewing at Neverland. Plans are underway regarding a public memorial for Michael Jackson, and we will announce those plans shortly."
*
A London-based woman claims she's not only Jackson's wife, but also the mother of his three children. Nona Paris Lola Ankhesenamun Jackson claims she's the late star's secret wife, and filed a suit in Los Angeles Superior Court demanding the late star's estate.
*
A copy of the singer's will has been leaked online.
The will, signed in 2002, leaves Jackson's entire estate to his family - but fails to provide for his former wife, Debbie Rowe. Jackson's mother is named as a beneficiary of the trust and the guardian of the singer's three young children.
*
Jackson was reportedly working on two albums before he died, says Billboard. Jackson was reportedly crafting a pop album with songwriter
Claude Kelly
and
Akon
, as well as another album of classical compositions. Details
Story developing. More follows...
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