Long Live the King

This Is It

Before his untimely death, the late Michael Jackson, the Greatest Entertainer of All Time, was planning a series of concert at London as his grand comeback after battling years of unjust and cruel persecutions by lobbyists. While seen as having fallen from grace in his own country, Michael was still very much loved in Europe, hence the choice of London.

This is the video of Michael Jackson announcing his "This Is It" concerts and its promotional clips.

It seems eerily ominous from the tone of his own voice of how he described this as his "curtain call" and a hint that this may be the last time we the world would ever see him in action. To name the concerts "This Is It" seems prophetic now, with his untimely death. They say people often knew when their twilight is upon them. May God bless his beautiful soul.

The King's Last Dance:

Seeing him giving off so much effort for his professed last concert is truly heartbreaking. This clip was taken a mere 2 days before the King passed away.

So befittingly, the Michael Jackson Public Memorial Service was held at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, the very stage where he had his last dance, and where the King spent most of his last days rehearsing for the This Is It concerts.

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A visibly saddened Mariah Carey opens the performance with the Jackson 5's I'll Be There.

Usher choked up in singing the tribute Gone Too Soon.

Gone Too Soon

"Gone Too Soon" is actually song written by Michael Jackson which is in dedication to Ryan White, an AIDS victim he befriended before the young boy died in 1990. In 1997, the song was also included in tribute to Princess Diana in her death.

Usher in turn sang Gone Too Soon as a dedication to the undisputed King of Pop, ironically a title he was no longer referred to at the end of his days, but an epithet duly returned to him only after his demise.

The following video montage was shown at his memorial in recognition of his many great achievements as a revolutionary entertainer, a global popular and cultural phenomenon, and reputable artiste worthy of a King.

Jennifer Hudson, who lost her mother, brother and nephew last year, performed Michael's Will You Be There in his honour.

"In our darkest hour, in my deepest despair.

Will you still care? Will you be there?

In my trials, and my tribulations. Through our doubts, and frustrations.

In my violence, in my turbulence. Through my fear, and my confessions.

In my anguish and my pains. Through my joy and my sorrow.

In the promise of another tomorrow.

I'll never let you part. For you're always in my heart."

- Michael Jackson

It was mentioned that Charlie Chaplin's Smile was Michael's favourite. It was beautifully sung by his Muslim brother Jermaine Jackson, who too had difficulty holding back his tears.

Today's TODAY newspaper (9 July 2009) writes that "the essence of Michael Jackson's memorial cane down to 20 poignant, powerful seconds" referring to Michael's daughter Paris Jackson's farewell words to her father as she concludes the event when she took the microphone with her own eulogy, in addition to Jermaine Jackson and Marlon Jackson, the latter who said that only with Michael's death, will "they leave you alone", in reference to Michael's constant persecutions and a title of one of his songs.

TODAY also concluded that:

"It was a remarkably humanising moment. Then again, it was remarkable just to see Jackson's three children in public to begin with. A fiercely protective father, Jackson rarely brought his brood out into public, covering their faces in veils to protect their identity when he did.

All at once, Jackson wasn't the larger-than-life King of Pop or Wacko Jacko the tabloid freak. He was a doting father who had left three young children behind.

He was "Daddy".

Michael Jackson is survived by his three children, the first two being the result of Michael's second marriage with Debbie Row. The youngest was conceived through artificial insemination.

• Prince Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr (born 1997)
• Paris Michale Katherine Jackson (born 1998)
• Prince Michael Jackson II "Blanket" (born 2002)

Farewell the world's King of Pop. And long live your great legacy.