Is Michael Jackson's This Is It a fitting final curtain?

You don't want to damn something before you've actually experienced it, but I don't hold out a great deal of hope for the forthcoming Michael Jackson film and CD, This Is It.

There's undoubtedly a fascinating documentary to made about Jackson's abortive comeback, but there's something about the words "with the full support of The Estate Of Michael Jackson" in the credits that suggests – ironically – this isn't going to be it: it's going to be a painful hagiography, suggesting that Jackson shuffled off this mortal coil at the top of his game, despite some pretty convincing evidence to the contrary – including, it has to be said, the fact that he dropped dead from a heart attack while full of benzodiazepines.

Meanwhile, the publicity for the accompanying This Is It album doesn't exactly make you scream with anticipation. It "features the music that inspired the film, demo recordings and two versions of a previously unreleased song": ie. a load of stuff you already own, outtakes that weren't good enough to make the expanded editions of his albums from a few years back, and one new song. They neglect to say if the album also features the sound of the bottom of a barrel being scraped, but that seems fairly likely.

The big draw is the title track, currently streaming at Jackson's website, and, depending on which source you believe, an outtake from either Off the Wall or Dangerous. It's certainly an outtake from somewhere, because the online version sounds weirdly unfinished, as if someone's slapped an orchestral arrangement and backing vocals over a piano demo. If you had your fingers crossed that Jacko would be able to bow out with a Billie Jean, Scream or Smooth Criminal – one of those songs so unequivocally incredible that they temporarily made you forget everything else about him beyond his staggering talent – you're in for a disappointment: it's a ballad, not bad, but not one of his best, decorated with odd lyrics. "This is it, here I stand, I'm the light of the world," it opens, proving, if nothing else, that the tendency towards a Messiah complex that so incensed Jarvis at the Brits was very much intact when he wrote it.

That said, it could have been much worse. It's certainly less unctuous and wrong-headed than some of the stuff with which he padded out his final album, Invincible: tacked on later or not, the harmonies are impressively sumptuous and creamy, and there's a nice guitar part that winds its way around the vocal. It's never going to cause anyone to reassess Jackson's greatest songs, but it's clearly the best that they've got to offer. At least that's what I think. And you? Fitting final curtain for the King of Pop, or shoddily cynical gesture?

Michael Jackson's 'new' song has already been released ... by someone else

Michael Jackson's 'new' song has already been released ... by someone else

This Is It, the new Michael Jackson song recently released with much fanfare was originally destined for a Paul Anka album. The Jackson estate was caught in an embarrassing imbroglio yesterday, discovering their trumpeted Jackson original was written with – and for - the mid-20th-century crooner.

In an initial interview with the New York Times, 68-year-old Paul Anka explained that Jackson's label had never even contacted him about the song, which will be used over the closing credits in the upcoming Michael Jackson documentary. Anka and Jackson wrote the song together in 1983, calling it I Never Heard. Though it was intended for Anka's album Walk A Fine Line, Anka alleges that Jackson "took the tapes" without permission. Anka threatened to sue his former collaborator and while the recordings were returned, they were never released. Instead, I Never Heard – credited to Anka and Jackson – appeared on a 1991 album by R&B singer Safire.

"It's exactly the same song," Anka said yesterday. "They just changed the title."

In that first interview, Anka was unhappy indeed. "They have a major, major problem on their hands," he said. "They will be sued if they don't correct it." But before the end of the day yesterday, agents for Jackson's estate had apologised for their mistake. John McClain, one of Jackson's estate executors, called Anka directly to say that he had not known about Anka's role – or Safire's version – until Jackson fans began to discuss it online. The estate issued a statement acknowledging Anka as a composer and McClain promised that the former teen idol would receive his fair share of royalties.

Anka said that McClain told him, "We took Sony 50 songs, and this was the best of all of them. My thought was that this one sounded different. Now I know why."

McClain himself assembled the new This Is It track, building on a solo piano version Michael Jackson had recorded. McClain added strings and backup vocals by Jackson's brothers, but besides Jackson's changes to the lyrics, it remains very similar to Safire's I Never Heard.

Now that McClain has been in touch, Anka said he harbours no bitterness. "There's nothing but honourable people here ... They did the right thing. I don't think that anybody tried to do the wrong thing. It was an honest mistake."

Hair of the gods: Locks from Elvis and Michael Jackson to go on sale

Hair of the gods: Locks from Elvis and Michael Jackson to go on sale

One clump is nice and thick and reasonably healthy looking; the second has most definitely been fire damaged.

But, bizarrely, locks that once belonged to Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson – the late kings, respectively, of rock'n'roll and – are up for auction this weekend.

Presley's hair, said to date from the 1950s, when an army barber cropped his famous mane, is going under the hammer in Chicago. Meanwhile, 12 strands of Jackson's hair, the legacy of the freak accident in 1984 when his artfullyarranged coiffure caught fire during filming for a Pepsi commercial, are up for grabs in London.

The strands of Jackson's hair were gathered up by Ralph Cohen, the advert's executive producer, who took off his coat to put out the flames.

Together with Cohen's account of the incident and a signed colour photo, the strands are to be auctioned on Saturday.

Jackson's hair is hot property – a company called LifeGem announced plans in July to craft diamonds and jewellery from Jackson's seared locks.

In his account, Cohen recalls how the pyrotechnics set the singer's hair on fire: "And then, as Michael on his cue, was supposed to come down the stairs, the explosion went off and the first thing I noticed was – he was about halfway down the stairs – and I noticed flame emanating from his hair.

"And it took me a moment to register what exactly was happening because there was so much lights and so many different things go on [sic] it was a little confusing but I noticed his hair was on fire and I immediately rushed out from my position.

"I pulled my jacket off as I was running and proceeded to, when I reached him, put it over his head."

At the time onlookers were amazed at the calmness of the 25-year-old singer. Some thought the accident was part of the act. But he suffered serious burns and needed hospital treatment.

Richard Davie, of International Autograph Auctions, is selling the hair and other artefacts at the Radisson Edwardian hotel at Heathrow airport in London.

He said: "This memorabilia has doubled in price since Michael Jackson died. Jackson has huge global appeal with collectors all around the world.

"Of all the things he has done, including dangling his baby from the window and sleeping in an oxygen tent, the hair-burning incident stands out.

"There will be lots of people who will want to buy these items as souvenirs and those who would like them as investments."

Presley's hair is one of around 200 items of memorabilia being sold at Leslie Hindman auctioneers, in Chicago, on Sunday. The items were from the collection of Gary Pepper, and Elvis superfan.

The Jackson strands are expected to fetch around £1,000. But reports suggest the clump of Elvis's hair could go for as much as $100,000 (£63,000), partly because of the idea that DNA could one day be extracted from the samples to produce a clone of the king.

Court Papers Show Jackson Died of Propofol

Court Papers Show Jackson Died of Propofol

LOS ANGELES — Lethal levels of a powerful anesthetic caused Michael Jackson’s death, according to preliminary coroner findings cited in Texas court documents unsealed Monday.

The documents, a pair of search warrants and affidavits filed by the police in July to search the Houston office and storage unit of Dr. Conrad Murray, Mr. Jackson’s private doctor, provide the most detailed evidence against Dr. Murray by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The police told judges in Texas and Nevada that they suspected Dr. Murray of manslaughter, according to documents filed there.

According to the warrants, Dr. Murray told investigators that he had administered an intravenous drip of 50 milligrams of propofol, an anesthetic, to Mr. Jackson nightly for six weeks before the singer’s death at his Holmby Hills home to help him sleep. Dr. Murray also administered lorazepam, an anti-anxiety drug that can be addictive, and midazolam, a muscle relaxant, to treat Mr. Jackson’s insomnia.

The chief coroner for Los Angeles County, Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, indicated that his preliminary assessment of the cause of death was due to a lethal dose of propofol, according to the court documents. They also describe how Dr. Murray administered propofol and other drugs, including Valium, on June 25, the day Mr. Jackson died.

“After approximately 10 minutes, Murray stated he left Jackson’s side to go to the restroom,” the documents show. “Murray stated he was out of the room for about two minutes maximum. Upon his return, Murray noticed that Jackson was no longer breathing.”

Dr. Murray said he tried to resuscitate Mr. Jackson and administered flumazenil, a drug to reverse the effects of the sedatives in his system, and then called Mr. Jackson’s personal assistant, Michael Amir Williams, for help. Mr. Williams called Mr. Jackson’s security detail while Dr. Murray asked the singer’s chef to send one of his sons upstairs to the bedroom as he continued cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Dr. Murray waited about 82 minutes before anyone called paramedics to the home, according to the court documents.

Investigators said Dr. Murray did not initially tell paramedics or doctors that he had given Mr. Jackson propofol.

Mr. Jackson was eventually taken to University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, where he died. Medical experts said Monday that the combination of drugs Mr. Jackson was given would have exacerbated the effect of the propofol.

Drugs like lorazepam and Valium have the effect of slowing a person’s breathing.

“If you are going to put on top of that some propofol, you are not only standing on thin ice, but starting to jump up and down on that ice,” said Dr. John F. Dombrowski, director of the Washington Pain Center. “If you don’t have someone who knows how to manage respiratory depression, you’re going to die.”

The documents indicate that Dr. Murray tried to revive Mr. Jackson with flumazenil, which reverses the effects of benzodiazepines like lorazepam. But “there’s no drug that reverses propofol per se,” said Dr. Robert R. Kirby, an anesthesiologist.

And waiting 82 minutes to call 911 was inexplicable to medical experts. “Lord, no; you’d call right away,” Dr. Kirby said.

Investigators said they found numerous bottles of medications prescribed by various doctors at Mr. Jackson’s bedside and throughout his living quarters.

Dr. Murray said that he was not the first doctor to administer propofol to Mr. Jackson, that he suspected Mr. Jackson was addicted to the drug and that he tried to wean him off of it, the documents state. Dr. Murray told the police that the singer referred to propofol as his “milk.” On the day he died, Mr. Jackson was unable to sleep and, after repeated demands, the doctor administered propofol in an IV drip.

Investigators also interviewed Cherilyn Lee, a nurse who described how Mr. Jackson asked her to obtain propofol for him.

“He stated he would pay her or another doctor whatever they wanted for it,” according to the affidavit. Ms. Lee told investigators that she refused.

On June 1, Mr. Jackson’s bodyguard called to tell her Mr. Jackson was ill.

“She heard Jackson in the background saying, ‘One side of my body is hot, and the other side is cold,’ ” according to the affidavits. Ms. Lee told investigators that she told the bodyguard he should go to the hospital.

Dr. Murray was a cardiologist in Houston, Las Vegas and Los Angeles for 20 years. Earlier this year, AEG, an event promoter and stadium operator, hired him to be Mr. Jackson’s personal physician during a planned series of 50 concerts in London, for a monthly salary of $150,000.

A special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, which investigates prescription fraud, said records showed that despite the discovery of bottles of propofol at Mr. Jackson’s home, Dr. Murray “never ordered, purchased nor received any propofol.”

Dr. Murray told investigators that Mr. Jackson obtained propofol from various sources, including two unidentified doctors in Germany and an anesthesiologist in Las Vegas.

Mr. Jackson’s relatives and associates have said the singer used several aliases to obtain prescription drugs.

Public records show that Dr. Murray was in serious financial trouble before he became Mr. Jackson’s doctor, facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in debts and liens and a Las Vegas home in foreclosure proceedings.

Ed Chernoff, a lawyer for Dr. Murray, said in a statement Monday: “Much of what was in the search warrant affidavit is factual. However, unfortunately, much is police theory. Most egregiously, the timeline reported by law enforcement was not obtained through interviews with Dr. Murray.”

Lt. Fred Corral, an investigator at the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, said the toxicology tests and a final autopsy report had been completed but were being kept confidential at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department, which continues to investigate Dr. Murray.

A spokesman for the police department said he had no official statement regarding the case since the investigation was continuing.

michael jackson's mother given custody of children

michael jackson's mother given custody of children

Michael Jackson's mother was granted permanent custody of the singer's three children Monday, ending one of the court battles that had been brewing since the pop star's death.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff approved the agreement reached last week by attorneys for Katherine Jackson and Debbie Rowe, mother of the two older children, in which the children will be raised by their grandmother and Rowe keeps visitation and legal parental rights.

The late pop icon had said in his 2002 will that his mother should care for Prince Michael Jr., 12, and Paris Michael Katherine, 11, and his youngest child, Prince Michael II, 7, known as Blanket, who was carried by a surrogate.

Beckloff made the appointment over a last-minute bid by Jackson's dermatologist to get involved in the case. The judge ruled that Dr. Arnold Klein, who treated Jackson for nearly 25 years, had no legal standing. An attorney for the doctor said his client had concerns about the children's welfare, but did not specify. Rowe met Jackson while working in Klein's office.

Moving through a long list of issues before him at the day's hearing, Beckloff also approved undisclosed monthly allowances for the singer's mother and children. Katherine Jackson's attorneys filed papers last month asking for the payments, saying their client had no source of income other than Social Security, and that her son had provided for her when he was alive.

Beckloff granted Katherine Jackson the full amount she requested for herself, but reduced the sum that attorneys requested for the children, saying some of it appeared unnecessary.

The matter of Jackson's estate, on the other hand, still seemed contentious. Attorneys for Katherine Jackson and the special administrators named in Jackson's will met for 90 minutes during the morning hearing to discuss a settlement, but came back and told the judge they were unable to reach one.

Katherine Jackson, in papers filed last week, accused the temporary administrators -- music executive John McClain and entertainment attorney John Branca -- of keeping her in the dark about the estate's affairs.

Beckloff on Monday extended the temporary powers of the administrators for another 60 days.

warrants for jackson's doc call singer 'addict'

warrants for jackson's doc call singer 'addict'

LOS ANGELES — Authorities investigating Michael Jackson's death alluded to the singer as an "addict" and were seeking evidence related to the powerful anesthetic propofol, according to search warrants released Thursday.

The documents show investigators have cause to believe several California Business and Professions codes had been broken, including "excessive prescribing," a misdemeanor punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to 180 days.

Los Angeles police and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents spent much of Tuesday at the Las Vegas home and business of Jackson's personal doctor, Conrad Murray, who is the focus of a manslaughter investigation. The raids sought evidence supporting that charge, as well as code violations, including "prescribing to an addict" and "unprofessional conduct."

The state codes cover all prescribing professionals, including doctors and dentists, and violations could lead to a revoked or suspended license, said Kimberly Kirchmeyer, deputy director of the Medical Board of California. The codes state a physician cannot prescribe drugs to anyone with a chemical dependency or who is using the drugs for non-therapeutic purposes; they define an addict as someone who continues to use a drug despite harm, shows compulsive use or has impaired control over use.

The warrants, which had been sealed when the searches were conducted, also said investigators wanted all documentation relating to the "purchase, transfer, receiving, ordering, delivery and storage of propofol."

A law enforcement official earlier told The Associated Press that on the day Jackson died Murray gave him propofol to help him sleep and that investigators are working under the theory the anesthetic caused Jackson's heart to stop. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

A cause of death has yet to be announced. The Los Angeles County coroner has twice said toxicology findings on Jackson were imminent but after meeting Thursday with investigators Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter announced an indefinite delay. Winter said further investigation needs to be done; he did not go into detail.

Propofol, dubbed "milk of amnesia," is commonly used for surgeries and is not meant as a sleep agent or to be given in private homes. Because of its potency, only trained anesthesia professionals are supposed to administer it and patients are to be monitored at all times.

Murray, a cardiologist, has spoken to police but not commented publicly since Jackson died June 25. His attorney, Edward Chernoff, did not comment Thursday, but has previously said the doctor did not prescribe anything that "should have" killed Jackson.

Jackson was given anesthesia for numerous medical procedures over the years and had a long history of prescription drug use.

Search warrants issued last week in Houston allowed authorities to search Murray's clinic and a storage unit. They were the first public acknowledgment that investigators consider Jackson's death a possible manslaughter and that Murray is the target of the investigation.

The Las Vegas warrants were far more detailed and authorized authorities to look for medical and other records related to Jackson or any of the apparent 19 aliases he used, including the names Omar Arnold, Josephine Baker, Paul Farance, Jack London and Michael Amir Williams Muhammad.

Among the items seized in the Vegas searches were an iPhone, copies of several computer hard drives, a CD with the name Omar Arnold on it and a binder containing invoices for medical equipment and supplies. No propofol was found.

The warrant also shows investigators are seeking correspondence from seven doctors it names. One, Dr. Allan Metzger of Los Angeles, is an internist and rheumatologist who had a close relationship with Jackson beginning in 2002 and was godfather to one of the singer's children, said his attorney, Harland Braun.

Braun said Jackson invited Metzger to his home April 18. He spent about an hour and a half with him, during which time Jackson asked about sleep medication, particularly propofol.

Metzger told him it was dangerous, could be life threatening and should not be used outside a hospital, and suggested Jackson use some other sleep medication, Braun said.

Metzger's experience echoed Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse who gave Jackson nutritional counseling earlier this year, who said he complained of insomnia and asked her repeatedly for Diprivan, the brand-name version of propofol. Lee said she also warned him of the drug's dangers and rejected his requests.

michael jackson's former manager gives back 'secret' £3.4m

michael jackson's former manager gives back 'secret' £3.4m

Michael Jackson’s former manager has handed over a ‘secret’ £3.4million windfall to the executors of the star’s will.

Dr Tohme Tohme claims he was given the cash by Jackson so that he could buy a dream home in Las Vegas.

He admitted he had the money after the administrators of Jackson’s estate said they ‘recovered’ the cash from an unnamed ‘former financial adviser’.

Jackson’s sister La Toya told The Mail on Sunday this month that she believed her brother was effectively murdered as part of a conspiracy to steal his fortune and that at least £1million went missing from his home after his death.

John Branca and John McClain, executors of Jackson’s will, are trying to unravel his financial affairs. He left debts of around £240million but Branca and McClain said in court papers released on Friday that they believed his assets would pay off his debt and leave his children Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Blanket, seven, with a £100million fortune.

Tohme said yesterday: ‘It was not recovered. I had the money and gave it to them.
‘It was a secret between Michael and me...But when he passed away I told them I had this money and I gave it to them.’

jackson's doctor gave drug authorities believe killed him

jackson's doctor gave drug authorities believe killed him

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, administered a powerful drug that authorities believe killed the singer, a source close to the investigation confirmed to CNN on Monday.

Murray, a Texas-based cardiologist, allegedly gave Jackson the anesthetic propofol -- commonly known by the brand name Diprivan -- in the 24 hours before he died, the source said.

The doctor's attorneys in a statement Monday said they wouldn't comment on "rumors, innuendo or unnamed sources." In the past, they have said Murray never prescribed or administered anything that could have killed the pop star.

Murray was the doctor who was at Jackson's home when the pop star died on June 25.

Last week, Texas authorities searched Murray's Houston medical office and storage unit, looking for "evidence of the offense of manslaughter," according to court documents.

Among the items removed from Murray's office were a computer; 27 tablets of phentermine, a prescription-strength appetite suppressant; 1 tablet of clonazepam, an anti-anxiety medication; and some Rolodex cards.

From Murray's storage unit, authorities removed two computer hard drives; and "important contact list;" a suspension notice from Houston's Doctor Hospital; notices from the Internal Revenue Service; and a laundry list of medical and hospital documents.

Ed Chernoff, a Houston lawyer hired by Murray soon after Jackson's death, confirmed at the time that Los Angeles Police detectives and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents used a search warrant to enter Murray's office in northeast Houston on Wednesday morning.

Chernoff said members of Murray's legal team were at the medical office during the search, which he said "was conducted by members of the DEA, two robbery-homicide detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department and Houston Police officers."

Tammy Kidd, a spokeswoman at Chernoff's office, told CNN the search "was absolutely a surprise to us, because we've had open lines of communication this whole time."

Police have interviewed Murray twice since Jackson's death. A third interview was scheduled for July 24, but was postponed after the search warrants were executed. It's unknown when the next interview will take place.

Among those who have indicated that Jackson may have been using dangerous prescription medication are nutritionist Cherilyn Lee, who said Jackson pleaded for the powerful sedative Diprivan despite being told of its harmful effects.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County coroner's office continues to investigate the cause of Jackson's death on June 25. It has been waiting on toxicology lab results, but a final autopsy report is expected as soon as this week, a coroner's spokesman has said.

jacko is forever as hair turns into diamonds

jacko is forever as hair turns into diamonds

A lock of Michael Jackson's hair is to be turned into diamonds to give a select few fans a unique way of remembering their idol.

The star lost the hair when he was set on fire during the filming of a Pepsi advert in 1984.

Ralph Cohen, the executive producer of the video, scooped up some of the charred strands and put them in his pocket as Jackson was rushed off set to hospital.

He kept it for 25 years before selling it to John Reznikoff, who has amassed a collection of hair from famous historical figures including Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.

Now the collector has teamed up with LifeGem to produce an exclusive set of diamonds from a portion of the hair. The rest will remain in his collection.

LifeGem founder Dean VandenBiesen said: "We specialise in creating diamonds from locks of hair.

"Our plan is to give people an opportunity to own a diamond made from Michael Jackson's DNA.

"We are currently evaluating Jackson's hair sample to determine how many diamonds can be created.

"This will be a limited collection and we anticipate great interest."

The company previously worked with Reznikoff to create diamonds from Beethoven's hair in 2007 and sold one of them on eBay for around $200,000 (£122,000).

The process involves capturing carbon from the hair and heating it to very high temperatures until it is converted into graphite.

This is then placed into a diamond press, which replicates the heat and pressure from deep within the earth, where it will crystallise into a diamond.

Meanwhile, Jackson's former financial adviser has handed over millions of dollars of the King of Pop's money to his executors.

Dr Tohme Tohme said the $5.5m (£3.3m) was "a secret between Michael and me" and had been earmarked for the purchase of a "dream home" in Las Vegas.

monthly allowances for jackson's mother, children will be urged

monthly allowances for jackson's mother, children will be urged

Michael Jackson provided full financial support to his mother when he was alive and his estate should continue to do so after his death, the temporary administrators of the pop star's affairs plan to argue at a hearing in August.

In court papers filed Thursday, the administrators asked for approval to pay a monthly allowance to Katherine Jackson, 79. The specific amount requested is under seal.

"The special administrators are informed and believe that Mrs. Jackson has no other sources of income currently available other than Social Security income," lawyers for administrators John Branca and John McClain wrote in the filing.

Jackson's mother is caring for her son's three children, and the administrators requested an additional monthly allowance for them. According to the court papers, the Jackson children are beneficiaries of an insurance policy "but the insurance proceeds have not yet been collected."

The allowances are among a host of issues Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff is to take up at a hearing Aug. 3. A 2002 will signed by Jackson appoints Branca and McClain executors and transfers Jackson's assets to a private trust that benefits his mother, his children and a number of charities. The judge has not yet ruled on the validity of the will, but he gave its executors limited control in the meantime.

The administrators' lawyers wrote in the papers that they are still analyzing Jackson's affairs but believe that he owns the family home in Encino where Katherine Jackson lives. The administrators are paying the mortgage, taxes, utilities and gardener fees at the home, their attorneys wrote.

Jackson's father, siblings and other relatives are not mentioned in the court papers, and the administrators' lawyers wrote that "no individuals other than the minor children and Mrs. Jackson are entitled to a family allowance in this estate."

Although Jackson owed creditors at least $400 million at the time of his death, his assets outweighed his debts by more than $200 million and the value of his estate has grown daily with the posthumous popularity of his music.

Additionally, the estate received $5.5 million last week from Tohme R. Tohme, a businessman who advised Jackson in the final years of his life. In an interview Saturday, Tohme said he informed Branca shortly after Jackson's June 25 death that he was holding the funds.

He said the money came from record royalties and was going to be used for sprucing up a "dream house" for Jackson in Las Vegas.

"It was a house that belonged to some foreign people, and it is not finished yet," Tohme said. "It was to go for landscaping and some other things that would put [Jackson's] touch on it."

Jackson told him not to tell anyone about the money, he said.

"He said it was something private between him and me, and I honored those wishes," he said.

was omer bhatti michael jackson's love child?

was omer bhatti michael jackson's love child?

LOS ANGELES - Even as custody of Jackson’s three children is set to be decided in court on Aug. 3, The Sun newspaper speculated the singer may have had a love-child raised in Norway.

Omer Bhatti, 25, sparked interest when he was spotted sitting with the singer’s immediate family at Jackson’s public memorial earlier this month. Bhatti reportedly spent time with Jackson at his Neverland Valley Ranch in the 1990s and was known as “Little Michael.”

But another of Jackson’s former proteges, singer Ricky Harlow, told celebrity website People.com Friday that although they were close he doubted Bhatti was Jackson’s son.

“They had a father-and-son type of connection,” Harlow, 26, told People, “but I never thought he (Jackson) was his biological father.”

In Jackson’s 2002 will, the singer listed only three children now living: Prince Michael Jackson, Jr, Paris Michael Kathering Jackson and Prince Michael Joseph Jackson II.

michael jackson's doctor named in court manslaughter document

michael jackson's doctor named in court manslaughter document

Michael Jackson’s personal doctor is an official target in a manslaughter investigation into the singer’s death, according to legal documents filed in a Houston court.

An approved search warrant allowed authorities to seek “property or items constituting evidence of the offense of manslaughter that tend to show that Dr Conrad Murray committed the said criminal offence”.

Police accompanied by federal drug agents entered the clinic used by Dr Murray, who was staying at Jackson’s rented Los Angeles home on the night that Jackson died.

Officials said that they were looking for information on the use of the powerful anaesthetic Diprivan (propofol), which is used to induce unconsciousness in hospital patients before major surgery. Reports have said that it was found in Jackson’s home.

Dr Murray, 51, has been a central character in the investigation from the outset – he tried to revive the King of Pop with cardiac massage when he lost consciousness on June 25. The surprise search of his property on Wednesday indicated that authorities were focusing on him, but the warrant language makes it clear that he could face a manslaughter charge.

A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman confirmed that a search warrant was served but declined to comment further. LAPD investigators have interviewed Dr Murray twice so far.

Dr Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, would only respond to the development by referring to an earlier statement in which he confirmed a search warrant had been executed and that none of the items seized had previously been requested by authorities.

The documents filed yesterday detailed items taken when officials descended on the clinic. Among them: 27 tablets of the weight-loss drug phentermine, a tablet of the muscle relaxant clonazepam, a forensic image of a hard drive, Rolodex business cards and e-mails.

Dr Murray, a cardiologist, is licensed to practise in California, Texas and Nevada. Records show he has had no disciplinary actions taken against him. He was hired as Jackson’s personal physician not long before he died.

The official coroner’s verdict into what caused Jackson’s sudden death at the age of 50 has been delayed, despite a second post-mortem examination demanded by the singer’s family. An official determination of what killed Jackson is expected to be made in about a week, when the Los Angeles County coroner receives a completed toxicology report.

The gossip website TMZ.com, which broke the news of Jackson's collapse and death, reported today that the verdict was due to be released last week and the cause of death would "almost certainly" be listed as homicide.

On Monday, Joe Jackson, his father, accused Dr Murray of being involved in his son’s death, something the doctor has fiercely denied through his lawyer. “The doctor gave him something to make him rest and he don’t wake up no more. Something is wrong,” Mr Jackson told the talk-show host Larry King.

Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter confirmed last night that he has sought information from seven or eight doctors and said that Dr Murray was the only one he yet to talk to him.

Mr Winter said his lawyer had offered to speak with the coroner last week but without Dr Murray present.

“We don’t want to talk to the attorney, we want to talk to Murray,” Mr Winter said.

manslaughter inquiry into jackson’s doctor

manslaughter inquiry into jackson’s doctor

LOS ANGELES — The cardiologist who tried to revive Michael Jackson the day he died is being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department on suspicion of manslaughter, according to two sealed search warrants filed Thursday.

The search warrants confirm that the inquiry into Mr. Jackson’s death last month has become a criminal investigation.

The warrants, filed in Harris County District Court in Texas, were executed by officers with the Los Angeles and Houston police and agents for the Drug Enforcement Administration during the raids Wednesday at an office and a self-storage unit in Houston of the cardiologist, Dr. Conrad Murray.

An inventory of evidence confiscated from the search of the office, at the Armstrong Medical Clinic, includes Rolodex cards, e-mail messages, letters, a phone receipt and two vials of medication — phentermine, an appetite suppressant, and clonazepam, an anti-anxiety drug. Investigators also took a forensic copy of Dr. Murray’s computer.

A list of evidence obtained at a rental storage unit included computer hard drives, compact discs and dozens of documents including a medical suspension notice from a local hospital.

Investigators searched the medical clinic at 10:50 a.m. Wednesday and found receipts for the storage unit, which they raided four hours later.

Charles Lyon, whose wife manages Eighteenth Street Self Storage, said in a telephone interview on Thursday that Dr. Murray rented unit No. 337 on April 1 under the name of Acres Home Heart Vascular Institute.

Mr. Lyon said a Los Angeles police officer and two officers with the Houston Police Department arrived Wednesday afternoon and asked to see the unit.

“Then they went and got a search warrant and I went up there and cut the lock,” he said.

Dr. Murray, who worked in California, Nevada and Texas, is among several doctors police investigators have interviewed in connection with Mr. Jackson’s death. Dr. Murray had been recently hired by Mr. Jackson to attend to him during a planned 50-concert tour.

Ed Winter, the assistant chief coroner for Los Angeles County, said he expected his office to issue a final autopsy report next week.

Coroner officials confiscated several bags of medical supplies and drugs from Mr. Jackson’s Holmby Hills home after his death. The cause of his death has been listed as “deferred” pending a death investigation. A coroner’s official said this week that toxicology test results had been completed, but that the results were being analyzed.

Calls to Dr. Murray’s office and to his lawyer, Ed Chernoff, for interviews were not returned. A statement posted Wednesday on Mr. Chernoff’s Web site confirmed that the authorities were investigating his client on suspicion of manslaughter and that they had taken documents and other evidence from his office.

Dr. Murray was well known in Houston, where he practiced medicine in the predominantly black neighborhood of Acres Home, where his father, Dr. Rawle Andrews, had established himself as one the few black doctors serving the community before desegregation.

“Dr. Murray’s been my doctor five or six years,” said Cuney Williams, who had surgery performed by Dr. Murray. “He saved my life and my husband’s life.”

authorities search houston office of jackson's physician

authorities search houston office of jackson's physician

Armed with a search warrant indicating that Michael Jackson's death is being investigated as a manslaughter, a team of Los Angeles Police Department detectives and federal drug agents swooped into the Houston medical clinic operated by the pop star's personal physician Wednesday and seized documents and computer files.

The warrant signed by a Harris County District Court judge and executed on the offices of Dr. Conrad Murray was the strongest indication yet that authorities are considering serious criminal charges in the performer's sudden death June 25.

"The search warrant authorized law enforcement to search for and seize items, including documents, they believed constituted evidence of the offense of manslaughter," said the doctor's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, in a statement.

The search of the office was the fourth warrant served in a monthlong investigation that has included several dozen interviews with witnesses, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Murray, whose main practice and residence are in Las Vegas, was not present for the 3 1/2 -hour search by officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division and the Houston Police Department. DEA spokeswoman Violet Szeleczky said investigators went to the Acres Home Heart and Vascular Institute, a cardiology clinic Murray opened in 2006, in search of records, but she declined to elaborate.

A DEA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the warrant mentioned the anesthetic propofol. Police removed large quantities of the powerful drug from Jackson's Holmby Hills mansion, and DEA agents have been working with the manufacturer to trace the source of a specific lot number of the drug.

Propofol was not found in Murray's office, a source familiar with the search said. Investigators took Murray's Rolodex, business cards, information about his use of FedEx, e-mails he had received from a former employee, receipts for a storage unit and cellphone and pamphlets advertising a nearby sleep clinic, the source said. Officers took a folder containing a biography of Murray and a photocopy of a picture of him, the source said.

His lawyer said the investigators also made a copy of a business computer hard drive.

Harris County District Court Judge Shawna L. Reagin signed the warrant, but court officials said the records were sealed and referred questions to L.A. authorities. An LAPD supervisor declined to say what investigators had hoped to find in Houston but cautioned against reading too much into the search. The department has never described the probe as criminal, and the cause of death remains unknown.

"It is an ongoing investigation into circumstances surrounding Michael Jackson's death," said LAPD Cmdr. Pat Gannon.

Sources familiar with the investigation said officials could ultimately conclude that Jackson died accidentally or find that there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone in connection with his death.

Murray, a 51-year-old cardiologist, opened the Houston clinic three years ago in honor of his father, a physician who had worked in the poor, predominantly black neighborhood for decades. Murray traveled to Houston twice a month to see patients until May, when he suspended his practice to work full-time for Jackson, according to a biography provided by his lawyer.

Although Murray had been hired to care for Jackson at a monthly salary of $150,000, the performer was also seeing a number of other physicians, and the L.A. County coroner's office has subpoenaed medical records from several physicians. The spotlight on Murray, however, has been the most intense because he was with Jackson at his home when the singer went into cardiac arrest.

Murray has been questioned twice by LAPD investigators and provided them with medical records related to treatment he provided Jackson in Las Vegas in the three years before his death. Last week, coroner's officials investigating the cause of his death requested their own interview and additional medical records, Murray's lawyer said. No time for the meeting has been set.

Chernoff said that none of the 21 documents seized from the clinic was among those previously requested by the coroner's office or law enforcement.

The search attracted intense attention, with some news websites streaming live footage of the outside of the clinic. U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson-Lee (D- Texas), who spoke at Jackson's memorial service and whose district includes the area where Murray's office is located, had a staffer present at the building when the office was searched. The staff member was there, a spokesman said, "as a concerned community representative."

USC law professor Jean Rosenbluth, a former federal prosecutor, said the reference to manslaughter in the search warrant provides some insight into detectives' interpretation of the evidence but ultimately may be irrelevant.

"You get a search warrant because you are investigating the possible commission of a crime, but all of this is just at the investigatory stage. All the time there are investigations where no one is charged with a crime in the end," she said.

She said that when the deceased is a global icon, "they are not going to leave any stones unturned."

"With the whole world watching they would want every 't' crossed and every 'I' dotted," she said.

video of jackson 1984 pepsi burn accident surfaces

video of jackson 1984 pepsi burn accident surfaces

NEW YORK — Us Weekly magazine has obtained video it says shows never-before-seen footage of Michael Jackson's head catching on fire during filming of his 1984 Pepsi commercial.

Jackson suffered severe burns after a pyrotechnics mishap caused his hair and scalp to catch afire. Still photos of the accident have been seen before, but the new video on Us Weekly's Web site shows the moment Jackson's hair caught on fire and the top of his head became engulfed in flames.

Jackson didn't realize his hair was on fire. In the video, he's still dancing as the flames are on his head. When he spins, the flames go out. People on the set tackle him to extinguish the fire, and his brother Jermaine Jackson, playing the guitar in front of him and oblivious to the commotion, turns around. When Michael Jackson emerges from the pile of people trying to help him, the top of his head is bald.

The accident, witnessed by thousands of stunned fans at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, came at the height of Jackson's fame, about a year after the release of his best-selling "Thriller" album. It marked what would be the beginning of serious, lifelong pain for Jackson, who had been treated for painkiller addiction and has been described by relatives and friends as being hooked on pain medication at the time of his death last month at age 50.

Jackson, who was photographed in an ambulance with a bandage on his head and his trademark sequined white glove on his right hand, required several surgeries and needed skin grafts to treat the injury.

In his autobiography, "Moonwalk," he described the cause of the accident as "stupidity, pure and simple."

As he described the accident, he wrote: "... bombs went off on either side of my head, and the sparks set my hair on fire. I was dancing down this ramp and turning around, spinning, not knowing I was on fire. Suddenly I felt my hands reflexively go to my head in an attempt to smother the flames."

As a result of the accident, Pepsi gave Jackson $1.5 million, which he donated to a burn center named after him.

A representative for Us Weekly had no immediate comment on where the video came from.

On the Net:

• Us Weekly: http://www.usmagazine.com

michael jackson 'kept suicide note'

michael jackson 'kept suicide note'

Friends of the King of Pop have claimed that he “often overdosed” and had been trying to kill himself for a decade. One said: “We’re surprised he even made it to 50”.

The Daily Star reported that insiders believe the financially struggling star “couldn’t face his problems” and wanted a way out.

He would keep the suicide note in his pocket and overdosed, they told the newspaper. “Michael always talked about dying young,” one said. “He wrote suicide notes then tore them up. He kept one with him – he often read it.

“He wanted everyone to know how sad he was." Another friend told the newspaper that Jackson had wanted to end his life ever since he was humiliated by child abuse claims in the 1990s.

Meanwhile it has emerged that Jackson's skin doctor is under investigation over the singer's death. Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter walked into Dr Arnold Klein's office to demand medical records be handed over on Tuesday.

Officers are expected to investigate the dermatologist's prescription practices with regard to the vast amount of drugs Jackson was taking and whether medication was given to aliases.

Dr Klein has admitted "occasionally" giving him sedative Demerol, but said: "That was the strongest medication I ever used."

As he walked up to Dr Klein's office, Mr Winter said: "I'm here to talk to him. The investigation is still ongoing." He emerged after an hour – and later revealed he had been promised all Jackson's medical files within 24 hours.

He said on Monday that some of the toxicology and brain autopsy results, which determine what substances the singer had in his body when he died, are in. The remaining results were expected soon.

The actress Elizabeth Taylor, 77, a friend of the late singer, was last night being treated in an LA hospital as she struggles to come to terms with his death.

michael jackson's record sales top 9 million since his death

michael jackson's record sales top 9 million since his death

The surge in sales of Michael Jackson's music catalog continued Wednesday with the announcement that his albums dominated the pop charts for the third consecutive week, and a source told The Times that more than 9 million of Jackson's solo recordings have been sold worldwide since his death June 25.

Nielsen SoundScan said Jackson's albums sold 1.1 million copies over the last seven days and had combined to sell an impressive 2.3 million in the U.S. in the nearly three weeks since he died.

Sony Music, which controls the catalog of his solo recordings, declines as a policy to comment on sales issues, but a spokeswoman for the label did not dispute the accuracy of the 9-million figure. Jackson's music has also topped the pop charts in countries including France, Germany, Australia and the U.K. during the same period.

The dramatic influx of income for the singer's estate illustrates what's at stake in the legal battle to name an executor for Jackson's will.

This month, lawyers for the singer's mother, Katherine Jackson, 79, filed court papers asking that she oversee his estate. Days later, two of Jackson's longtime associates -- entertainment attorney John Branca and veteran music industry executive John McClain -- filed a will the performer signed in 2002 naming them executors. A hearing on the matter of an executor is scheduled for Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.

Although Jackson was about $400 million in debt to various financial institutions, people with knowledge of the singer's business holdings say his assets outweigh his debt by at least $200 million -- and those assets are only increasing with the tremendous record sales.

In the meantime, the popularity of Jackson's music, memorabilia and even performances inspired by his body of work shows no sign of diminishing.

"We're seeing a real outpouring from fans and consumers who are looking to connect and get past what's happened -- the tragedy of his death -- through attaching themselves to his music," said Gary Arnold, senior entertainment officer for the national music retailer Best Buy.

Sales of Jackson's music have remained "exceedingly strong" in the weeks since his death, Arnold said. "They're buying a pretty broad spectrum of his work; they aren't just buying 'Thriller' but a broad range of titles from throughout Michael's career. Realistically we expect to see people connecting at unprecedented levels through Christmas."

Amazon.com typically doesn't discuss sales figures, but in the wake of Jackson's death company spokesman Andrew Herdener said "the customer response to Michael Jackson's death has been staggering and unprecedented -- we took more orders for Jackson CDs and MP3s in the first 24 hours after his death than we did in the previous 11 years of the Amazon music store."

There were other manifestations of the insatiable appetite for all things Jackson. The performer's songs were punched up just shy of 1 million times on the 38,000 jukeboxes operated by TouchTunes, the nation's leading jukebox supplier. Thirteen of his songs, either solo or with the Jackson 5, were in the company's Top 100 songs for the period, and his recordings occupied half the slots in the Top 10.

Maximizing on the Jackson mania that has sent fans into mourning worldwide, producers of the U.K. stage musical "Thriller Live" announced that they were taking the show on the road this month.

The musical -- a two-hour tribute concert using Jackson impersonators to showcase many of the singer's best-known songs -- will begin traveling across Europe on Tuesday and will be performed in several U.S. cities at some point in the next 12 months, an announcement said.

The six-member, North Carolina-based Jackson tribute group Who's Bad seized the zeitgeist by booking a North American tour July 9 that will send the band members traveling coast to coast through November.

"With Michael Jackson gone, Who’s Bad is, right now, the closest thing to hearing and seeing him perform," the band's leader Vamsi Tadepalli says in a statement on its website. "We only seek to keep those memories alive."

lethal drug cocktail in star's body

lethal drug cocktail in star's body

MICHAEL Jackson had lethal levels of powerful painkiller Demerol and heroin substitute methadone in his body when he died, The Sun can reveal.

Tests show the tragic star had taken a cocktail of drugs strong enough to have killed any normal person instantly.

But he had been on vast quantities so long his body became tolerant to huge doses - until his fatal collapse on Thursday of last week.

The shock findings are in preliminary toxicology reports submitted to the Los Angeles county coroner’s office.

The contents were revealed as sources predicted Jacko’s death could result in manslaughter or even MURDER charges.

A case insider told The Sun: “Michael Jackson was a walking drug store when he died — he never stood a chance.”

As well as lethal levels of DEMEROL and METHADONE, blood tests found high levels of antianxiety drug XANAX.

Also present were lower levels of PROPOFOL — an anaesthetic for hospital use only, but which Jackson used as a sleeping draft.

A significant amount of narcotic DILAUDID, normally used to numb post-surgery pain, was discovered.

In addition there were “therapeutic” levels of FENTANYL, another post-op painkiller 100 times more potent than morphine, plus prescription painkiller VICODIN, anti-anxiety pills VALIUM and the sleeping drug AMBIEN.

The insider said: “The body can build up extreme tolerances to huge doses of drugs but eventually it overloads and just shuts down. That is what happened to Michael.

Pressure

“Tests showed that as well as Demerol and methadone, he had taken four more painkillers and anaesthetics plus anti-anxiety pills.

“This is sure to increase pressure on police to establish exactly how one man obtained so many prescription medications — and which doctors were responsible.

“There is increasing talk of manslaughter charges if it can be shown he was given drugs without proper regard for his safety.”

Police Chief William Bratton said he was waiting for the final toxicology reports, currently weeks away.

He added: “Based on those, we will have an idea what we are dealing with. Are we dealing with a homicide or are we dealing with accidental overdose?”

The early findings support The Sun’s exclusive revelation that 50-year-old King of Pop was given an injection of Demerol about 40 minutes before his heart stopped.

Jackson’s dermatologist Dr Arnold Klein — the close pal rumoured to be the father of two of the star’s three children — has already admitted occasionally giving Jackson Demerol after surgery.

But he insisted he had warned him about Propofol, also known as Diprivan.

Klein said: “I knew at one point he was using Diprivan was on tour in Germany. I told him he was absolutely insane. I said, ‘You have to quit it. This drug, you can’t repeatedly take’.”

Jackson last toured Germany in 1997 — indicating he may have been taking the potentially lethal medication for at least 12 years.

At least four doctors are at the core of the investigation. One, personal physician Dr Conrad Murray, was with Jacko when he collapsed.

Yesterday a letter from a Dr Alex Farshchian and dated July 21, 2002, emerged suggesting Jackson trade his dependence on Demerol for injectable painkiller Buprenex.

Said to have been found at Jackson’s rented house and published on a US website, it said: “Buprenex is the potent narcotic I told you about last week. It is just like the D but better.” The letter suggests a five to seven-day program “that offers you the solution”.

The doctor adds: “I have everything ready. This is it.”

Eerily, seven years later This Is It would be the title Jackson chose for his comeback shows.

A scribbled note found near his drug stash, possibly written by Jackson, said: “Buprenex does the same as Demerol, the only difference is you can’t become an addict on Buprenex.”

Another letter — headed Outpatient Detoxification Sheet — names methadone as the most common way to treat drug dependency.

Meanwhile documents and snaps from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s department also emerged showing the depths of Jackson’s drug habit were uncovered in 2003.

Officers raided his Neverland home while probing child abuse claims — and found powerful narcotics, syringes, vials and IV bags.

Jackson had been so desperate to score prescription drugs that he even used his best friend’s identity.

Among the police snaps is one showing a bottle of anti-anxiety drug Alprazolum, also known as Xanax, in the name Frank Tyson — prescribed by Dr Klein.

Tyson’s real name is Frank Cascio. He is a pal’s son who Jackson befriended as a toddler and put on his payroll when he turned 18.

Frank hung out with him at Elizabeth Taylor’s Swiss chalet in Gstaad in September 1993. And Jackson often sought sanctuary in Frank’s New Jersey home — once spending three months there.

It is thought Frank, now 30, had no idea Jackson was using his name like this — though the star frequently begged aides to get him prescription drugs to top up his own legal supply.

In 2004 bodyguard Chris Carter told investigators he used several names to get prescriptions, including those of ranch manager Jesus Salas and employee Joe Marcus.

Carter also claimed Jacko was once so “spaced out” he fell flat on his face in a hotel — but still continued the drug binge which five years later would lead to his death.

The progress of the drug addictions is to be mapped by a battery of tests — to Jackson’s BRAIN.

It was removed before Tuesday’s memorial service and slices will show when he first suffered drug reactions.

Renowned pathologist Dr Michael Baden said: “Everything from whether he was beaten as a child to any small tumours, or previous overdoses that he may have suffered, will show up.

“The brain results will determine if he was given improper medication, and how authentic statements provided by his physicians were.”

THE human body can build up a startling tolerance to morphine-based and tranquilliser drugs, writes Health and Science Editor Emma Morton. The phenomenon, tachyphylaxis, means larger and larger doses are needed to have an effect. This puts massive pressure on the heart, triggering heart failure.

michael jackson's family silent on burial plans

michael jackson's family silent on burial plans

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than 31 million Americans watched Michael Jackson's public memorial on television, but mystery surrounded the whereabouts of his body on Wednesday and plans for his burial.

A day after Jackson's casket was taken to a Los Angeles basketball arena for an emotional memorial for fans, friends and his family, attention returned to how Jackson got his hands on powerful prescription drugs reportedly found in his rented mansion after his sudden death on June 25.

Sales of Jackson's albums soared for a second week, with his solo albums jumping another 90 percent to 800,000 copies in the United States, tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan said.

Nielsen Media Research said 31.1 million Americans watched Tuesday's Los Angeles memorial live on television. The figure is lower than the TV audience of some other recent events.

Some 49.5 million Americans tuned in for President Barack Obama's first White House news conference in February, and 35 million watched former President Ronald Reagan's 2004 burial live on TV.

The Nielsen figures do not include viewing on the Internet or other platforms, which has grown rapidly in the last few years.

The Jackson family spokesman did not return calls for comment on burial plans for the "Thriller" singer, who died of cardiac arrest at age 50.

NO REQUEST FOR NEVERLAND BURIAL

California officials and those in Santa Barbara County said the family has not asked for the required special permission to bury Jackson at his abandoned Neverland Valley Ranch in central California.

Media reports said the Los Angeles coroner's office was conducting neuropathology tests on part of Jackson's brain, which could be behind the delay in the family's burial plans.

One of Jackson's doctors, Beverly Hills dermatologist Arnold Klein, on Wednesday denied he was one of the targets of a police investigation over drugs seized from Jackson's home after his death.

"I was not one of the doctors who participated in giving him overdoses of drugs or too much of anything," Klein told ABC's "Good Morning America" in an interview.

"I always was concerned about him. No matter what he wanted, someone would give it to him," he said. Klein also denied media reports that he was the sperm donor of Jackson's two children with his ex-wife Debbie Rowe.

A spokesman for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the elaborate memorial cost the cash-strapped city $1.4 million, "far less" than an initial estimate of $3.8 million.

City officials had braced for as many as 250,000 fans to show up at the Staples Center. The actual number was closer to 1,000. Donors chipped in $17,000 after the city set up a website asking for cash to cover the cost, he added.

Jackson's music is enjoying the commercial success that eluded the "King of Pop" in recent years.

The singer's "Number Ones" compilation was the top-selling album in the United States during the week ended July 5, and his 1982 blockbuster "Thriller" took second place.

history of superstar's unreleased songs

history of superstar's unreleased songs

Since Michael Jackson's unexpected death, fans and industry insiders have been wondering what unreleased music the pop icon may have left behind.

Reports that he was collaborating on a comeback album with leading hip-hop and R&B artists emerged as early as 2006. He had worked on songs with will.i.am, and Ne-Yo had offered material for consideration.

MEMORIAL PLANS: Grammys' Ehrlich tells how it all came together

Akon— whose sweetly lyrical Hold My Hand, featuring Jackson on vocals, was leaked last year — says he and Jackson were working on additional songs. Jackson was intent on crafting an album with "positive messages that would bring people together, upbeat songs as well as ballads," Akon says.

"And his voice was incredible — it had not changed."

Billboard reported last week that Jackson had been at work on both a new pop album, his first since 2001's Invincible, and an instrumental album of classical music.

Veteran engineer and producer Bruce Swedien, a longtime Jackson and Quincy Jones colleague who worked on Off the Wall and Thriller, says he and Jackson had "experimented" with classical music but had "a bunch of things in the works" in more of a pop vein. "There were pieces of music that I think would have been wonderful."

Swedien, whose book In the Studio With Michael Jackson arrives July 27, describes one unreleased song, Don't Be Messin' Around, as "a medium-tempo piece, with Jackson playing piano. And he does it well."

Others point to older recordings. Tommy Mottola, formerly head of Sony Music, Jackson's record company, says the singer accumulated a lot of material that never left the studio. And Queen guitarist Brian May revealed on his website after the superstar's death that he and Freddie Mercury had recorded tracks at Jackson's home.

Sony says Jackson had been in talks for eight months about a 30th anniversary edition of Off theWall that would pair him with other stars, as with the 25th anniversary edition of Thriller. The label says it has no plans to unveil new or repackaged songs.

That hasn't discouraged speculation.

"Of course they're going to put stuff out," says veteran music critic J.D. Considine, who writes for The Globe and Mail in Toronto. "I would be extraordinarily surprised if we didn't have some kind of elaborate box set in time for Christmas."

Former Spin and Vibe editor Alan Light would advise anyone seeking to represent Jackson's work, particularly the unreleased music, "to be careful what context it's presented in." When rapper Notorious B.I.G. died, "songs were rebuilt and reconstructed around scraps. You can do that, but Michael Jackson was a perfectionist.

"I'd argue it wouldn't serve his memory or his creative legacy to just dump stuff out there."

But Mottola says that while Sony "packaged and repackaged his albums for years, there are still true gems in the unreleased material."

The tough part, most agree, will be finding the right people to curate that material. "Sony would be wise to work with people who really know the music, like some of the producers who worked on it originally," Mottola says. "And it would be good to work with (Jackson's) family as well, to keep everything running smoothly."

For his part, Akon plans to "let the family decide" what to do with his and Jackson's most recent efforts: "They knew him better than anybody."

michael jackson memorial cost L.A. $1.4 million

michael jackson memorial cost L.A. $1.4 million

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The memorial service for singer Michael Jackson cost the city of Los Angeles $1.4 million, the mayor's office said Wednesday.

Costs included putting extra police on the streets, trash pickup, sanitation, traffic control and more for the Tuesday event, spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton said.

Three thousand police officers -- almost one-third of the Los Angeles police force -- were on hand to ensure the Jackson events proceeded smoothly, Los Angeles Assistant Police Chief Jim McDonnell, said Tuesday.

The city, which is $530 million in debt, set up a Web page asking Jackson fans to donate money to help with the expenses.

On Tuesday morning, hundreds of donors contributed more than $17,000 through the Web site. But then, the high volume of traffic caused it to crash frequently and for long periods of time, the mayor's office said.

The city, therefore, was unable to collect contributions for several hours on Tuesday.

The site also crashed for 12 hours, beginning at 8 p.m. Tuesday -- and again, periodically throughout Wednesday morning, the office said.

Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich does not want taxpayers to pay a penny for the service, his spokesman said Wednesday.

"The city attorney does not want something like this happening again, the city paying [the initial costs] for a private event," spokesman John Franklin said.

"That's especially in a cash-strapped city, where people have been furloughed or even lost jobs."

During the Los Angeles Lakers championship parade this year, nearly 2,000 police were called in, at a cost of $2 million. The Lakers and private donors reimbursed the city for most of the expenses.

the rise and fall of the king of pop

the rise and fall of the king of pop

Here are Jackson's highlights, lowlights and subsequent aftermath of his death:

THE RISE:

:: 1958 – Jackson is born on August 26 in Gary, Indiana.

:: 1963 – He gives his first public performance aged five singing Climb Every Mountain.

:: 1964 – He joins his brothers in The Jackson Five who sign to Motown Records in 1968.

:: 1979 – Teams up with Quincey Jones to release Off The Wall, his first album with Epic and his first solo album as an adult recording artist.

:: 1982 – Thriller is released, an album which would eventually become the world's best-selling album of all-time. The smash hit yields seven top-10 singles.

:: 1985 – Jackson reportedly pays $47 million for the publishing rights to the Beatles' back catalogue.

:: 1987 – He releases Bad and buys the Neverland ranch in California.

:: 1991 – Jackson signs a huge recording contract with Sony Music and later releases Dangerous.

THE FALL:

:: 1993 – A 13-year-old boy named Jordan Chandler claimed Jackson sexually abused him during a visit to the ranch.

The same year, Jackson announced he had become addicted to painkillers and abruptly cancelled a world tour to promote Dangerous.

Jackson reaches a settlement with Chandler's family in 1994, later reported to be 23 million dollars.

:: 1994 – Marries Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of rock legend Elvis Presley. The pair are divorced 19 months later.

:: 1996 – Married for the second time to nurse Debbie Rowe in 1996. The couple are divorced three years later.

:: 2001 – The album Invincible – which reportedly cost $30 million to produce – flops.

:: 2002 – Dangles his third child, baby Prince Michael II (whom he calls Blanket), over a fourth-floor balcony at a Berlin hotel, shocking the crowd of fans in the street below.

:: 2003 – The singer tells interviewer Martin Bashir sharing a bed with a young boy is "a beautiful thing".

Documentary reveals that Jackson still has sleepovers with young boys and that his third baby was the child of a surrogate mother. Jackson is furious with the piece and goes on air to blast it.

:: 2005 – He is acquitted of sexually molesting 12-year-old Gavin Arvizo but his career and finances are in tatters.

:: March 2009 – Tickets for 50 concerts at London's O2 Arena sell out within hours after Jackson and music promoter AEG Live announce a surprise comeback for the singer. Jackson, who had been rehearsing in Los Angeles, had been due to start the concerts on July 13.

:: June 25 2009 – Jackson goes into cardiac arrest and dies at the age of 50. Tributes flood in for the King of Pop.

THE AFTERMATH

:: June 29 2009 – Jackson's father Joe says he suspects "foul play somewhere" over his son's death.

Bags of pills and other medicines were seized from his rented mansion as his personal physician continued to insist that the singer had not taken an overdose.

:: June 30 2009 – AEG, promoters of his ill-fated concert, release pictures of his dress rehearsal two days before his death, showing Jackson looking thin but in typical singing and dancing poses as he performed with dancers.

It emerges that he had performed his set for 90 minutes until nearly midnight on June 23.

:: July 1 2009 – Jackson left his fortune to his three children and his mother, the singer's will reveals. The entire estate is left to a family trust, which means under US laws the exact details do not have to be made public.

:: July 7 2009 – Fans gather in Los Angeles ahead of a star-studded memorial service at Staples Centre, Los Angeles, the scene of Jackson's final rehearsal.

michael jackson coffin to be on display at memorial

michael jackson coffin to be on display at memorial

Los Angeles police confirmed today that Michael Jackson's body will be on display as the biggest names in black American music give the singer a superstar's send-off.

Tens of thousands of fans gathered around Los Angeles's Staples Center – the sports arena where Jackson rehearsed the night before his death – for a public memorial show due to start at 10am (1800 BST).

Before then, Jackson family members were due to hold a private funeral ceremony at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills overlooking the city.

But they will not actually be putting the singer, who died 12 days ago after collapsing at his home, to rest.

William Bratton, the LA police chief, said that the gold-plated casket carrying Jackson's body would be taken across town for display at the public memorial.

He did not say how it would get there, but the celebrity news website TMZ.com – which was the first to report Jackson's death – said that it would be taken by helicopter if any safety issues arose.

A total of 8,750 pairs of tickets were handed out to the memorial show after more than 1.6 million fans applied via an online lottery.

The family has already announced that participants will include Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Martin Luther King III.

Also taking part is Shaheen Jafargholi, a 12-year-old from Swansea, who came to prominence singing a Jackson song on the last series of Britain's Got Talent. The singer was reportedly enchanted by the boy's performance and had lined him up to take part in his ill-fated comeback concerts in London.

As Jackson's relatives left the family home this morning for the initial private service, Mr Bratton said that he had deployed an extra 1,400 officers for the occasion. “This is probably the largest event we’ve planned for since the 1984 Olympics,” he told CNN.

Although the event at the Staples Centre is limited to 20,000 ticket holders, authorities feared that as many as 250,000 people could flood the area just to soak up the atmosphere and glimpse the stars appearing in the service and have asked for fans to stay home and watch on TV.

“We have no idea how many people are going to show up here other than those who have the tickets inside the event inside of Staples,” Mr Bratton said. “We’re not anticipating disorderly crowds -- just anticipating very large crowds."

It was not just Los Angeles that was hit by Jacksonmania, however. The memorial show was to be rebroadcast live in theatres across the United States and fans around the world had made plans to say their own farewell to the singer.

In London, some fans planned to watch the event on a big screen outside the 02 Arena, where Jackson was to have performed 50 comeback shows starting next week. Others said they would watch at home after the BBC cleared the schedule on BBC Two.

The cast of West End tribute show Thriller Live planned to hold a minute’s silence before the curtain. The theatre said it would dim its lights in memory of the star.

media gear up to cover Michael Jackson's memorial service

media gear up to cover Michael Jackson's memorial service

Just as in life, the King of Pop in death is poised to command nearly unprecedented media coverage.

Six days before he was to begin a 50-date comeback tour in London, Michael Jackson will instead be eulogized at a massive memorial service today at Staples Center. All the major networks and a host of cable news and entertainment channels, including CNN, MSNBC, E! Entertainment, TV Guide Network and TV One, plan to carry the event live at 10 a.m.

* MSNBC will begin its coverage at 8 a.m., with Chris Jansing anchoring. Fox News' Shepard Smith will anchor the day, beginning at 9 a.m. Meanwhile, CNN will start at 9 a.m. with Anderson Cooper, Larry King and Don Lemon as anchors. (CNN will carry the service on sister networks HLN, CNN International and CNN en Espanol as well.)

* On ABC, "Good Morning America" will air a special edition from Los Angeles and Charlie Gibson will anchor "Remembering Michael Jackson" with "Nightline" anchor Martin Bashir when the service begins. At 9 p.m., Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters will co-anchor a special edition of " 20/20," reporting on the highlights of the service. " Primetime: Family Secrets" at 10 p.m. will focus on Jackson's children.

* CBS' "The Early Show" will broadcast live from Staples, with Maggie Rodriguez and Harry Smith anchoring. Katie Couric will anchor the "CBS Evening News" at 6:30 p.m. and "48 Hours" at 10 p.m., both from Staples.

* NBC's "Today" will air a "split edition," with host Meredith Vieira in Los Angeles. Live coverage of the services, anchored by Brian Williams, will begin at 10 a.m. Williams also will anchor "Nightly News" from Staples Center. At 10 p.m., Lester Holt will anchor a special edition of "Dateline."

The event's ratings are expected to be record-breaking, according to television analysts. More than 1.6 million people registered over the weekend for a chance at one of 17,500 free tickets to the service and Jackson's death has dominated social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

For those without access to television, there are still options. KCRW-FM (89.9) will broadcast the event live and it will also be streamed online on several news sites, including latimes.com and www.hulu.com.

The service will also be seen in 88 movie theaters across 31 states, including Grauman's Chinese in Hollywood.

jackson fans prepare farewell to 'King of Pop'

jackson fans prepare farewell to 'King of Pop'

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Hundreds of millions of fans around the world have been preparing to bid a poignant farewell to Michael Jackson, as Los Angeles goes into lockdown ahead of a star-studded memorial service.

Nearly two weeks after the death of the tragic "King of Pop," America is expected to grind to a standstill early Tuesday as the tortured music superstar is finally laid to rest.

Jackson's family and close friends are to attend a private funeral service for the iconic singer at 8:00 am (1500 GMT) at the picturesque Forest Lawn mortuary nestled in the Hollywood Hills above Los Angeles.

From there, attention will turn to a memorial being held at the 20,000-capacity Staples Center sports arena in the city's downtown.

A staggering 1.6 million people applied to win free tickets for the event allocated via an online lottery over the weekend.

Precise details of the service have been kept under wraps but organizers confirmed Monday that Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey and Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson are just a few of the stars due to participate.

An additional 1,400 police officers will be on duty to provide security, while city blocks surrounding the venue have been sealed off.

Organizers of the memorial, which gets underway at 10:00am (1700 GMT), have appealed to ticketless fans to watch the event on television, fearing chaos if hundreds of thousands take to the streets to mourn.

A live feed of the service is being made available free to television networks, while the event will also be streamed via social networking websites Facebook and MySpace, officials said.

Jackson's mysterious death from an apparent cardiac arrest at the age of 50 on June 25 sent shockwaves rippling around the world, triggering a global avalanche of tributes and grief.

Thousands of fans have continued to flock daily to Jackson's star on Hollywood's "Walk of Fame" in Los Angeles, and a makeshift shrine of flowers, cards and toys has swamped the gates of the singer's Neverland Ranch.

Jackson sold more than 750 million albums during a glittering four-decade career that was ultimately overshadowed by repeated allegations of child abuse, his startling physical transformation and eccentric behavior.

While all eyes are on Jackson's memorial Tuesday, multiple law enforcement agencies are probing the circumstances of his death.

An autopsy was carried out on Jackson's body the day after his death, but the Los Angeles County Coroner's office has said it will not issue a final cause of death until the results of exhaustive toxicology tests are known in "several weeks."

Police investigators have meanwhile zeroed in on the possible role of drugs in Jackson's death.

Close friends and associates of the star have angrily alleged that Jackson was surrounded by a coterie of medical professionals willing to provide him with potent prescription medication.

US media, citing unidentified law enforcement sources, said investigators found the powerful sedative Propofol, also known as Diprivan, among a "mini-pharmacy" at Jackson's home.

The discovery has raised the stakes in the probe, which widened last week as the Los Angeles Police Department enlisted the support of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Propofol is commonly used in hospitals to induce unconsciousness in patients before major surgery. Healthcare experts say it should never be used at home and should only be administered by trained anesthesiologists.

Police have questioned Jackson's personal physician Conrad Murray but have stressed he is not suspected of criminal wrongdoing.

Lawyers meanwhile are busy untangling the labyrinth of legal issues that have emerged in the aftermath of Jackson's death.

On Monday, a Los Angeles judge replaced Jackson's mother as temporary administrator of his estate with two of the pop icon's business associates, as demanded by a 2002 will.

A hearing to discuss the fate of Jackson's children -- Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7 -- has been scheduled for July 13.

Jackson's will requested that his 79-year-old mother be appointed guardian, although speculation has built that the star's ex-wife and biological mother of the two eldest children, Debbie Rowe, may lodge a custody bid.