By Jesse Washington, The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson was eulogized in words and
song Tuesday by an all-star list of musicians, athletes and
other celebrities during a mournful ceremony in downtown Los
Angeles, with the most poignant moment delivered by his
sobbing 11-year-old daughter.

“I just want to say ever since I was born, Daddy has been
the best father you can ever imagine. And I just wanted to
say I love him so much,” Paris-Michael Jackson said before
almost collapsing in the arms of her aunt Janet Jackson.

Watched by millions around the world, the memorial struck a
tone more spiritual than spectacular, opening with a church
choir serenading his golden casket and continuing with
somber speeches and gospel-infused musical performances.

The Rev. Lucious W. Smith of the Friendship Baptist Church
in Pasadena gave the greeting on the same stage where
Jackson had been rehearsing for a concert series in the days
before his June 25 death at age 50. Then Mariah Carey sang
the opening performance with a sweet rendition of the
Jackson 5 ballad “I’ll Be There,” a duet with Trey Lorenz.

“We come together and we remember the time,” said Smith,
riffing on one of Jackson’s lyrics. “As long as we remember
him, he will always be there to comfort us.”

Millions of fans around the world gathered at odd hours to
watch the ceremony, which was broadcast by the major TV
networks and cable channels from Tokyo to Paris to New York
and streamed everywhere online in one of the biggest
celebrity send-offs ever seen.

Among those who saluted Jackson were Motown music mogul
Berry Gordy Jr., Brooke Shields, the Rev. Al Sharpton and
basketball greats Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant. Jennifer
Hudson sang Jackson’s hit “Will You Be There” and John Mayer
played guitar on a whisper-light rendition of “Human
Nature.”

“This is a moment that I wished I didn’t live to see,”
Stevie Wonder said before his performance. Usher broke down
in tears after singing “Gone Too Soon.”

Although the event was billed as a celebration, some
speakers took the occasion to come to the defense of
Jackson, whose life was marked as much by criticism and
scorn as scintillating talent.

Gordy said that despite what he called “some sad times and
maybe some questionable decisions on his part,” the title
King of Pop wasn’t good enough for Jackson. “I think he is
simply the greatest entertainer that ever lived,” Gordy
said.

Emotions rose when Sharpton delivered a fiery eulogy
highlighting all the barriers Jackson broke and the troubles
he faced. “Every time he got knocked down, he got back up,”
Sharpton said, and the applauding crowd jumped to its feet.

Sharpton rode the moment, building to a crescendo. “There
wasn’t nothing strange about your daddy,” he said later,
addressing Jackson’s three children in the front row. “It
was strange what your daddy had to deal with!” After he left
the stage, chants of “Mi-chael! Mi-chael!” filled the arena.

The ceremony wrapped up with group performances of “We Are
the World” and “Heal the World” sung by Lionel Richie,
Hudson and Jackson family members – including his children -
before a backdrop of symbols of religions from around the
world. They were joined onstage by children in white and
several other people who had participated in the ceremony.
Then members of Jackson’s family took the stage to thank the
crowd and share their own thoughts, barely able to hide
their emotion as they hugged in the ceremony’s final
moments.

An estimated 20,000 people were in the Staples Center as
Jackson’s flower-draped casket was brought to the venue in a
motorcade under law enforcement escort. Those who gathered
constituted a visual representation of Jackson’s life:
black, white and everything in between, wearing fedoras and
African headdresses, sequins and surgical masks.

Fans with a ticket wore gold wristbands and picked up a
metallic gold program guide on their way in. Acting as
pallbearers, Jackson’s brothers each wore a gold necktie
and, in a touch borrowed from their brother, a single
spangly white glove and sunglasses.

Brother Jermaine Jackson took the stage and sang the
standard “Smile” as he fought back tears.

Jackson’s hearse had been part of a motorcade that smoothly
whisked his body 16 kilometres across closed freeways from a
private service at a Hollywood Hills cemetery to his public
memorial and awaiting fans.

The traffic snarls and logistical nightmares that had been
feared by police and city officials did not materialize.
Traffic was actually considered by police to be lighter than
normal.

“I think people got the message to stay home,” said
California Highway Patrol Officer Miguel Luevano.

Deputy Police Chief Sergio Diaz, operations chief for the
event, said authorities had expected a crowd of 250,000.
Besides reporters and those with tickets to the memorial
service, the crowd around the Staples Center perimeter
numbered only about 1,000, he said.

Outside the Staples Center, Claudia Hernandez, 29, said she
loved Jackson’s music as a girl growing up in Mexico. Now a
day-care teaching assistant in Los Angeles, Hernandez said
she cried watching TV coverage of his death.

“I’m trying to hold in my emotions,” said Hernandez, wearing
a wristband to allow her admittance to the service and
holding a framed photograph of Jackson. “I know right now
he’s teaching the angels to dance.”

More than 1.6 million people registered for the lottery for
free tickets to Jackson’s memorial. A total of 8,750 were
chosen to receive two tickets each.

“There are certain people in our popular culture that just
capture people’s imaginations. And in death, they become
even larger,” President Barack Obama told CBS while in
Moscow. “Now, I have to admit that it’s also fed by a 24/7
media that is insatiable.”

The city of Los Angeles set up a website Tuesday to allow
fans to contribute money to help the city pay for his
Staples Center memorial service. Mayoral spokesman Matt
Szabo estimated the service will cost US$1.5 million to $4
million.

It was not clear what will happen to Jackson’s body. The
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills cemetery is the
final resting place for such stars as Bette Davis, Andy
Gibb, Freddie Prinze, Liberace and recently deceased David
Carradine and Ed McMahon.

Jermaine Jackson has expressed a desire to have him buried
someday at Neverland, his estate in Southern California.

Midway during the memorial service, police Officer April
Harding told the media gathered at the gates of Forest Lawn
to disperse. Asked if Jackson’s body was going to be
returned to the cemetery after the memorial, she replied:
“His body is not going to be returned here.” She did not say
where it would be taken.