Watched Michael Jackson's Memorial Service held at Staples Center, Los Angeles, on the 7th of July 2009 @ 1.30am (Singapore Time)

The two-and-a-half hour Michael Jackson's Memorial Service held at Staples Center, Los Angeles, on the 7th of July 2009, at 1.30am (Singapore time) was a very touching, inspiring & heart-wrenching one..

[For those who missed it, the memorial service can be watched on Youtube..]

A handout photo shows programs placed on seats before Michael Jackson's Public Memorial Service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles July 7, 2009. Michael Jackson's family and close friends held a private service at a Los Angeles cemetery on Tuesday as fans crowded into the city's downtown area for a star-packed public memorial to the "King of Pop."

Michael Jackson's casket is carried into the Staples Center during his public memorial service in Los Angeles July 7, 2009. A Gospel choir singing "We're going to see the king" launched an emotional public memorial for Michael Jackson on Tuesday as the music world and thousands of fans bade farewell to the singer known as the "King of Pop."

The tribute to the late singer ended after his family took to the stage to address the assembled crowd at Los Angeles' Staples Center, with his 11-year-old daughter, Paris, speaking about how much she loved her father.

Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris Michael Katherine, becomes emotional & cries as she speaks at her father's memorial service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, July 7, 2009.

Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris Jackson, center, is hugged onstage by the Jackson family after speaking at the memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Tuesday, July 7, 2009.

Michael Jackson's 3 kids finally unveiled after decades..

Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Jackson (L) and two sons Prince Michael Jackson II (also known as Blanket) and Prince Michael Jackson I (R) wave at the end of a memorial service for their father music legend Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, July 7, 2009.

The two-and-a-half hour service - which featured a mix of performances, tributes and recollections from those who knew the pop icon - was dominated by the presence of the star's coffin in the centre of the stage, reportedly due to Michael's parents Joe and Katherine Jackson's wish to have an occasion similar to the funeral of the late Princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in 1997.

Michael Jackson's casket is displayed at the Jackson public memorial service held at Staples Center on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 in Los Angeles.

The Jackson brothers carry Michael Jackson's casket out after the memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, July 7, 2009.

Prior to the memorial service - which was watched by billions on TV and the internet around the world - 100 of the singer's close friends and family had gathered at the Hall of Liberty in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park for a private funeral service.

The Jackson family of siblings.. This photo provided by the MJ Memorial shows, (from left to right), Rebbie Jackson, La Toya Jackson, Janet Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Jackie Jackson and Jermaine Jackson at Michael Jackson's public memorial service held at Staples Center on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 in Los Angeles.

The 18-car motorcade accompanying the coffin from Joe and Katherine's house to the cemetery was given a police escort and forced major Los Angeles roads to shut.

Police roadblocks around the resting place prevented fans from approaching the private service.

R.I.P. Michael..

You will always be remembered as the awesomely, impressively, amazingly talented King of Pop forever..

No one could ever take your place ever since you made it into the entertainment scene in 1970 till this very day..

We will always love you & miss you..

Your music & legacy lives on..

Michael Jackson Memorial held at Staples Center, Los Angeles on the 7th of July 2009..

This is it!

A Michael Jackson memorial service will be held on the 7th July 2009 at Staples Center, Los Angeles.

A total of 1.6 million scrambled for the tickets..

However, many were disappointed as only 11,000 tickets were given out free to the selected lucky applicants..

The 90-minute event will be a celebration of the life of Jackson, who died on June 25 at age 50 of an apparent cardiac arrest.

Among the memorial participants will be Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Martin Luther King III.

Fans wait in line to sign a large poster of Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Monday..

About 50 theaters across the country, from Los Angeles to Topeka, Kansas, to Washington, D.C., were planning to broadcast the memorial live, for free.

A motorcade has left the home of Michael Jackson's parents, apparently heading for a private service in advance of a star-studded memorial in downtown Los Angeles.

Numerous vehicles under California Highway Patrol escort headed out from the San Fernando Valley property shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday. The motorcade included five Rolls-Royces, three Cadillac Escalades and 10 identical black Range Rovers.

The motorcade is believed headed for Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills for a private ceremony where the body of Michael Jackson is rumoured to be laid to rest.

A freeway has been shut down amid Los Angeles' morning rush hour for the motorcade.

Los Angeles was the epicenter of Jackson-mania, but the outpouring of emotion was worldwide.

All around the world, countries are showing the event "live"..

Belgium's two national public broadcasters were to broadcast the memorial live later Tuesday and several hundred Jackson fans gathered at a Hong Kong mall late Tuesday.

Fans in Asia planned to stay up into the wee hours, bars across Europe were holding Michael Jackson theme nights and television stations from Sydney to Paris were clearing their schedules Tuesday to broadcast the King of Pop's star-studded memorial service live from Los Angeles.

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 announced it would cancel scheduled programming and show the ceremony live.

Fans were gathering at Berlin's O2 World arena and at a restaurant just off Paris' Champs-Elysees, where screens were being erected and Parisians were invited to bring their own music to ensure a steady Jackson-only soundtrack for the event.

In Sweden, fans were planning candlelit gatherings in central squares in the three biggest cities: Stockholm, Goteborg and Malmo. A sports bar in Oslo, Norway was hoping to put together a special Jackson-themed menu to accompany its celebration.

Several Australian TV stations also planned to carry the event live, and the memorial was being broadcast on a giant screen in the southern city of Melbourne at 3 a.m. local time.

In Hong Kong, a suburban mall planned to tune its TV screens to the event at 1 a.m. as part of a celebration featuring performances of Jackson's signature "moonwalk" and a nonstop broadcast of his videos.

In Japan, home to some of Jackson's most passionate fans, about 100 people gathered at a Tower Records store in downtown Tokyo to watch his videos on a big screen hours before the Los Angeles memorial. The store, which Jackson visited twice, displayed his hand print in a cement block and large posters celebrating his performances. Several shelves dedicated to the pop star were stacked with his CDs and DVDs.

In the Philippines, the country's longest running noontime television variety show, "Eat Bulaga," said it would hold a Jackson dance contest Wednesday in honor of the pop icon after the Los Angeles memorial.

Even in reclusive, military-controlled Myanmar, a dance group held a memorial service for Jackson and nearly 200 fans staged a candlelight vigil in a Yangon park last week, the local Weekly Eleven News journal reported.

It has become a global event!

Jackson's fans from all over the world are definitely not going to miss this global event..

Me included..

I'm one of them who's gonna stay up to watch the "live" telecast showing on Singapore Television, Mediacorp Channel 5 at 1.30am later!!!

How I wish I was 1 of the lucky 11,000 who were selected to have the free tickets to access into the Staples Center, Los Angeles to attend Michael Jackson's memorial service..