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Michael Jackson's last show rehearsal - Source: Kevin Mazur/AEG/Getty Images via image.net -
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Michael Jackson fans around the world lit candles today to mark the death one year ago of the controversial pop star whose posthumous popularity has returned him to a pedestal and made him a billion dollar man.
The anniversary of his sudden death was celebrated with candlelight vigils, music and dancing from Asia to the United States.
In New York, fans danced to the legendary "Thriller" singer's famed moves outside Harlem's Apollo Theater, where Jackson's trademark black hat and sequined glove were placed beside his plaque and a letter from his mother was read aloud.
"Michael loved The Apollo Theater very much," Katherine Jackson wrote in the letter. Fan Caren Menardy told Reuters: "As a child. he had a dream. They made a star and then they ruined him at the end...I thought he was immortal."
In Jackson's hometown of Gary, Indiana, about 200 people gathered outside the performer's childhood home where he and his brothers -- members of the Jackson 5 singing group - got their start in the 1960s on their way to hits such as "ABC"
Katherine Jackson was expected to appear at a memorial service outside the home where a monument to her son will be unveiled. Cards and flowers were placed outside a fence that ringed the house to keep fans from trampling the yard.
"I still can't believe Michael Jackson is dead," said Gary resident Juanita Woods, 48, Gary Indiana, who lives near the home and walks past it most days.
Jackson's children - Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket - are expected to mark the anniversary privately with their guardian, Katherine, in Gary.
In Los Angeles, fans lined up outside the Forest Lawn cemetery where Jackson's body was laid to rest last year and swarmed his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
But the memorials for the singer, whose hits include "Beat It"
and "Billie Jean," were not only confined to the United
States.
Fans in Hanoi, Vietnam, held a night of performances of Jackson's
songs while 50 Japanese admirers - one for each year of his life -
were picked from 10,000 people to spend a night at Tokyo Tower
among the singer's possessions in the Neverland Collection, the
only official Michael Jackson exhibition.
"The idea may sound a bit odd to Western cultures, but in Japan the
tradition of being with the remains and possessions of passed loved
ones on the anniversary of their passing is an important ritual,"
said Hiroyuki Takamura of the Tokyo Tower.
Jackson's sudden death at age 50 on June 25 last year in Los
Angeles sparked an outpouring of grief internationally for the
former child star, who was rehearsing for a series of concerts
aimed at reviving a career shattered by bizarre events as an adult
and acquittal on charges of molesting a 13-year-old boy.
One year on, Jackson is again idolised and his debts a burden of
the past.
Hollywood trade paper Billboard estimated Jackson's earnings in the
past year have hit $1 billion, including album sales generating
about $383 million and revenue from the film "This Is It" hitting
nearly $400 million.
But in death as in life, controversy continues to plague the star
with his personal doctor awaiting trial on a criminal charge of
causing his death by giving him a powerful anaesthetic as a sleep
aid and his sister LaToya claiming he was murdered for his back
catalogue.
Documentary controversy
Jackson's estate is also taking issue with a documentary, King of
Pop, set to debut in Japan on Friday as the estate said the film's
promotion "misled Michael Jackson's fans by making it appear as if
this was an authorized film."
"This movie cannot legally use any of Michael's songs or recordings
in its soundtrack," the estate said in an email to Reuters.
"Michael's fans should also know that none of the proceeds earned
by this movie will be paid to his Estate which, in keeping with
Michael's stated wishes, strives to make sure his artistic legacy
benefits his three children, his mother and the charitable causes
that he cared about."
The singer's estranged father Joe has helped organize a Forever
Michael tribute at a Beverly Hills hotel on June 26 and Katherine
Jackson, 80, has given the fund-raising dinner her blessing with
her self-published book of personal family photographs - Never Can
Say Good-bye - to be sold there.
