Michael Jackson Memorial Will Be 'Extraordinary', Queen Latifah Joins Line Up

Michael Jackson’s memorial service in Los Angeles later will be an “extraordinary event”, a spokesman has said.

Stevie Wonder, Usher and Mariah Carey are all set to join fans of the star at the Staples Center.

Ken Sunshine, a spokesman for the Jackson family, told ABC the world would remember the event for “their whole lives”.

He also revealed that Queen Latifah had been added to the line up, along with “one or two surprises, I guess, that may or may not happen”.

Thousands of fans are descending on Los Angeles for the ceremony, which gets under way at 6pm (GMT).

A total of 17,500 tickets were issued to fans, with 11,000 allocated seats in the Staples Centre and 6,500 in the nearby Nokia Theatre, where the service will be shown on video screens.

The event will also be broadcast to an expected television audience of one billion people.

Follow the event as it happens now on Gigwise’s live blog here.

Michael Jackson - Memorial Day