Family and friends gathered to pay their final respects to the King of Pop at a private service held at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, on Thursday (September 3).  Those in attendance included Al Sharpton, Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy, Chris Tucker, Macaulay Culkin, Mila Kunis, Gladys Knight, Clifton Davis, Lisa Marie Presley and Elizabeth Taylor, to name a few.

The funeral, originally scheduled for sunset, was delayed by almost two hours due to the family’s late arrival.  Jackson’s casket was carried into the service sometime around 10pm.  Jackson’s children wrote letters to their deceased father which were placed in the casket.

Jackson died after going into cardiac arrest at a Los Angeles home on June 25, 2009.  Recently ruled a homicide, his death is currently under investigation.

Check out more photos from the funeral after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

Author E. Lynn Harris’s personal assistant Laura Gilmore spoke with Essence.com and gave the details of Harris’s last day leading up to his death. Essence.com reports,

Last Tuesday, the former IBM executive boarded a train from Alburquerque, New Mexico, to Los Angeles for a meeting with CEO of Edmonds Entertainment Tracey Edmonds, allegedly to sell the rights to his books. During his travel, he fainted but medics aboard the train said his vital signs were okay.

Two days later while meeting with one of his students from his alma mater, University of Arkansas, where he served as an adjunct professor of English and sponsor and coach of the cheerleading squad, Harris took his final breath.

Lynn and his student were about to order some food when the student got up to turn on the TV and heard a loud thud, Harris’s Read the rest of this entry »

Quincy Jones, the music producer behind the successful launch of Michael Jackson’s solo career, has decided not to attend the funeral of his long-time friend. Jackson, who died Thursday, June 25th of a suspected cardiac arrest, will be buried at Neverland ranch in Santa Barbara, California.

Jones has stated, Read the rest of this entry »