Jackson memorial ticket draw takes place
Updated on 06 July 2009
Stevie Wonder and Mariah Carey are on a star-studded guest list to attend Michael Jackson's memorial service.
They will be joined by the likes of Lionel Richie, Usher and Brooke Shields at the service in Los Angeles, the dead singer's family said.
Motown founder Berry Gordy, Kobe Bryant, Martin Luther King III and Jennifer Hudson also attend the event at the Staples Centre.
An attorney for Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe said she will not be there, saying her attendance would be "an unnecessary distraction".
California is braced for an invasion of British fans seeking to share in the farewell to the King of Pop.
Auction site eBay has banned the sale of tickets for Jackson's memorial service. Some fans who won the lottery for a voucher which can be redeemed in return for the tickets for Tuesday's service had been trying to flog them for anything from 99 cents to thousands of dollars.
But eBay said it has banned the sales after a storm of protest against touts who are trying to sell the free seats. Offers were invited on the web just minutes after applications closed.
Winners received a unique code and instructions on how to pick up their tickets at an off-site distribution centre. A wristband will be placed on winners' wrists and both that and the ticket will be needed for entry before the service set for 10am LA time on Tuesday.
More than 1.6 million fans registered for the service and the lucky ones were told their applications had been successful via email overnight.
Each of the 8,750 names gets two tickets. The odds of getting a congratulatory email was about one in 183.
The tickets will admit 11,000 people to the Staples Centre, with 6,500 seats in the Nokia Theatre overflow section next door.
Jackson, who died on June 25 after suffering a suspected cardiac arrest, had been due to perform 50 concerts at London's O2 Arena starting later this year.
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