LOS ANGELES (July 7, 2009)—Eleven-year-old Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson’s simple tearful tribute capped the celebration of the creative, complex and sometimes controversial life of Michael Jackson, who Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. said Tuesday was “the greatest entertainer that ever lived.”

“Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine,” she told the audience of thousands at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the millions around the world who were watching the memorial service online and on television.

"I just wanted to say I love him so much,” she said.

All three of Jackson's children joined his siblings and celebrities on stage for the finale of the service, which had a spiritual tone punctuated by performances and remembrances.

Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey and Lionel Richie were among those who paid tribute to Michael Jackson through song.

Looking on from the front row were members of the Jackson family, including brother Jermaine, who took the stage and sang the standard "Smile" as he fought back tears.

Police in LA had projected a crowd of 250,000 or more in the area around Staples Center during the service and they issued statements asking people without tickets to stay away.

It appears that those appeals may have been heard.

A deputy police chief says besides reporters and people with tickets to the event, the crowd around the Staples Center perimeter numbered only about 1,000.

Police based their crowd projection on the turnouts for the funerals of Princess Diana and Elvis Presley, along with the recent Los Angeles Lakers NBA championship parade.

Among the fans who gathered to remember Jackson was a man who flew in from England, even before he knew he had won a ticket to the memorial.

Melvin Price says he's been a Jackson fan for 35 years.

One woman who drove from Arkansas says she just wanted to be nearby, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to get in.

A lot of Michael Jackson fans who were lucky enough to get tickets to the memorial service had to make quick arrangements to leave their homes, their families and their jobs.

A San Francisco couple scrambled to find flights, a hotel and a baby sitter to watch their children, as well as workers to run their bar.

'"We weren't going to miss this,” Jason Baker said.

A southern California woman said she was thrilled to be among the fans outside Staples, but that she felt guilty for calling in sick to her job at a defense contractor.

Dozens of fans watched the service from the road in front of the pop star's Neverland Ranch.

Huddled around a wide screen television next to a CBS tent on Tuesday, fans clapped and cried along with mourners at the downtown Los Angeles service.

Stephanie Cook and her boyfriend flew in from Georgia, hoping to get tickets to the memorial, but when they didn't, they headed to Jackson's ranch in the Santa Barbara County wine country.

Cook said she was happy and thankful she didn't have to watch the service on her cell phone.

Jackson’s fans also gathered Tuesday at the singer’s boyhood home in Gary, Ind.

Christina Storms drove more than 260 miles from New Albany, Ind., to bring her 7-year-old and 10-year-old daughters to see the modest home where Jackson lived until age 11.

The trio wore Jackson T-shirts as they paid their respects Tuesday.

Storms said it was exciting to be where Jackson lived and it's something her children won't forget.

She said she spent $100 on souvenirs from vendors selling goods across the street from the
Jackson home.

A steady stream of fans were visiting the house and taking photos.

Gary plans its own Jackson memorial at a downtown minor league ballpark on Friday.

Jackson fans around the world joined in mourning the pop legend Tuesday and from Tokyo to Melbourne, they stayed up late to watch the event.

In Australia, it was broadcast live on a giant screen in Melbourne at 3 a.m. local time.

Several Australian TV stations also carried the event live.

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

At another Hong Kong mall, fans were laying flowers at a wax statue of the singer on loan from the local Madame Tussauds museum.

In Malaysia, actor and magician Henzi Andalas said he wanted to watch the memorial as closure.

He called Jackson one of his "biggest influences in becoming an artist."

Motown legend Smokey Robinson opened the memorial Tuesday afternoon.

Jackson's golden casket was placed on stage at the Staples Center as a choir sang in front of a backdrop of stained-glass windows.

Mariah Carey gave the opening performance with a sweet rendition of the Jackson 5's ballad "I'll Be There” in a duet with Trey Lorenz.

Earlier, Jackson's golden casket was carried from a private service in the Hollywood Hills and placed in a hearse Tuesday morning in advance of the public memorial in downtown Los Angeles.

Family and friends spent about a half hour in the service Tuesday morning after a motorcade of Rolls-Royces, Cadillacs and Range Rovers from Jackson's parents' house in the San Fernando
Valley.

There has been so much interest in what could well be the biggest celebrity send-off of all time that the tickets had to be parceled out by lottery.

More than 1.5 million people applied online, but fewer than 20,000 tickets were given out, and there have been extraordinary precautions to prevent ticket scalping, with Internet sites pulling the plug on offers to sell them.

There were predictions that the service could be the most-watched television event in history and that Internet viewing could slow or even disrupt service.

Ustream said Tuesday it hosted nearly 4.6 million streams and 1.6 million unique users from around the world, making it the largest event it ever hosted.