It took those closest to him, from his brother Marlon to his old friend Brooke Shields, to explain Michael Jackson to those who saw him as a talented freak - an image that deeply pained Jackson.

So while Motown founder Berry Gordy talked about the child prodigy he signed at age 10, and pronounced him not just the King of Pop, but "the greatest entertainer who ever lived," he also talked about the little kid who played catcher during family softball games against the Gordys, who cracked jokes and frolicked in the pool. Magic Johnson talked about the perfectionist who made him achieve higher heights as a basketball player, but also told of sitting around and eating KFC at his home. And Shields talked about a friendship in which laughter was central to it all.

"We had a bond, and maybe it was because we both understood what it was like to be in the spotlight from a very, very young age," Shields said, fighting back tears. "Both of us needed to be adults very early, but when we were together, we were two little kids having fun. ... M.J.'s laugh was the sweetest and purest of anyone I've known."

For Jackson's family and the organizers of the memorial, it was a successful rehabilitation of the image of a superstar who had been derided for so long. The words "sweet" and "pure" had rarely been used to describe Jackson in the last two decades of his life, marked by allegations of child abuse, an ever-changing face, multiple lawsuits, eccentric behavior and what seemed to be one bad career move after another.

... contd.