STAGE TUBE: Michael Jackson Memorial Service - Kenny Ortega

By: Jul. 08, 2009
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Director and choreographer Kenny Ortega spoke to CNN about Michael Jackson, and how much Jackson's children loved their father after his memorial service at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles.

Over the course of his 30-year career, Emmy Award-winning director and choreographer Ortega has worked with superstars Madonna, the late Michael Jackson, Kiss, Cher, and Diana Ross. He choreographed the classic "Dirty Dancing" and, most recently, directed all three "High School Musical" films. The hugely successful trilogy has broken numerous records including "High School Musical 3: Senior Year's" record opening for a song-and-dance film grossing $42 million in its first weekend. Ortega will direct Paramount's upcoming remake of "Footloose."

Michael Jackson, 50, died Thursday, June 25th, after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles.

All major television networks presented complete coverage of the event on Tuesday July 7th,  including, NBC, ABC, E! and CNN. 17,500 tickets were handed out randomly for the event. The site set up to handle registrations for the drawing reported a massive 500 million visitors in just the first hour and a half after becoming available. More than 600,000 registered for a chance to win the coveted tickets.

In a phenomenal, unparalleled career, Michael Jackson sold more than 750 million records, had 13 number one singles - more than any other male artist - and is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice; once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. His numerous other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records, including one for "Thriller" as the world's best-selling album of all time - 100 million copies and counting.


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