4 Sep 2009

Pop star Michael Jackson laid to rest

8:54 pm on 4 September 2009

Friends and family of Michael Jackson have paid their last respects at a private funeral ceremony near Los Angeles.

Few details are known about the sunset ceremony on Thursday, which came more than two months after the 50-year-old singer died of a lethal cocktail of prescription drugs, the BBC reports.

Jackson was buried in a gold casket and the ceremony was held at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. It was attended by Jackson's parents Katherine and Joe Jackson, his sister Janet, his three children and other relatives.

The singer's former wife Lisa Marie Presley was also present, along with actress

Elizabeth Taylor, civil rights campaigner Reverend Al Sharpton and actor Macaulay Culkin.

Jackson is to be interred at Forest Lawn's Great Mausoleum, a neo-classical building, where film stars Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn and Clark Gable are also buried.

Jackson, known for such hits as Bad, Thriller and Billie Jean, was originally due to be buried on 29 August, which would have been his 51st birthday, but the family wanted more time to plan the ceremony.

The singer suffered a cardiac arrest on 25 June at his Los Angeles home and his death has been ruled as homicide by the coroner.

An investigation centres on Jackson's personal physician Dr Conrad Murray.