Jacko vigil at O2 

Fans to pay their respects to the King of Pop at London Arena

13 July 2009 - Michael Jackson fans are set to hold a mass vigil for the late singer at London's O2 Arena.

The King Of Pop was due to kick off 50 dates today (13 July) after 750,000 tickets for the This Is It tour sold out back in March.

Hundreds of fans queued and camped outside the venue to get their hands on tickets for what were due to be his final shows.

Now, Jackson's followers are expected to pay their last respects from 6pm to the singer just 19 days after he died from a cardiac arrest.   

The tribute will come a day after Jackson dominated the UK album chart for the third week running with The Essential, one of his greatest hits albums, Off The Wall, Thriller and The Motown Years all in the Top Five.

In the past week, the singer's releases have accounted for almost 600,000 sales, which brings the total number of singles and albums sold since his death to around 1.5 million.

"In terms of the death of a public figure, it is probably the most significant event since the death of Princess Diana ." -  Joe Browse, Waterstones

Meanwhile, the race is on between publishing companies to get the first Jackson biographies out on the shelves by the end of the week.

Carol Tomkinson, from Harper Collins, said she has hired a freelance journalist to write around 10,000 words a day on the King of Pop.

"We needed text in two days and pictures in three days," she said.

"So we had four days to give it to the designer to put together which is the tightest schedule in the history our company."

Waterstones' Joe Browse also believes Jackson's death has got publishers in a frenzy.

"In terms of the death of a public figure, it is probably the most significant event since the death of Princess Diana," he added.
 
"With four or five publishers rushing to be first to market it, there won't be room for all the books and the fans will decide which is the best seller."

Damian Jones