Blige, Brown to perform at Vienna Jackson tribute

[September 08, 2009]  VIENNA (AP) -- Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown and Natalie Cole will be among the top artists performing at a Sept. 26 Michael Jackson tribute concert in Vienna, organizers said Tuesday.

Jackson's brother Jermaine told reporters that up to 25 performers are expected to perform outside a 17th-century palace in the Austrian capital. More names will be unveiled later this week in London and Berlin, he said.

Sister Sledge, Akon, Angela Bassett, and the Germany-based boy band US5 are also among the 13 artists confirmed so far, Jackson and event promoter Georg Kindel said. Jackson's original band and dancers will also perform.

All the artists will play some of Jackson's greatest hits at the concert, including "Thriller," "Billie Jean" and "Black or White."

Organizers are billing the event as the main global tribute to Jackson, who died June 25 in Los Angeles. Jackson's family and children will be in Vienna, and 65,000 fans are expected to attend, Kindel said.

Organizers say the tribute will be held on a large crown-shaped stage to be built in front of Vienna's former imperial Schoenbrunn Palace, one of the Austrian capital's top tourist attractions.

Jermaine Jackson has said Vienna was chosen as the venue because his brother "loved castles," and because Jermaine was impressed with how a smaller tribute held in July outside a mothballed nuclear power plant was organized.

Negotiations are ongoing to select a broadcaster to show the event live to an estimated 1 billion fans worldwide, Jackson said.

Tickets went on sale last month.

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On the Net:

Vienna tribute site, http://www.tribute2009.com/

[Associated Press; By VERONIKA OLEKSYN]

Associated Press writer William J. Kole contributed to this report.

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