Michael Jackson Tributes — Beyonce, Alicia Keys & Smokey Robinson

Beyonce Knowles, Alicia Keys, Smokey Robinson & Wyclef Jean have become the latest stars to pay tribute to music legend Michael Jackson, who died Thursday after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles.

Michael Jackson

Beyonce: “The reason I am here is due to Michael Jackson.”

Alicia Keys: “I did meet him one time, and it was amazing. “He was just an awesome dad, great with his kids. His kids were so smart and attentive. They were there in the conversation as well. We had a great time. We threw around paper airplanes his son was making – like these really cool ones that were just brilliant. It was just beautiful to meet him. I’m glad I got the chance.”

Wyclef Jean: “He came to see me at the studio and he spent a whole hour with me,” Wyclef Jean said. “We talked Haiti, we talked about Jamaica and we talked about music, and that was one of the greatest times ever in my life”

Smokey Robinson: “He was 10 years old, and he had just come to Motown, and [Motown artist and Jackson 5 mentor] Bobby Taylor and I used to take Michael to the golf course with us. He would ride around in the cart with us and critique our golf game, and when we’d hit a bad shot, he’d laugh. I was absolutely flabbergasted when I saw how talented he was when he was 10 years old. He was 10, but he was 30! He sang like he was 30, he danced like he was 30. He was awesome.”

Motown founder Berry Gordy: “At home last night, I was looking at some of my old pictures with him, from the early rehearsals to ones with he and my son on the baseball field as we played our weekly Gordy-Jackson baseball games,” he said. “For the world, Michael’s legacy will always be his music and his artistry. But for me it will be so much more. The memories of watching of watching him grow from a mere 9-year-old kid with boundless determination and talent to become perhaps the greatest entertainer of all time – it is a bittersweet moment.”

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