Sean Kingston grieves for Jackson

Monday, 24 August 2009

Sean Kingston was devastated when Michael Jackson died.

The 'Beautiful Girls' singer was left in total shock when he heard of the June death of the 'King of Pop', and insists he was a huge influence on his music.

The 19-year-old reggae star - who releases his new studio LP 'Tomorrow' next month - told BANG Showbiz: "I wish I had met Jackson! He was a pioneer, he was an icon. He paved the way for me -him and Bob Marley. I was in New York doing interviews on the day he died, I got a call and I was like, ?What?? I wasn?t even ready to understand.

"So I asked what happened and they started to tell me and I jumped out of the chair. And I had to call up everybody. I couldn?t believe it. He could not be dead. The guy was in rehearsals for his new tour as well, it?s such a terrible, terrible loss.

"I think about it all the time. This guy was soul, he had it, and that?s why I?ve got to try my best to carry on my music, and try make Michael Jackson proud. I had a ?Thriller? jacket, I had the gloves and used to try to learn the moonwalk and everything."

Despite his grief, Sean is not planning to record a special tribute song to commemorate the singer.

He added: "You know, right now I have a part in my live shows where I pay tribute to him. But I don?t think I?d do a song. Because I don?t want to mess something like that up. I don?t want to risk it. A lot of people like to try stuff but I don?t want to take one of his songs and it not come off the way I want it to come off."