Singer & actress Madonna's Sticky & Sweet honors Michael Jackson

July 5, 2:51 PMActing ExaminerDeborah Smith Ford

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Madonna on stage in London                                           (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

Madonna embarked on the "Sticky & Sweet" tour in the summer of 2008.  It was her first major venture with Live Nation. It became the highest-grossing tour ever by a solo artist.  And now, in 2009, she has embarked on another!

And as she promised, this year's paid tribute to Michael Jackson.

In addition to her performances as a singer, Madonna has  displayed her acting abilities in several films over the past years, beginning in1985 through current day.  A couple of her most memorable have been Evita and later in the James Bond film Die Another Day.

Madonna first appeared on screen in two low-budget films A Certain Sacrifice (1985) and Vision Quest (1985).  Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Shanghai Surprise (1986), with Who's That Girl (1987) soon to follow.

By the 1990s Madonna was a part of bigger budget films such as Dick Tracy (1990) and A League of Their Own (1992).

More minor roles preceded her biggest break, that of her starring role as Eva Perón in Evita (1996), a fairly well received screen adaptation of the hugely successful Broadway musical.

The Material Girl kept her distance from movie cameras for several years, returning to co-star in the lukewarm romantic comedy The Next Best Thing (2000), followed by Swept Away (2002) followed by her role as a fencing instructor in Die Another Day (2002).

Madonna's acting never got in the way of her singing tours.  For on January 30, 2009, it was announced the Sticky & Sweet tour would be extended, adding new European dates commencing on July 4, 2009 at the O2 Arena in London, which that tour has just happened - this time, though, incorporating a tribute to Michael Jackson, who died approximately three weeks before his tour was to begin. 

Not only did fellow entertainers at the BET Awards honor Michael, but Madonna paid tribute to MJ as well.  She honored him on the opening night of her "Sticky & Sweet" concerts in the same London arena Jackson was due to perform his own comeback concerts later this month (July 2009). 

After a Jackson impersonator performed many of the late pop music mega-star's signature moves to "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Something," Madonna told the crowd,

Let's give it up for one of the greatest artists the world has ever known, Michael Jackson.  Long live the king!"

Back in the states Michael Jackson's public memorial will be happening on July 7th, and the lottery for the tickets has been wild, but apparently not out of control.  And the location for it was finally decided upon.  The next question will be where and when his private memorial and final burial will be. 

In the meantime, it is great that talent such as Madonna and many others, including a Michael Jackson tribute artist, have so generously paid tribute to the King of Pop!