Mariah Carey - Carey Regrets Jackson Apology

MARIAH CAREY regrets writing a public message apologising for her shaky performance at MICHAEL JACKSON's memorial service.

The Hero hitmaker was the first singer to take to the stage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in July (09) as the city came to a standstill to officially mourn Jackson.

Carey, who was close friends with the Thriller star, sang classic Jackson 5 hit I'll Be There at the service, but struggled to hit the notes and fought back tears as she performed.

Following the show she took to her Twitter.com blog to explain how she became overemotional when she saw Jackson's gold coffin below the stage.

At the time she wrote, "Trying to sing today was basically impossible for me. I could barely keep myself from crying. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to pull it together and really do it right, but I was literally choked up when I saw him (Michael) there in front of me."

The singer now wishes she hadn't publicly spoken out about her performance, but feels blessed she was given the chance to sing at Jackson's send off.

She says, "I regret sending that message but I was very emotional and I wasn't happy with my performance. But we all did our best to give Michael the send off he deserves. I just forgot the world could read that. I thought I was just talking to my friends. I shouldn't have done that because that was really only meant for Michael. That was about him.

"It was difficult just to get through the song because I feel as if I have been listening to Michael Jackson's music my whole life. When I was a little kid I used to sing all his songs. The whole world suffered a huge loss. The whole world is going to feel this forever. I feel myself blessed to have known him, to have performed with him several times and to have sung at his memorial."