First singing tribute to Michael Jackson in UK

London, June 27: As hundreds of fans mourn `King of Pop` Michael Jackson`s death, Australian singer Gabriella Cilmi became the first to pay tribute to him, while performing at the Glastonbury festival in UK.

The 17-year-old slipped in a few lines from his hit song `Billie Jean` in between her hit single `Sweet About Me`, much to the cheer of Jackson fans, reported BBC. The news of the artist`s death had spread like wildfire throughout the Glastonbury Festival as revellers transmitted the message using the bush telegraph yesterday. A Glastonbury spokesman said there was nothing formal planned to mark Jackson`s death, but added "a lot of the performers will be talking about it during their sets". Many festival-goers learned of the news late last night as DJs scattered around the festival site began playing Jackson tracks. "They started playing loads of his music and we thought, `Oh, that`s really strange` and then someone said, `Michael Jackson`s dead` and we were like, `No way`," said a fan. "Everyone thought it was a joke at first -- then people started watching the news and saw it was true," another reveller added. The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world. Founded by Michael Eavis, the festival best known for its contemporary music will have other bands playing over the weekend in honour of the singer. "He will be so sadly missed. He`s such an influential artist, I think many of the people here have been brought up on Michael Jackson. His music crosses musical boundaries, it`s a big shock," Eavis told BBC. "You realise what a fantastic legend we`ve lost, the like of which we can`t really replace. As an exponent of song and dance, no-one came close," he added. Emily Eavis, who helps her father organise the festival called him a "truly great artist". "There will be tributes all over the site, all weekend," she added. Bureau Report