Michael Jackson will be buried in a private ceremony on August 29 - the date he was due to celebrate his 51st birthday, a spokesman for his family said today.

The late King of Pop's final resting place will be the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angles, spokesman Ken Sunshine confirmed.

Jackson died on June 25 at his rented property in Los Angeles.

Investigators are working on the theory that the singer's heart stopped hours after he was given a heavy sedative to help him sleep.

Jackson joins a long list of famous Americans who have been laid to rest in a Forest Lawn cemetery over the last century.

The private cemeteries, described as "memorial parks and mortuaries", are located on 10 sites in California.

Set in vast, landscaped grounds with gardens, sculptures, churches and fountains, Forest Lawn offers a range of funeral packages costing up to 12,780 dollars (£7,880).

While the company is secretive about celebrities who are buried there, visitors have passed on their knowledge about where to find them via the internet.

Stars including Bette Davis, Lucille Ball and Stan Laurel are said to be in the Hollywood Hills memorial park - the venue for Jackson's private funeral.

The graves of Hollywood actors such as Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn and Clark Gable are reported to be found in Forest Lawn's Glendale cemetery, which opened in 1906.

Although some graves can be spotted on a trip through the large parks, others - such as Bogart's - are contained in locked gardens that are closed to the public.

Jackson's final resting place in Los Angeles is billed on the Forest Lawn website as offering "an idyllic landscape that proudly showcases our unique collection of American architecture and artworks that honour our country".

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