LONDON - MADONNA will perform a special tribute to Michael Jackson during her London show on Saturday at the venue where he was due to stage his farewell shows, she said in a newspaper interview.

Madonna - known as the Queen of Pop, while Jackson was the King of Pop - told the Sun newspaper she was 'terribly sad' about Jackson's death and revealed she 'used to love picking his brains about musical stuff'.

She is playing London's O2 Arena on Saturday and will feature extracts from Jackson's songs 'Billie Jean' and 'Wanna Be Startin' Something' plus pictures of the star, who died last week, the paper said.

Madonna and her dancers will also wear single white gloves - one of Jackson's most famous wardrobe accessories - during a finale of her hit 'Give It 2 Me'.

Jackson had been due to play some 50 sellout shows entitled 'This Is It' at the O2 venue starting this month.

'I don't know what artist wasn't inspired by him', Madonna said in the interview.

'To be able to do what he did at such an early age was unearthly, everybody grew up in awe of him. To work with him and become friends and hang out with him was exciting for me.

Madonna said that before Jackson died, she had offered to do a duet with him at the O2 shows. 'I don't know what we could have done together, I could have carried his bags for him maybe,' she said. -- AFP

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