RABBIE Burns was certainly known for his wild and adventurous life: drinking, womanising, writing revolutionary verse. Now, though, the Bard will find himself caught up in one of his oddest adventures ever, when his works - as reinterpreted by Michael Jackson - will be the centrepiece at a celebration of the life and legacy of David Gest.

The life of Gest - one of Hollywood's most eccentric stars and former husband of Liza Minnelli - will be honoured at a celebrity-studded event in the very hotel in which he died last April. Soul and R&B star Dionne Warwick will be among the acts leading the tributes to Gest, who was a well-connected player in Hollywood.

Gest was also close friends with Michael Jackson. One of the most curious episodes of their friendship saw the pair - both huge fans of Burns - turn the poet's work into a musical. The songs will be performed in London by a group of music school students from Lossiemouth. The musical has previously toured around the UK, and there is talk of taking it to international venues.

The night - labelled “David’s Last Wish” - will be at the Canary Wharf Hotel where the star was found dead last year. Among the ten Burns' poems which Gest and Jackson worked on is 'A Red, Red Rose'. All will be performed on the night.

The roots of this strange story go back to the 1990s when David Gest and his childhood friend the 'King of Pop' began to explore what Gest described before his death as the “moving poetry and fascinating life” of the Scottish Bard. The pair loved Burns' work and for years would scour bookshops around America for rare collections of his work.

In 1992, as a 40th birthday present to Gest, Jackson gifted Gest free use of his family studio to record what would later become the musical 'Red, Red Rose'. Prior to their deaths of Gest and Jackson, the musical was set to have a truly unbelievable list of names attached: Gene Kelly, by that time into his 80s, was signed on as director; Anthony Perkins, star of Hitchcock movie Psycho, as producer; and John Barrowman to play the leading man, Robert Burns.

But the project floundered after the both Kelly and Perkins died. Red, Red Rose managed only one performance in 1996 - in Denmark. It wasn’t until years later - after his move to the UK - that the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Ayr encouraged Gest to dig out the old recordings.

However, Gest, despite trying to take a nap in the Bard’s family bed during a tour of the museum in 2012, never supplied the recordings. Rumour has it the Jackson estate didn’t want to release them.

David Hopes, director of the museum at that time, isn’t surprised that Burns’ words had such an impact on Gest and Jackson: “I would say that Burns’ work has been influential to a lot of musicians. Bob Dylan, for example - it’s been rumoured his favourite song is Red, Red Rose. He’s known to be a lover of Burns' music, so I wouldn’t say it’s too much of a leap to say that someone who was a talented musician and songwriter would look to Burns for inspiration.”

In 2014, Gest began to re-work the music from Red, Red Rose into something that could be performed on stage with the help of Tish Tindall, of the Lossie Entertainment Academy - thus the Lossiemouth connection to this increasingly bizarre story - and together they created Robert Burns the Musical. Gest was set to play Tam O’Shanter in a 2015 Burns Night performance in Aberdeen, but had to pull out for health reasons.

Since then the show has toured the UK and a truncated version, featuring a never-before heard song, is to be performed as the event in London next week.

Tindall said: “Not only are we performing alongside legends like Dionne Warwick, but we’re actually performing one of the tracks that David wrote for the original musical that has never been performed in Britain before. That’s an incredible honour for us.

“When David passed away we truly felt that it was our duty to continue this work because the platform that David gave us was second to none. He came up to Lossiemouth, he believed in us, he believed in the project and in Scotland and I really feel like it should be my life’s work to ensure that continues.”

A representative of the Gest estate said: “For us, this was a way of honouring his request to have a large party in his honour but more importantly to continue his name, history and legacy of helping music and children.

“Tish, her academy and Scotland were clearly important to David. We are honoured that these students are coming to perform and we consider it a gift to David and his Foundation. We hope it’s a big success.”

Tish Tindall and seven of her students will be travelling down to perform at the event on the 14th of June, and she hopes it could be a big break for the performers.

“David was so emphatic that the show should be performed by students from our academy” she says. “He believed very much in giving undiscovered talent that platform. This is our tribute to David.”

David’s Last Wish takes place at the Canary Riverside Plaza Hotel, London, on June the 14th. Tickets start at £175.