Source: ABC Nightline

By KEVIN DOLAK and CHRIS CONNELLY

Unseen since his brother’s 2009 funeral, where he sang Michael’s favorite song, “Smile,” Jermaine Jackson revealed several elements of the book with “Good Morning America,” explaining the relationship he and Michael had with their father, how Michael withdrew from the reach of his family at the height of his solo career and the plan to help him flee a prison sentence.

“We would have gone to the Middle East, to Bahrain, to Saudi,” Jermaine said of the plan to get his accused brother out of the United States, adding that he was not afraid of the hefty prison sentence associated with aiding a fugitive, because “they wouldn’t have caught me.”

Michael Jackson was indicted for 14 counts relating to the molesting a minor by a grand jury in 2004. He denied all charges against him, claiming that the family of alleged 13-year-old victim was trying to extort him. In 2005 Michael was acquitted of all charges.

Watch more of Jermaine’s interview on “Nightline” tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET

Jermaine stated that although his brother knew nothing of the escape plan, he’d have “done it in a heartbeat” because “why should he go to jail for something he didn’t do?”

Click here to read an excerpt from “You Are Not Alone: Michael, Through a Brother’s Eyes”

Michael, Jermaine and ‘Joseph’

While speaking with ABC News, Jermaine also discussed the complex relationship that he and Michael had with Joe Jackson, their disciplinarian father who managed the career of the young Jackson 5. In his new book Jermaine Jackson delves further into the feelings that his brother had about their father.

The two brothers would discuss the possibility of their father’s death, and Jermaine revealed that Michael was unsure if he’d be able to cry when the time eventually came.

“He said he don’t know if he would or he wouldn’t,” Jermaine told ABC News.

Jermaine recalled the fear he felt hearing the screams of Michael, his younger brother by four years, the first time he was hit by his father with a switch. He also shared his own conflicted feelings about his father’s actions.

“[I was] not so much petrified but — but just the excitement of him not understanding what it — what it means,” Jermaine said. “He wanted to show us, ‘I care about you. Even if I have to whip your butt, I care about you.’

“We wouldn’t want to be raised any other way, with the way he raised us. It’s hard raising nine kids, bringing them from Indiana out here … that was his whole thing, to wanting to keep his family together. And if he didn’t do anything else, he brought us out, he taught us everything we knew about becoming what we became,” he said.

Crying, Jermaine acknowledged the memory made him sad.

“He gets a bad rap and he has feelings,” he said of his father. “He’s very tough, very tough. I’ve never seen him cry…”

Brother’s Goodbye

In 1984 the brothers embarked across the U.S. and Canada on the Victory Tour, the Jacksons final concerts together. Afterwards, Jermaine said, he had very little contact with Michael for eight years. He says that his calls and letters to his little brother received no response.

“It’s not that he didn’t want to see me,” Jermaine said, but acknowledged that his brother lived a very different life, and didn’t carry a cell phone.

“Can you imagine him having a phone? It’s like the president having a cell phone…,” he said.

“This Is It” was set to be Michael’s first solo tour in 13 years, and his hotly anticipated 2009 comeback. He was gearing up for a 50-night run at London’s 02 Arena when he unexpectedly died at his Los Angeles home after being administered a lethal dose of propofol, a powerful intravenous sedative.

The pop star’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, is accused of killing Jackson by allegedly administering an overdose of intravenous and prescription drugs. His attorneys have denied he did anything to cause Jackson’s death. Jury selection for Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial is now underway.

Jermaine Jackson blamed Murray and the drug for his brother’s death, which he heard of by telephone on June 25, 2009.

“And to hear my mother say, ‘he’s dead,’ to hear her say this, I lost it. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be …,” he said. “But when my mother said, ‘he’s dead,’ I knew,” he said.

For Jermaine, the brotherly love that the two had never wavered. In 2009 he was able to have one final look at the little brother he loved, on his deathbed.

“And there he was, laying there,” he told ABC News. “And La Toya was there before us. And he was lifeless. I touched his forehead, his face. And it was still soft. And I kissed him. And I pulled back his eyeballs to look in his eyes. And I just told him how much I love him and, ‘I’m gonna miss you so much.’”

Walking through the Jackson family compound, Jermaine describes his feeling for Michael today.

“I find myself saying, Michael, you’re supposed to be here,” he said. “You have so many more years left on your life.”

By Katherine Jackson

LATOYA nude in Playboy?

I was shocked when I heard the rumor. My daughter may have been different from her eight brothers and sisters in some ways – she was the moodiest of my kids, for example – but in terms of her dress and manners, she’d been so conservative that she’d once dropped a friend who had begun wearing low-cut tops and skirts with slits in them. “She looks disgusting, like a hooker,” LaToya remarked at the time. “I don’t want any part of her.”

But the longer I thought about the Playboy rumor, the more I feared that it was true. The LaToya I saw in early 1989 was not the LaToya I thought I knew.

I couldn’t help but recall her 1988 engagement at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, when she danced for the first time ever in a sexy, suggestive way. Watching her from the audience, I was surprised and, I admit, a little taken aback.

“Jack told me that I had to change my image if I want to make it in the business,” LaToya said when I questioned her about her new show.

“Jack” was Jack Gordon, her smooth-talking manager. Her transformation had begun at the same time that he entered her life in 1987 with an offer for her to host a music video show that he had in the works. At the time LaToya was a confirmed homebody and mama’s girl…

She was the kind of little girl who a grandmother would love… When you’d clean her up, LaToya would sit on the couch like a little lady…

Janet by contrast, was a tomboy. By the age of 2 she had the nickname “squirrel” because she loved to climb on the furniture and on the boys’ bunkbeds…

Janet had been on the plump side for years. Michael, who can be a merciless teaser, had nicknamed her “Dunk” – for donkey.

I had a hard time getting Janet to wear dresses to kindergarden; she always wanted to wear jeans. To this day, she dresses like a tomboy. She’ll show up at the house in army boots, blue jeans with patches in them, an oversized T-shirt and her hair stuffed in a cap.

“Janet,” I’ll say, “wear some earrings or put on some lipstick. People are going to mistake you for a guy…”

[Jack] Gordon’s music video show never materialized, but he remained on the scene, showering LaToya with flowers and gifts.

Gordon begged my husband, Joe, LaToya’s manager, to allow him to co-manage her; he claimed that he had ideas for how to revitalize her stalled recording career. He kept pestering Joe until Joe finally asked LaToya, “Is this what you want?” She said it was, so her father agreed to share management responsibilities with Gordon.

The next thing I knew, Gordon had my homebody of a daughter traveling the world. No sooner would they return from business in Japan than she’d announce, “Oh, I have a photo shoot to do in Austria,” and she and Gordon would be on the next flight out of Los Angeles. While a part of me was happy that she was getting out into the world at long last and meeting new people, her turnabout was so sudden and dramatic that it left me confused.

It wasn’t until later, when I saw Jack Gordon for what he was … that I understood his strategy in booking LaToya in far-flung corners of the globe. He was attempting to distance my naive, trusting daughter from her family, literally and figuratively, so that he could become the dominating influence in her life.

The public learned just how successful Gordon had been in tearing LaToya away from the family when, in March of 1988, People magazine reported that LaToya had moved to New York City with Gordon and cut her professional ties with Joe. “Jack’s a salesman,” LaToya was quoted as saying. “He throws a good pitch and he delivers. Anyway he’s doing better than my father.” Adding a sensational touch was Jack Gordon’s own parting “pitch” to Joe: “I love Joe like poison.”

Even though LaToya continued to talk to me almost daily on the telephone, our relationship deteriorated also. It seemed like LaToya had been taking lessons in the Big Lie from Gordon.

I had raised my children to always tell the truth, so I was disappointed in her for indignantly denying to me that she had decided to write a competing, “tell-all” book about the Jackson family, even after I heard that Gordon had taken her around from publisher to publisher in New York.

“No, mother, I’m not doing a book; I don’t know how these rumors get started,” she said again a few weeks later, after I learned that she had signed a book deal for more money that my son Michael had received for his autobiography, Moonwalk

This exchange was repeated several more times after I was informed of “ugly family secrets” that Jack Gordon had circulated, including the Biggest Lie of them all: that LaToya had been molested by Joe when she was 8 years old. When I confronted Gordon about this outrageous charge he claimed that Rebbie, not LaToya, had told him.

“That’s not true!” Rebbie gasped when I checked with her. Michael was furious. “Mother,” he exclaimed, “how can he lie like that!” The obvious answer: so Jack Gordon could create interest in LaToya’s book, and make more money for himself.

LaToya never did admit to me that she was writing a book. I had to read about it in a newspaper in early 1989. “Michael’s book is nice but very light,” she was quoted as saying. “There will be a lot of things in my book that weren’t in his.”

LaToya denied to me that she had disrobed for a Playboy photographer as emphatically as she had denied that she was writing a book. I’m sad to say that, once again, I learned the truth from the media. In her interviews promoting her nude spread, LaToya defended her actions: “I have to live my life for LaToya and not for my family.”

I was personally so embarrassed that there were moments when I said to myself, “I wish I was on another planet.” I felt like cringing when I went out in public, afraid that someone would recognize me and ask me about LaToya.

Shortly after the Playboy issue with her face on the cover hit the newstands, LaToya appeared on “Donahue.”

“My parents laid down certain rules, and one of those rules, of course, was you were not to leave home unless you were married,” she claimed. She didn’t mention the fact that our “rule” was never enforced, and that Michael Marlon, Randy and Janet had moved out before her as single people.

Needless to say, rescuing my daughter from Gordon had been the family’s aim ever since she had moved to New York with him. But nothing I nor her brothers and sisters could say could persuade her to return home to us.

Mixed in with my rage at Jack Gordon was a feeling of guilt. “Maybe I sheltered my children too much,” I’ve thought many times since, “and not educated them enough about the sharks out there waiting to take advantage of them….”

Even as the media was covering LaToya’s rebellion, it was still feasting on rumors about Michael’s private life, reports of Jackson “sibling jealousy” and tales about how Joe and I are alienated from most of our kids.

“What a sorry family these Jacksons have become,” I imagine people are saying today. “They couldn’t handle their rags-to-riches success.” If I depended on the press for all of my information on my family, I’d come to the same conclusion.

But I’m able to see our story with a perspective that is lacking in an Entertainment Tonight sound bite, or an error-filled article in one of the tabloids.

For the record, Michael doesn’t own and has never slept in a hyperbaric chamber. He lay down in one once, just to see what it felt like, during a visit to the Michael Jackson Burn Center. A photographer took his picture, and the picture got out.

As for the Elephant Man’s bones, I have no idea whether or not [Frank] Dileo [Michael's former manager] made an attempt on Michael’s behalf to buy them. If he did so, he did so in jest. And if by some miracle the London medical center that owns the bones agreed to sell them, Michael knows I wouldn’t let him in the house with them.

The most tired rumor of all was the rumor that Michael was gay.

All I can say is, Michael is not gay. First of all, the Bible speaks against homosexuality, and he’s very religious. Secondly, he intends to settle down and get married one day. We’ve talked about it. And he will.

I wish he did have that special someone to share his life with right now; his life would be richer. I think that, deep down, he does, too.

When Michael was younger he joked that “when the love bug bites me that’s who I’m going to marry.” By 1989 he was telling me, “When I marry a woman she’s going to have a lot of money herself. That’s the only way I’ll know for sure that she’s not marrying me for my money.”

And yet, Michael seems happy. Even though he knows that he will never be able to live a “normal” life, he seems comfortable with his fame. I believe that when he’s good and ready to get married, he’ll do it, despite the inevitable press uproar.

While I firmly believe that a good marriage promotes happiness, the surest path to inner peace and fulfillment, I believe, is through religion. This is why I also wish that my children will draw closer to Jehovah.

I’m not worried about Rebbie. As she says, “The most important thing in my life is my relationship with the Creator, Jehovah God.”

Dee Dee, Tito’s wife, has also shown a strong interest in studying.

But Randy and Janet attend Kingdom Hall only occasionally, and Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and LaToya not at all, even though LaToya was baptized a Witness several years ago. Marlon and Carol attend a Catholic church.

Then there is Michael’s unique situation: In 1987, he left the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

There was strong opposition to his “Thriller” video on the part of some Witnesses. Perhaps the controversy figured into his decision to leave.

But I don’t know that for a fact because I didn’t talk to him about what he’d done. I couldn’t. Witnesses do not discuss spiritual matters with a person who has disassociated himself from the Witnesses, including family members.

But I want to stress that, contrary to published reports, I was not required to “shun” my son. Our relationship is as loving today as it was when he was a Witness. I just can’t ask him, “Why, Michael?”

Two more wishes:

I wish for a reunited Jacksons. I wish that Michael and Marlon would consider rejoining the group, if only on a part-time basis. For old-time’s sake. For my sake.

And I dream of a reunited Jackson family.

As much as LaToya hurt the family … I long for her reconciliation with us. The Jackson family is not whole without her.

PHOTO : At a family reunion in 1989, Katherine Jackson (seated center, yellow jacket) and her husband Joseph are surrounded by seven of their nine children, including Janet and Michael who flank their parents, and 11 of their grandchildren. Of the famous Jackson siblings, only Marlon and LaToya did not attend the reunion. LaToya (at right), whose nude spread in Playboy magazine and threats to write a tell-all book have shocked and disappointed her family, is estranged from her parents and siblings.

PHOTO : Jack Gordon (at left with LaToya) did more than take over LaToya’s career when he became her manager, Katherine Jackson says. He moved LaToya far from her family “so he could become the dominating influence in her life,” Mrs. Jackson says. Yet, she says her relationship with her two superstar children, Janet and Michael (below), is as warm and loving as ever. Still, she gently chides Janet for “dressing like a tomboy,” and she wishes that Michael, a former Jehovah’s Witness, would return to the faith.

PHOTO : In happier times (above), the Jackson sisters (l. to r.) – Janet, Rebbie and LaToya – form a loving portrait with their mother. In the mid 1970s (right), Katherine Jackson began encouraging her daughters (clockwise from top) – LaToya, Rebbie and Janet – to try performing. “I didn’t like the idea of some of my kids making a lot of money while the others weren’t making anything,” she says.

PHOTO : Rebbie and Katherine Jackson (above) ventured back to the family’s former home in Gary, Ind., in 1987 to look over the old neighborhood and reminisce with old friends. At left, Mrs. Jackson and former neighbor, Marie Gunn, share a laugh. “Being treated differently by old friends and neighbors was only one of the adjustments that the boys and Joe and I had to make after the Jackson Five became famous,” she says.

COPYRIGHT 1990 Johnson Publishing Co.

By Edna Gunderson

Q: How do you respond to inaccurate articles about you?

A: I don’t pay any attention. The fans know the tabloid garbage is crap. They always say to me, “Let’s have a tabloid-burning.” It’s terrible to try to assassinate one’s character. I’ve had people come to me, and after meeting me, they start crying. I say, “Why are you crying?” They say, “Because I thought you would be stuck up, but you’re the nicest person.” I say, “Who gave you this judgment?” They tell me they read it. I tell them, “Don’t you believe what you read.”

Q: Do these rumors persist because you don’t refute them?

A: No. I’ve done so much in the past. I did the most watched TV interview in history with Oprah Winfrey (in 1993). But (the media) tend to want to twist what you say and judge you. I want to keep it on the music and the art. I think about some of my favorite people who ever lived. If I could stand face to face with Walt Disney or Michelangelo, would I care what they do in their private life? I want to know about their art. I’m a fan.

Q: How do you shield yourself from being hurt by criticism?

A: Expecting it, knowing it’s going to happen and being invincible, being what I was always taught to be. You stand strong with an iron fist, no matter what the situation.”

Q: Critics refer to you as the self-proclaimed King of Pop. Did you choose that title?

A: I never self-proclaimed myself to be anything. If I called up Elizabeth Taylor right now, she would tell you that she coined the phrase. She was introducing me, I think at the American Music Awards, and said in her own words – it wasn’t in the script – “I’m a personal fan, and in my opinion he is the king of pop, rock and soul.” Then the press started saying “King of Pop” and the fans started. This self-proclaimed garbage, I don’t know who said that.

Q: The New York concerts marked your first U.S. shows in 12 years. Were you nervous?

A: No. It was an honor to be back with my brothers again. The producer wanted a cavalcade of luminaries from different fields of endeavor. It was a great honor to have them salute me. It was heartwarming, a happy, fun occasion.

Q: Would you consider another tour with your brothers?

A: I don’t think so. I would definitely do an album with them, but not a tour. They would love to tour. But I want to move on to other things. Physically, touring takes a lot out of you. When I’m on stage, it’s like a two-hour marathon. I weigh myself before and after each show, and I lose a good 10 pounds. Sweat is all over the stage. Then you get to your hotel and your adrenaline is at its zenith and you can’t fall asleep. And you’ve got a show the next day. It’s tough.

Q: If you don’t tour, how will you satisfy public demand as well as your need to perform?

A: I want to direct a special on myself and do songs that touch me. I want something more intimate, from the soul and heart, with just one spotlight.

Q: How did you react when Invincible topped the chart here and in a dozen countries?

A: It was a lovely feeling. I cried happy tears to see all the love.

Q: Invincible was several years in the making. Does your perfectionism slow the process?

A: It did take a while because I’m never happy with the songs. I’ll write a bunch of songs, throw them out, write some more. People say, “Are you crazy? That’s got to go on the album.” But I’ll say, “Is it better than this other one?” You only get 75 minutes on a CD, and we push it to the limit.

Q: Did you approach Invincible with a single theme in mind?

A: I never think about themes. I let the music create itself. I like it to be a potpourri of all kinds of sounds, all kinds of colors, something for everybody, from the farmer in Ireland to the lady who scrubs toilets in Harlem.

Q: Has it become easier to write songs over time?

A: It’s the most effortless thing in the world because you don’t do anything. I hate to say it like that, but it’s the truth. The heavens drop it right into your lap, in its totality. The real gems come that way. You can sit at the piano and say, “OK, I’m going to write the greatest song ever written,” and nothing. But you can be walking down the street or showering or playing and, boom, it hits you in the head. I’ve written so many like that. I’m playing a pinball machine, and I have to run upstairs and get my little tape recorder and start dictating. I hear everything in its totality, what the strings are going to do, what the bass is going to do, the harpsichord, everything.

Q: Is it difficult translating that sound to tape?

A: That’s what’s frustrating. In my head, it’s completed, but I have to transplant that to tape. It’s like (Alfred) Hitchcock said, “The movie’s finished.” But he still has to start directing it. The song is the same. You see it in its entirety and then you execute it.

Q: After such a long absence, did you have doubts about your current relevance?

A: Never. I have confidence in my abilities. I have real perseverance. Nothing can stop me when I put my mind to it.

Q: After Sept. 11, you wrote a benefit song, What More Can I Give? What’s the status?

A: It’s not finished. We’re adding artists, and I’m getting myself satisfied with the instrumentation.

Q: Is it your belief that music is a tool for healing?

A: It’s a mantra that soothes the soul. It’s therapeutic. It’s something our body has to have, like food. It’s very important to understand the power of music. Whether you’re in an elevator or a department store, music affects the way you shop, the way you treat your neighbor.

(Prince hands Jackson a drawing. “I appreciate it,” Jackson says. “Do you have to go to the bathroom?” Prince: “No.”)

Q: Invincible hasn’t enjoyed record-breaking sales. Does Thriller cast too big a shadow?

A: Absolutely. It is tough because you’re competing against yourself. Invincible is just as good or better than Thriller, in my true, humble opinion. It has more to offer. Music is what lives and lasts. Invincible has been a great success. When The Nutcracker Suite was first introduced to the world, it totally bombed. What’s important is how the story ends.

(Prince surfaces again with another picture. “What did you promise me?” Jackson asks. “To be quiet?” Prince responds, then retreats.)

Q: How has fatherhood changed you?

A: In a huge way. You have to value your time differently, no doubt about it. It’s your responsibility to make sure they’re taken care of and raised properly with good manners. But I refuse to let any of it get in the way of the music or the dance or the performing. I have to play two different roles. I always wanted to have a big family, ever since I was in school. I was always telling my father I would outdo him. He had 10 children. I would love to have like 11 or 12 myself.

Q: What have you taught your children?

A: I try to make sure they’re respectful and honorable and kind to everybody. I tell them, no matter what they do, work hard at it. What you want to do for a lifetime, be the best at it.

(Prince is staring. “Stop looking at me,” Jackson says, smiling.)

Q: And what have your kids taught you?

A: A lot. (Parenthood) reminds you to do what the Bible has always told us. When the Apostles were arguing among themselves over who was the greatest in Jesus’ eyes, he said, “None of you,” and called over a little boy and said, “until you humble yourself like this child.” It reminds you to be kind and humble and to see things through the eyes of children with a childlike wonderment. I still have that. I’m still fascinated by clouds and the sunset. I was making wishes on the rainbow yesterday. I saw the meteor shower. I made a wish every time I saw a shooting star.

Q: What are your wishes?

A: Peace and love for the children. (Prince returns, gazing intently. “Stop that,” says Jackson, gently turning the boy’s head away. “Can you be still?”)

Q: You’ve said you plan to home-school your kids. Given your fame, how can you provide a normal life for them?

A: You do the best you can. You don’t isolate them from other children. There will be other kids at the school (on his property). I let them go out in the world. But they can’t always go with me. We get mobbed and attacked. When we were in Africa, Prince saw a mob attack in a huge shopping mall. People broke so much stuff, running and screaming. My biggest fear is that fans will hurt themselves, and they do. I’ve seen glass break, blood, ambulances.

Q: Are you resentful that stardom stole your childhood?

A: Yeah. It’s not anger, it’s pain. People see me at an amusement park or with other kids having fun, and they don’t stop and think, “He never had that chance when he was little.” I never had the chance to do the fun things kids do: sleepovers, parties, trick-or-treat. There was no Christmas, no holiday celebrating. So now you try to compensate for some of that loss.

Q: Have you made peace with your father?

A: It’s much better. My father is a much nicer person now. I think he realizes his children are everything. Without your family, you have nothing. He’s a nice human being. At one time, we’d be horrified if he just showed up. We were scared to death. He turned out really well. I wish it wasn’t so late.

Q: Did music offer an escape from childhood worries?

A: Of course. We sang constantly in the house. We sang group harmony while washing dishes. We’d make up songs as we worked. That’s what makes greatness. You have to have that tragedy, that pain to pull from. That’s what makes a clown great. You can see he’s hurting behind the masquerade. He’s something else externally. Chaplin did that so beautifully, better than anyone. I can play off those moments, too. I’ve been through the fire many times.

(Prince is back. He leans against the chair to gawk at the king of pops. “Stop looking at me,” Jackson implores, clearly unnerved by the tyke’s scrutiny. “You’re not making this easy.” Both of them chuckle, and Jackson warns teasingly, “You may not get that piece of candy.”)

Q: Do your religious beliefs ever conflict with the sexy nature of your music or dancing?

A: No. I sing about things that are loving, and if people interpret it as sexy, that’s up to them. I never use bad words like some of the rappers. I love and respect their work, but I think I have too much respect for parents and mothers and elderly people. If I did a song with bad words and saw an older lady in the audience, I’d cringe.

Q: But what about your trademark crotch-grabbing moves?

A: I started doing that with Bad. Martin Scorsese directed that short film in the subways of New York. I let the music tell me what to do. I remember him saying, “That was a great take! I want you to see it.” So we pushed playback, and I went aaaah! I didn’t realize I was doing that. But then everyone else started doing that, and Madonna, too. But it’s not sexual at all.

Q: How are you spending your free time these days?

A: I like to do silly things – water-balloon fights, pie fights, egg fights. (Turning to Prince) You got a good one coming! I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of that. At my house, I built a water-balloon fort with two sides, a red team and a blue team. We have cannons that shoot water 60 feet and slingshots that shoot the balloons. We got bridges and places to hide. I just love it. Q: After 38 years in show business, fans still mob you. Are you immune to adulation?

A: It’s always a good feeling. I never take it for granted. I’m never puffed up with pride or think I’m better than the next-door neighbor. To be loved is a wonderful thing. That is the main reason I do this. I feel compelled to do it, to give people some sense of escapism, a treat to the eye and the ear. I think it’s the reason I’m here.

Q: Why do you think people are jealous?

A: If you look back in history, it’s the same with anybody who’s achieved wonderful things. I know the Disney family well, and Walt’s daughters used to tell me it was difficult when they were in school. Kids would say, “I hate Walt Disney. He’s not even funny. We don’t watch him.” Charlie Chaplin’s kids, who I know well, had to take their children out of school. They were being teased: “You’re grandfather is stupid. He’s not funny. We don’t like him.” He was a genius! So you have to deal with this jealousy. They think they’re hurting you. Nothing could hurt me. The bigger the star, the larger the target. At least they’re talking. When they stop talking, you have to worry.

Q: How did you gear up for the physical demands of your special concerts (which aired as a two-hour CBS special)? Do you exercise?

A: I hate exercise. I hate it so much. The only thing I do is dance. That’s an exercise. That’s why I like some of the karate stuff or kung fu. It’s all a dance. But sit-ups? I hate it.

Q: Were you intimidated by any of the other superstars on the bill?

A: No. I enjoy watching performers. It’s all school for me. I never stop learning. It was really inspiring.

Q: Are you more enamored with modern music or vintage stuff?

A: I like the earlier stuff. It’s more melodically conscious. Today people rely on a beat or a rhythm, which is nice, but I said this time and time again, melody will always be king. You have to hum it.

Q: You’ve teamed with a huge variety of musicians. What attracts you to a particular collaborator?

A: If I see some potential in their ability as an artist or musician, I’ll give them a hook or a line or a phrase and see how they play it or execute it. Sometimes we go all day and it’s still not right.

Q: Did you learn that lesson from your parents?

A: Our parents taught us to always be respectful and, no matter what you do, to give it everything you have. Be the best, not the second best.

Q: You are often purused by mobs of fans. Are you ever scared for your own safety?

A: Never ever. I know exactly what to do when it gets really rough, how to just play them. As long as they can see you, they’re crazy, but you can put yourself in the eye of the hurricane. If you duck and they can’t see you, they calm down.

Q: Your inner circle seems to consist of very young friends or much older ones. What connects you to people like Marlon Brando or Elizabeth Taylor?

A: We’ve had the same lives. They grew up in show business. We look at each other, and it’s like looking in a mirror. Elizabeth has this little girl inside of her who never had a childhood. She was on the set every day. She loves playing with a new gadget or toy, and she’s totally awe-inspired by it. She’s a wonderful human being. So is Brando.

Q: What happened to your plans to build theme parks in Europe and Africa?

A: We’re still working on a couple projects. I can’t say right now where. I love theme parks. I love seeing children coming together, having a good time with their parents. It’s not like it used to be, when you put your kids on the merry-go-round and sat on the bench eating peanuts. Now you enjoy it with them. It builds a unity to the family.

For the complete article click here: http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2009-06-26-mj-archive_N.htm

Note: Pictures were added to the article for enhancement by blog administrator.

Source: The Wave 94.7

All week long, Pat & Kim are celebrating the life and legend of Michael Jackson in honor of what would have been his 53rd birthday on August 29th. A few celebrities shared their heartfelt stories and memories of what the King of Pop meant to them.

Sharing their fond memories of Michael is famed choreographer Debbie Allen and Earth, Wind & Fire bassist Verdine White, who tell us their favorite stories about the King of Pop. Plus Marcus Miller weighs in on MJ!

 

For the actual audio interviews, please go to this link: http://947thewave.radio.com/2011/08/31/debbie-allen-verdine-white-share-music-and-memories-on-michael-jackson/

The last dinner with Michael Jackson

Famous New York stylist who was born in Takov (?), the woman who enchanted Steven Spielberg, Nicole Kidman and Hilary Clinton, for two and a half years she was inseparable with the tragic King of Pop, who said a month before he left this world’s stage that he will forever be with her.

Written by: Zaneta Apostolovski

Photos: Private Albums

Michael Jackson was never selfish, he shared his love with the whole world, but that he’s the King of Pop – no one truly admitted that till he died. Michael wasn’t a *****, even though so many ugly things and lies were written about him. People simply didn’t understand him just like they didn’t understand Beethoven and Mozart but time has proven that they were musical geniuses as well. Jackson was an amazing artist. He lived in his own world with his music. I’m happy/lucky because I got to be his friend and that he chose me out of all people to be his stylist – says Ruska Bergman, the personal stylist of the late pop icon.

She’s only worked for a few years in New York but she’s already worked with Hilary Clinton, Bjork, Cindy Crawford (?), Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow and many other stars. She’s convinced that Michael Jackson was the most noble and sophisticated person that she worked with.

 

“I work for the Italian ‘L’Uomo Vogue’, I styled lots of directors, athletes, actors and when we had to pick out a music icon for our photoshoot, I suggested Michael Jackson, so I sent him a letter. I was at the theatre when after three weeks I got a phonecall from his lawyer who said he was calling on behalf of Michael Jackson.” – I was completely caught off guard. I got scared that I did something wrong in the way I contacted him. so I started apologizing. When the lawyer told me that Michael agreed to do the photoshoot, I asked him to repeat that sentence again before I pass out I called the editor of the magazine right away and told her that Michael Jackson agreed to do the photoshoot.”

According to Ruska, the preparations for this photoshoot were the most intense preparations on the planet.

“I got thousands of girls assisting us but by the end of it we decided on six. Completely impressed with what he saw, Michael simply shouted, “Girls, you are divine!” – but in order for Ruska to hear that sentence she worked very hard for five months.

Even though he was a megastar, Michael never acted like one on the set. He was very professional, he knew that he was working with the best stylists, make-up artists and photographers and he never saw their work as something beneath him.

There were hundreds of people on set. We played his Thriller album, he immediately stood in front of the camera and started dancing and a few moments later everyone was in tears. He had so much energy that I then, and many times later, thought that he must be from a different planet Michael Jackson thought the same about Ruska though. He was amazed how much love she put into her work . Because of similar sensibilities, they continued to work together and their professional association quickly turned into friendship. He loved her character and honesty. He appreciated the fact that she was always honest about what she could and couldn’t do as far as her work goes. The change in Jackson’s style over the last couple of years was very noticeable and noticed by the world media (I agree, he looked ******g beautiful lately, shazaaaam!)…on the internet blogs, everyone was asking who was behind the new look of this 20th century pop icon. His secret weapon was of course RUSKA BERGMAN!

“He trusted my taste a lot and he used to always tell me to never stop because I’m the most interesting person he’s ever met! When we became friends, he told me when I first showed up on his door in Vegas he could smell the Mediterranean sea on me”

Ruska and Michael were working intensely with one another over the last two years. They saw each other often and stayed in touch regularly.

“My phone rang on New Years. I picked up the phone and heard someone singing opera. I was completely baffled. I asked who it was and Michael responded, “Who do you think it is?” – He was very shy and I can’t even describe how gentle he was. But his talent, voice, music and charisma can’t be surpassed.”

Since the first time they met, Ruska was convinced he was a genius. After that meeting in Vegas, her whole world changed. She walked down the street and suddenly compared to Michael, all the people seemed so ordinary.

“The more I watched him the more I loved him. He was simply magic. He was the most noble person in the world. No man on Earth can compare to his inner and outer beauty. I met so many stars, talked to them, worked with them, but no one was even close to Michael’s charisma. He was simply always ahead of everyone else and I can’t believe that my dear friend died How can I believe it when we actively worked so much together lately? I was getting the styling ideas ready for the tour, which unfortunately he will never get to do now – and it would’ve been a true spectacle.

According to Forbes magazine, Jackson would’ve earned 2.5 billion dollars from that tour. But he wasn’t too concerned about that. He had over 30 people who took care of everything and he had eleven lawyers, he lived in complete isolation but he was able to see who his true friends are. The moment Ruska came to LA, Michael would call her and sometimes he himself would pick her up at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

“The window of the limo would go down and Michael – guarded by six bodyguards in there – would wave at me and call me over. We loved and respected each other. He loved everything that I wore, and he always wanted to wear it. He always asked me where I was hiding so long. A man like that will never come by again, but I’m convinced that his music will live for hundreds of years. Everyone copies him, but only when Michael himself showed up would people actually faint.”

The woman who works in the biggest fashion house and gives advice to Tom Ford, Givenchy and many others, she fascinated the King of Pop when it came to how humble she was and her general view when it came to money.

“When we had dinner just a month ago, Michael asked me, “Do you know why I love working with you? You never asked me for money. And we never talked about some agreements. You trusted me as I trusted you. I changed six managers in two years. You’re the only person who stuck with me. Everyone else came and went, and you, my dear, will be with me forever.”

The last time she saw him was two weeks before his death. She was at his house five days in a row.

“He was truly beautiful. He didn’t seem depressed or sad at all. He even danced a bit. Didn’t seem to have a care in the world. As always, he was the gentlest person on the planet. It seemed almost as if he was ‘ours’ (“Ours” is a Yugoslavian expression when talking about people who are actually from ex-Yugoslavia. Like “that girl looks like she’s ‘ours’” ). I never felt that about anyone aside from ~Steven Spielberg. But Michael was so unusual, his warmth and love completely got me. Everything was just fine. I can’t believe that he’s gone all of a sudden.”

She heard the news about his death while she was in the studio. The moment she heard it she thought she would fall off the chair. The only thing she could possibly say was that it was simply impossible, it can’t be. She couldn’t stop crying for days. All the material and the photographs and data that she has, she’s keeping for the movie, This is It, that’s coming out.

“I know I was very privileged because I had the chance to be so close to him, to see him as a real person. We perfectly understood eachother. I feel sad that the media was so unfair and cruel to him. He didn’t have cancer, his nose wasn’t falling off, all those things are just fabrications, stupidities and lies. The pop icon is among angels right now, but his music will live forever.”

 

Source: http://bestofmichaeljackson.jclondon.com/2010/06/20/celebrity-fashion-stylist-rushka-bergman-remembers-her-friend-michael-jackson/

 

Trouble In Paradise?

Michael Jackson is about to embark on what may be the biggest tour ever. But the struggle for power in the Jackson camp could lead to a major disaster.

BY MICHAEL GOLDBERG AND CHRISTOPHER CONNELLY

Mar 15, 1984 6:32 PM

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Still, there is Joe Jackson. Though he has not sought a new management contract with his sons, he continues to be closely involved with their careers. In fact, it was Joe who encouraged the Jackson’s to work with boxing promoter Don King. But why King? As Branca himself says, ”You’re taking the number-one artist in the world; you would normally want somebody who has some experience in the music business.” Why Don King?

$3,000,000.

That’s the amount of money Don King advanced to the Jackson’s after they agreed to let him promote their 1984 reunion tour: $500,000 to each member of the group. But from the beginning, Michael Jackson was not in King’s corner.

”Don King was not Michael’s first choice to promote the tour,” says a tactful John Branca. ”This tour is important to Michael because it’s important to Michael’s family. I’m not sure the tour was Michael’s first choice. He might have preferred to do other things. But he found it important to tour at his brothers’ request and his family’s request. They very much wanted to work with Don King. So Michael said, ‘If it’s that important to my father and my family, I will work with Don King. ”

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Back in April 1983, the Jacksons met with five or six promoters, including King, to discuss the tour. According to Curtis Shaw, Joe Jackson’s lawyer, the band members weren’t sufficiently impressed with any of the impresarios. But Joe Jackson suggested another meeting with King, and the sons and King hit it off the second time around. On September 30th, the Jackson’s signed a contract with King to promote the tour. The contract defined King as an employee of the Jacksons’, with the family having final say on all aspects of the tour.

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But the family’s support for King wavered almost immediately. The Jackson’s were attracted to a sponsorship proposal from the Quaker Oats Company, which expressed interest in sponsoring the tour after the Pepsi deal was confirmed. The company offered a sum that was, in Branca’s words, ”forty percent more than the Pepsi deal.” Certain members of the Jackson’s sought to at least include Quaker in on the tour, but they discovered that Pepsi has an exclusive deal.

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In fact, King had begun working on the Pepsi deal even before he had been officially hired by the Jackson’s. The promoter had been in contact with Rockbill, a musical marketing outfit that specializes in hooking up potential commercial sponsors with big-name concert tours; King had previously worked with the company at the time of the Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney heavyweight-title fight. According to Rockbill’s president, Jay Coleman, the organization had been in touch with Pepsi ”as much as two years ago…about the Jacksons’ reunion tour. Finally, when Don King got involved and the tour became a reality, we followed up on it — and the only thing that happened then was that the cost of being involved had gone up astronomically.”

The deal they cooked up was the biggest of its kind, far in excess of the Rolling Stones’ deal with Jovan or Schlitz’ promotional pact with the Who. Coleman says it will make the Jackson’s ”well over $5 million for less than a year.” (King and the Jacksons’ parents also get a small percentage of the money from Pepsi.)

The Jackson’s displeasure with King also seemed to surface at a lavish, flack-crammed press conference at the Tavern on the Green restaurant in New York’s Central Park, where King announced that he would be promoting the tour. The gathering turned into a marathon mouth-fest for the bombastic King, who declaimed to the crowd in fine P.T. Barnum style before yielding the floor to a fifteen-minute documentary — about Don King. The reporters were amused; the Jacksons, sitting sullenly behind their sunglasses, did not appear to be. King handled most of the questions directed at the group, and as cries for Michael increased, the promoter handed him the microphone. Said the soft-spoken superstar: ”I don’t really have anything to say…”

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This was not entirely true: Around that time, Michael Jackson wrote a letter to Don King. In the missive, King was instructed:

• not to communicate with anyone on Michael Jackson’s behalf without prior permission;

• that all moneys paid to Michael Jackson for his participation in the tour would be collected by Michael Jackson’s personal representatives, not by Don King;

• that King did not have permission to approach any promoters, sponsors or any other persons on Michael’s behalf;

• that King was not to hire any personnel, any local promoters, book any halls or, for that matter, do anything without Michael Jackson’s personal approval.

On February 2nd, King was asked about the letter. ”I don’t know anything about it,” he said.

Clearly, Michael Jackson neither trusts nor likes Don King, and as the tour has drawn closer, Jackson’s feelings have become more apparent. As this issue of Rolling Stone was going to press, it was learned that at least two other concert promoters had been approached about the tour, and a major battle appeared to be taking shape between two of the biggest names in show business.

Joe Jackson’s lawyer insists that King will remain as the tour’s promoter and says that other promoters have been spoken to only in regard to local and regional representation.

Michael Jackson’s lawyer says that ”unless the tour is handled properly — financially, creatively and otherwise — Michael is not going to go out.”

”With Michael,” says Don King, ”you always on trial.”

Article Source: www.rollingstone.com

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After 18 years of installing his systems, Brad Sundberg saw everything from the pop star’s work ethic to his behavior to his chimps.

Integrators tend not to be star-struck since many cater to extremely affluent clientele. There are celebrities, and then there was Michael Jackson.

Right Image: Michael Jackson plays Jenga with Brad Sundberg, owner of BSUM MEDIA SYSTEMS 

When Brad Sundberg, owner of BSUM Media Systems, mentioned his work on Jackson’s infamous Neverland Valley Ranch during his CE Pro of the Week profile, questions came to mind:

What was Michael Jackson like as a client?

What was he like away from the cameras?

Sundberg, who says he worked with the famous performer on countless personal and professional projects over 18 years, wrote about his experiences in a long essay in a BSUN e-newslettersent a year after Jackson’s June 2009 death. Following are some excerpts:

On meeting Jackson …

Michael was working on Captain EO for Disneyland and Epcot Center. He was fresh off the Victory Tour, the Thriller album, his dominance of MTV, and he was back in the studio. I wish I could remember our first meeting, but it was likely just passing each other in the hallway. He was always warm, yet shy. Over time we would chat now and then, but it took time to build the trust.

On Jackson’s nickname for Brad Sundberg …

Early in 1986 the team moved into Westlake Studio D in Hollywood to record the Bad album, and welcomed me in. I worked other sessions during the day, but at night I was invited to sit in and learn. Eventually I worked my way up to technical director for the team, and the trust was solidified. It was during this time that Michael nicknamed me “Really Really Brad,” a twist on the chorus, “Bad, Bad, Really, Really Bad.” Check the album credits, it’s there.

On what Jackson was like …

Not for a moment do I pretend to have been a close friend of his, or a confidant. Rather I worked for him and with him, and considered it an honor.
He was a consummate professional. If his vocals were scheduled for a noon downbeat, he was there at 10 am, with his vocal coach Seth, singing scales. Yes, scales. I would set up the mic, check the equipment, make coffee, and all the while he would sing scales for two hours.

He typically drove himself to the studio alone. For a while he drove a big Ford Bronco with dents and scrapes on it. He was not a great driver. More than once he called into the studio to say he would be late after being in a fender bender.

He was intensely curious about “normal life.” He asked me about Christmas once, and couldn’t understand how kids could wait until Christmas morning to open the gifts. You see, he was raised Jehovah’s Witness, so Christmas was not celebrated in the Jackson family.

On working in-studio with Jackson …

A “typical” MJ album would take between 10 and 16 months in the studio. His budget allowed for as many as 100 songs to be recorded for any given project. Some would be discarded early on, while others were fine tuned. Musicians would be brought in to add their textures and ideas, but in the center of it all was Michael.

The team was remarkably small given the scope of the projects. Each project was slightly different, but typically there were less then eight of us working day to day, from the first day until the project was mastered. No entourage. No Elephant Man bones. No groupies. No drugs. Just music. And food.

On Jackson’s love of food and “family day” …

During the [making of the] BAD album, Fridays quickly became known as “family day.” He would have his two chefs, affectionately known as the Slam Dunk Sisters, prepare a large dinner for the crew, musicians and any family members that might be around. Since I was working sometimes 80 hours a week, it was not uncommon for Deb to come have dinner with us. Michael loved these family get togethers.

In later projects I would bring my girls, whom he loved and would play with. There is one moment in time in my head when Deb brought my daughter Amanda, who was just a baby at the time, into the studio for the afternoon. She set up a play mat and brought some toys, and Michael sat and played with her for a while. He looked at Deb and said, “This is her own little world, isn’t it?”

On celebrity visitors and chimps …

It was not uncommon for celebrities or VIPs to stop in. One day the Secret Service searched the building for a couple hours before Nancy Reagan came for a visit. Next it was Princess Stephanie from Monaco … The chimps were common guests in the studio, as was a giant snake, both of which I would wind up holding during MJ’s vocals.

On watching Jackson write songs …

I have watched him write many songs, and the process is amazing. I asked him where they came from, and he said they were gifts from God. He could hear the entire song in his head before we could get tape on the machines. He would sometimes sing the drums, bass, percussion, keyboards, etc., and we would later bring in musicians to replace his demo tracks.

On Jackson’s childhood …

I remember him telling me about grown women throwing themselves at him when he was just 9 or 10 years old.

One story I will never forget was him telling of flying with his dad and brothers through a lightening storm at night. The plane was being tossed around, lightening was flashing, and he started crying in fear. His dad ignored him, embarrassed. A flight attendant sat with until the plane cleared the storm. Hearing him tell that story, with tears in his eyes, gave a glimpse into his life.

On working at Neverland …

Somewhere around 1991 he asked me to visit a ranch he had purchased, and design a sound system for a carousel. The next thing I knew I was at Neverland Valley Ranch, in Santa Ynez, CA. There was construction everywhere, and the amusement park was in the early stages of installation.

Over the next few years Michael asked me to build system after system, putting music on the bumper cars, in the petting zoo, on two trains, all around the amusement park, the boat lake, the train stations, and eventually inside the house, and inside his bedroom and bathroom. Deb loves to tell of the times Michael would call at 2 in the morning (his sleep schedule was never normal) to talk to me about a new attraction he had coming to Neverland, and if I would put music on it.

I still have an old answering machine tape of him thanking me for one of the systems we had built.

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CE PRO OF THE WEEK: BRAD SUNBERG BSUN  MEDIA SYSTEMS – BY TOM LEBLANC

He describes the wildest installation requests ever. Think Michael Jackson, Madonna and rattlesnakes.

Brad Sundberg, owner, BSUN Media Systems

Each week, we aim to provide an informative – yet colorful – profile of one of your fellow CE pros. Interested in being featured yourself? See below.

How would you use Twitter to describe what your company does (140 character limit)?

Quality audio and video still matter to me. Like a great recipe, you can’t go wrong with great ingredients and a lot of experience.

After you complete a project, what do you think your typical client tells his friend about the experience?

I hope it is something like what Lucy Buffett [Jimmy’s sister] wrote after the work we did for her restaurant Lulu’s on Alabama’s Gulf shore:

“I humbly applaud Brad with a vociferous BRAVO BRAVO! Thank you for the absolutely impeccable job and rising to the occasion! You now are entitled to ‘gumbo for life.’

“Last January, we decided to upgrade our audio-visual program and somehow found Brad! He did an expert job and was always willing to work cheerfully and diligently especially when we would ‘make it up as we go’ — a LuLu’s trademark.

“Food and beverage establishments underestimate the importance of the quality of ambient music. We are hyper vigilant about how our music communicates an exceptional experience, especially since we have live entertainment every night of the year. It absolutely delights me to walk around the entire restaurant and property and to enjoy quality sound.

“I am completely confident in saying the quality of our audio-visual system actually increases my sales and makes a major contribution to the overall success of LuLu’s.”

What can CE pros learn from your company to make them think differently and run their business better?

When I built my Los Angeles office I spent a lot of money on a showroom. I had motorization, lighting control, top-of-the-line everything from cabinetry to carpet.

And guess what? No one came to it.

People are busy and are not likely to carve out 90 minutes to come sit in your showroom. I did 95 percent of my sales in my clients’ homes and offices, bringing key pieces with me. When I opened the Fairhope location I refined this concept into what I call a “portable showroom.”

I bring Crestron, SpeakerCraft and Kaleidescape into potential client’s homes and let them try it for a few days on their schedule. I also bring it to architect, interior design and real estate offices for trainings. This approach builds a deeper trust and friendship with my clients because I am on their turf, not the other way around.

What trade tip can you offer your fellow CE pros?

Stay in touch with your client base. Write a newsletter, email them or call them periodically. And don’t take yourself or your products too seriously.

What’s the wildest request you’ve ever had for an installation?

That’s a tough one. I built all of the music and video systems for Michael Jackson’s Neverland Valley Ranch, plus did extensive work for Madonna, Tom Cruise, Elizabeth Taylor and Quincy Jones.

I have put music on bumper cars, horse drawn carriages, a steam train, a Gulf Stream jet and three custom motor coaches.

I have built a one-of-a-kind whole-house baby monitor for a celebrity in Brentwood, Calif.

I have built a fully mobile recording studio in rack cases for a touring musical artist.

I’ve folded TVs into ceilings, built a home with 60 zones of music control, even built a trio of matched recording studios in California, France and England for a producer with three homes.

And just last month we floated a 33-foot HDTV on barge for a secret Jimmy Buffett concert.

But perhaps the “wildest” was to provide a complete narrative and sound effect system for a snake barn. We recorded the narration off-site, but had to complete the installation above, below and around the snake enclosures with the snakes in them. I am not afraid of snakes, but being on a mechanic’s creeper in the dark, installing a speaker below a cage of perhaps 25 rattlesnakes (we had a microphone in the cage so guests could hear the rattles through the glass) sort of stands out in my mind as being out of the ordinary.

What is your 3D strategy and do you think the technology will live up to the hype?

I may lose my CE Pro ribbon for this, but I am totally bored of 3D. I have no interest in it; I consider it gimmicky; and in the past 12 months I would estimate that only one of my clients has even mentioned 3D. Her comment was how much she would hate to have to wear glasses to watch TV.

As far as a strategy, if my clients want to play 8-track tapes through speakers in their swimming pool, I will make it happen. Likewise if they ask for 3D, 3D they will get … but I am not promoting either one.

What is your absolute favorite piece of audio demo material?

Quincy Jones’ “The Places You Find Love.”

In my previous overlapping career, I was a technical director on several major albums including Jones’ Back On The Block. When you work on a song like “Places” in the studio for 16 months, you get a pretty good idea of how it should sound, and that comes in very handy when I tune systems.

My good friend Bruce Swedien bent the meters on that song. It goes from a whisper to scream and back to a whisper. Huge drums, huge bass, huge choir, Chaka and Siedah vocals with Quincy driving the train! That makes for a big song.

My other go-to song is “Secret Silken World” by David Baerwald. It is dark and warm and masterfully recorded.

What is your absolute favorite piece of video demo material?

I am such a dork with my video demos. Most CE Pro readers will dismiss me right now.

I don’t like loud explosions with trucks and body parts flying over my head. (Neither do most of my female clients, and they often control the checkbook.) For rich colors I show Finding Nemo. For a jaw-dropping scene I show Step Into Liquid where they surf 66-foot waves 100 miles off the coast of California. I have never played that scene without people stopping what they are doing and just staring at it in disbelief.

What is something most people don’t know about you?

When I was about nine years old my dad gave me a box of wires, batteries, motors, switches, buzzers and electronic parts for Christmas. It was the best gift ever, and I was hooked. Thanks again, Dad.

http://www.bsunmedia.com/news/tag/brad-sundberg.html

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Baldwin County Resident Saw Another Side of Michael Jackson

Sundberg Says Late Entertainer Was A Consummate Professional

By Curt Chapman
Staff Writer – BaldwinCountyNow.com

FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Some say Michael Jackson was at the peak of his recording career from the early ’80s to the mid-’90s, the era that brought about hit albums such as “Thriller” and “Bad.” Fairhope resident Brad Sundberg remembers those days well, because he was more than a fly on the wall when some of Jackson’s best-selling albums were recorded.

Sundberg was then a fixture in the Los Angeles recording industry, serving as technical director for a number of albums produced at Westlake Audio, where Jackson, Barbra Streisand and others cut tracks. It was there he met Jackson and formed a 20-year friendship.

Sundberg was in the studio when “Bad,” “Dangerous,” “HIStory, Vol. 1” and “Blood On The Dance Floor” were laid on tape. It was his job to make sure everything there, from microphones to speakers, were in the correct place, and he was responsible for keeping the recording artists happy and comfortable while they were in-house.

“It really wasn’t the Elephant Man circus (like) people might think,” Sundberg said.

Jackson, who died suddenly at age 50 on June 25, was working on Captain EO for Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. and EPCOT Center in Orlando, Fla. at the time they met. Sundberg said the entertainer was fresh off the Victory Tour, the “Thriller” album and his dominance of MTV, and he was back in the studio.

The Baldwin County native (born in Foley in 1963) likely passed Jackson in the hallway on their first encounter, but Sundberg said he can no longer remember the details. He called Jackson “always warm, yet shy,” noting it took time for him to build trust.

“I was fortunate enough to meet Bruce Swedien, who engineered ‘Off the Wall’ and ‘Thriller,’” he said, adding he also met recording artist and music producer Quincy Jones at the same time. Sundberg had just completed coursework that prepared him to enter the industry, where he got his start by working on commercial jingles for Levi’s jeans, Taco Bell and McDonald’s.

Sundberg said, “Early in 1986 the team moved into Westlake Studio D in Hollywood to record the ‘Bad’ album, and welcomed me in. I worked other sessions during the day, but at night I was invited to sit in and learn. Eventually I worked my way up to technical director for the team, and the trust was solidified. It was during this time that Michael nicknamed me ‘Really Really Brad,’ a twist on the chorus, ‘Bad, Bad, Really Really Bad.’”

Jackson could utter 30 sentences with just one glance, Sundberg said, signaling whether the recording was going as he liked, or whether adjustments needed to be made. He watched Jackson write many songs, and called the process “amazing.” Sundberg said Jackson told him the music and lyrics were “gifts from God.”

He said Jackson could hear the entire song in his head before the team could get tape on the machines. He would sometimes sing the drum, bass, percussion and keyboard parts on separate tracks, after which musicians were brought in to replace those demo tracks.

“We had a healthy, fun, working relationship,” Sundberg said, noting Jackson was a perfectionist when it came to his music. “He would show up (in the studio) a minimum of two hours early on vocal days and sing scales with (his voice coach) Seth (Riggs) at the grand piano. I’d worked with a lot of flaky artists by then, and you just don’t see that. He was a professional, and he expected those around him to be professional in the studio environment.”

But Jackson was also well known as a prankster, he said, and family was very important to him. Sundberg said, “He has a great camaraderie with his brothers and sisters, but there was not a lot of time for him to be a kid.”

Fridays were always family days when Jackson recorded, and Sundberg’s wife and oldest daughter would sometimes sit in on sessions.

Sundberg worked alongside Swedien for nearly a decade. He said, “Working with Michael and those other people is about building a trust. You’re not going to leave them and go babbling to some tabloid. You earn your position as time goes on.”

Jackson typically drove himself to the studio, but was not a great driver, Sundberg said. His transportation for a while was a dented and scraped Ford Bronco. More than once the singer called the studio to say he would be late after being in a fender-bender.

Jackson was intensely curious about “normal life,” according to Sundberg. He once asked about Christmas, and couldn’t understand how children could wait until Christmas morning to open the gifts. Jackson was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, so Christmas was not celebrated by the family.

Sundberg worked with Jackson in preparation for the “Bad” tour in 1988, as well as countless music videos, the “HIStory” tour, the “Moonwalker” project and various other efforts.

Jackson’s studio projects often took 10-14 months to complete, and the job sometimes meant spending 110 hours a week at work, especially when the audio mixing process began. That left little time for family.

“I started having to have a life,” he said. “I couldn’t be a studio rat all the time. Studio engineers have a high divorce rate.”

Sundberg left Swedien’s team in 1994 in order to spend more time at home, and founded BSUN Media Systems, a company involved in the design and installation of custom home entertainment solutions, such as home theaters, whole-house music and home automation systems.

He also worked with Jackson in that capacity, creating sound systems for the musician’s homes, including Neverland Valley Ranch, where he placed music throughout the compound — on the carnival rides, in other outdoor areas and inside the main house. Some speakers were disguised as rocks, while others hung in trees resembled birdhouses.

In addition to Jackson, Sundberg’s client list included Madonna, Quincy Jones, Tom Cruise, Johnny Mathis, Sela Ward, Elizabeth Taylor, Will Smith, Norman Lear and Trump Tower in New York City.

He was making a nice living, but was called back to the recording team when the 1994 Northridge earthquake struck. Jackson was in the studio again, recording “HIStory.”

“Michael felt the quake and it freaked him out,” Sundberg said. “He said, ‘Get me out of L.A!,’ so they moved the project to New York. Bruce called and said, ‘You’ve worked with us. You know what Michael likes.’” Sundberg signed on to the project immediately.

He said, “I was honored. I was humbled. Matt Forger (another technical director who worked with Jackson) and I took over The Hit Factory (a then-prolific New York recording studio) and set it up for Mike.”

That included placing photos on the wall where Jackson preferred them, a quirk not uncommon in the entertainment industry. But at some point, Jackson went beyond just existing as the eccentric artist he was known to be.

Sundberg said the recording team was aware Jackson’s facial features and skin color were changing.

“I don’t pretend to know why he went so radical in altering his looks,” he said. “I don’t care. I knew him. I knew his heart.”

Asked about the child molestation charges Jackson faced four years ago, and the other accusations made but never brought to trial, Sundberg said he doesn’t believe they had merit.

“There’s a huge difference between loving kids and wanting to be around kids and any level of sexuality,” he said. “Did he make some mistakes in judgment? Absolutely. But, he was not the reclusive monster he was made out to be.”

Hillary Clinton talked about early morning phone calls during the 2008 presidential campaign, but Sundberg actually fielded them. He said, “If the phone rang at two in the morning, we knew it was a family emergency or Michael calling.” The “King of Pop” would often call Sundberg’s home to discuss new audio installations for another ride he planned to bring to Neverland.

Sundberg said that during its prime, Neverland was one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. Jackson could act like a kid there — driving golf carts, throwing water balloons and just having fun. He said that week after week the buses would roll in, bringing inner city kids, Make-A-Wish kids, and friends and family. Sundberg was there when children, whose dying wish was to spend a day with Michael Jackson, would drop by.

“This was the Michael I knew,” Sundberg said. “Innocent — perhaps childlike at times — but not childish. A professional who worked to be the best performer in the world, yet knew how to have fun. If he was comfortable, he would laugh and joke with everyone, but if someone was there that made him uncomfortable, he would disappear.”

Sundberg last spoke to Jackson in 2003. The music icon wanted some additional work done at the ranch, but things had clearly changed.

He said, “It was an awkward conversation between us, with me declining to do the work for what he was offering. Then he drove away in a golf cart. As I walked to my car, I knew it was the last time I would ever see him. I remember looking across the valley, with the amusement park well past its prime, the grass not as green as it once was, and Michael driving over the bridge back to his house. I was a long way from that hallway in the studio where we first met.”

After living for 25 years in the Los Angeles area, the Sundbergs decided about a year ago they wanted the quality of life that is so abundant on the Alabama coast. He said, “Escaping L.A. and the traffic, the egos and everything else, and setting up shop in Fairhope was a relief, a pleasure.”

He sold the company’s Los Angeles and New York operations, and began another in Fairhope. Sundberg credits Jackson for helping him get his start.

“Working with Michael is where I cut my teeth and got my contractor’s license,” he said. “Since I can’t sing and can’t dance, I’m able to do this and exercise my creative side.”

Life here is fairly routine by comparison. Sundberg and his wife, Debbie, have been happily married since 1985, and have four daughters they are very proud of — Amanda, 19; Hanna, 17; Madeline, 13; and Olivia, 6.

The family now lives comfortably on a quiet Fairhope street, where chirping birds and passing cars are the sounds most frequently heard. And sound is something the family patriarch knows well.

Administrator Note:  Here is another interview from last year on Jennifer.  She gives a lot of background about what happened during the years she toured with Michael.  I always enjoy reading about her.  She was very loyal to Michael and I believe he knew that he could trust her.  That is why she worked with him for so long and others didn’t.

Source. Sawfnews.com

Michael Jackson’s lead guitarist Jennifer Batten gives Sawf News an exclusive and rare insight into the world’s biggest pop act who exactly one year ago announced his return to music. Photo Credit: Sawf News

March 05, 2010, (Sawf News) – One year ago today Michael Jackson announced his ‘This Is It’ concert run in a press conference at London’s O2 arena. To mark the anniversary, Charles Thomson sat down with Jackson’s long-serving guitarist Jennifer Batten, who told us what it was really like behind the scenes on a Michael Jackson tour.

Jennifer Batten… It might not ring any bells at first, but you’d probably recognize her if you saw her. She’s not really a household name but she’s an icon nonetheless.

Throughout the eighties and nineties she played in sold out stadiums all around the world. Her image was beamed into sitting rooms to audiences totaling several billion. Young girls everywhere wanted to be Jennifer Batten.

If you ever went to a Michael Jackson concert, watched his performances on TV or bought a ticket for Moonwalker then you’ll know Jennifer Batten. She’s Jackson’s tall, slender, arresting guitarist, perhaps best known for her enormous mane of bright white hair.

“It was Michael’s idea to have my hair turned snow white and big,” Batten once said. “Often all you can see in the photos is Michael Jackson and my hair!”

Batten was Jackson’s lead guitarist for a decade, accompanying the star on all three of his record-breaking world tours. At 29 years old she was plucked by the King of Pop from complete obscurity. Despite announcing to her mother at age 12 that she would become a professional guitarist, before Batten joined Jackson her touring experience was limited almost exclusively to a brief spell with an Elvis impersonator.

“We played down in American Samoa of all places,” she laughs. “He had a brother that was a missionary on the island, so he set up the gig. Then we did another stint in Colorado because he had a brother there too. That was it.”

Inspired by blues legends like BB King and Brownie McGee, Batten began playing guitar at the tender age of eight. As a young woman she attended the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles.

“I was the only woman with 60 guys,” she says. “I didn’t have a problem with it. I could go practice in the bathroom because you get the natural reverb in there and I knew I wouldn’t be bothered.”

AUDITION FOR THE BAD TOUR

After the Elvis gigs she lived for several years in San Diego, playing in cover bands. But soon she grew restless so she upped sticks and moved to Los Angeles in search of success on the music scene. It wasn’t long before she fell into teaching at her former school, the Musicians Institute, and it was there – on one fateful day in 1987 – that Michael Jackson’s representatives called asking for musicians to attend tour auditions.

“They were auditioning about a hundred people so it was pretty intense,” she recalls. “When I went, there was just a video camera, no band. The only guidance I was given was to play some funk rhythm stuff so I did that, then I finished off with the Beat It solo because I had been playing that for years in cover bands. I think ultimately that’s what got me the gig.”

Winning her place on Jackson’s Bad Tour in 1987 changed her life, she says. “It was like a paid vacation. I had been teaching and gigging pretty much seven nights a week and all of a sudden I’m on the biggest tour in the world making ten times the money and only working two or three days a week!”

Michael Jackson and Jennifer Batten performing during the Bad Tour. Photo
Credit: Sawf News

BAD TOUR REHEARSAL

Rehearsals began almost immediately and they were punishing; seven days a
week for two solid months. For the first month the band, singers and dancers
rehearsed separately. For the second they converged in a production studio,
where every element of the show came together. It was here that Batten first met
Michael Jackson.

“We heard that if he liked the music he’d start dancing and he did as soon as he walked through the door. We stopped and people who hadn’t met him before were introduced to him. I remember seeing his manager Frank Dileo come in with the ponytail and the cigar. It was kind of surreal seeing the two of them together. I just remember Michael looked gorgeous close up. He was just beautiful.

“He was very much hands on and he was an extremely hard worker. By the end of
rehearsals we were running the show a minimum of once a day, sometimes twice. I
would say that’s the number one thing I learned from him: the value of
rehearsing that much and that intensely, because by the time we hit the stage
everybody was relaxed.”

BAD TOUR

Opening night in Tokyo, she says, was ‘very, very exciting’. “I’d never played for that many people before. On the road Michael took it up another notch. I mean, he was pretty full out at the last rehearsals anyway but that extra excitement of knowing there are people going nuts watching you… There’s an extra amount of fire that you can feel onstage with everybody doing their best and trying to give 110%.”

But soon after hitting the road, Batten discovered a more sinister side to working with Michael Jackson. “I was approached in the beginning by somebody who said I could make a lot of money by talking to the National Enquirer,” she reveals. “I was just appalled. I thought ‘that is just sick’, you know? I just got this great gig. Why would I sabotage it like that? It seemed like a really evil thing to do.”

MICHAEL JACKSON’S ISOLATION

Batten grew to feel sorry for Jackson, who she says was trapped by his celebrity.

“If he wanted to go anywhere he had to alert the security and he had to really have it planned in advance. If he wanted to go to a store they would have to be called and shut it down for him. He was a prisoner of the hotel room, really.”

Jackson compensated for this, she says, by treating himself and his entourage to special excursions. Sometimes he had theme parks closed to the public so that he and his team could enjoy them without being hounded.

“He did it first at the Tokyo Disneyland. That was just unbelievable. We would go on the rollercoaster rides and when we were done they would just ask us, ‘Do you want to go around again?’ We were very, very spoiled.”

Michael Jackson and Jennifer Batten performing during the Bad Tour. Photo
Credit: Sawf News

POST BAD TOUR

The Bad Tour wound up in January 1989 and the group disbanded. In later years Sheryl Crow, a backing singer on the tour, would make several disparaging remarks about Jackson during interviews publicizing her own material. She said he was a diva, never bothering to learn people’s names.

Batten refutes this. “I think singers in general are just nuts and ultra-sensitive. One night Michael called Sheryl ‘Jennifer’,” she giggles, “and I know that pissed her off. But it’s like, so what? I mean, you got the biggest gig in the world and it’s not like Michael was unaware of who was onstage with him. We were with him for a friggin’ year and a half.”

When the Bad Tour ended, Jackson retreated to the studio to begin work on the Dangerous album. Batten used this time to capitalize on the exposure that Jackson had given her, beginning work on her debut album.

Produced by Stevie Wonder alumnus Michael Sembello, ‘Above, Below and Beyond’ was released in 1992.

DANGEROUS TOUR

In the same year, Batten was called back to work on Jackson’s Dangerous Tour,
giving her a perfect platform to market her solo work.

Despite widespread debate about his appearance and well being, Batten says
Jackson seemed like ‘the same Michael’, if slightly more fatigued.

“I noticed that he was busier and I remember that one time he came to rehearsals and just apologized for not having been there the last few days. He said, ‘I was just showered with meetings’ and he just repeated it with emotion, ‘meeting after meeting after meeting’.”

Jackson’s heavy schedule dictated that he was ‘limited in his rehearsal time’, meaning that much of the set list was simply carried over from the Bad Tour. This was ‘kind of disappointing’ says Batten, because ‘we all wanted to play the new stuff’. One of the few new tracks – Remember The Time – was cut from the show after a wardrobe malfunction.

“They had Egyptian costumes and the male dancers had these skirt kind of things. The first time we did it one of the dancers’ costumes fell off,” she cackles. “That was a little disturbing to Michael.”

Michael Jackson and Jennifer Batten performing during the Dangerous Tour.
Photo Credit: Sawf News

The wardrobe malfunctions weren’t limited to rehearsals, either. On tour Batten would appear every night wearing an enormous fibre-optic headdress. “At the end of Beat It everybody would run out on the stage,” she remembers. “Invariably, I would be running at full force and somebody would step on my fibre-optic cable – it would pretty much knock my head off. That was kind of a drag.”

At the end of each show, Jackson would exit the stage on a jet pack, floating over the audience’s heads.

“He wanted to come out with the biggest show on earth,” says Batten. “He wanted it to be like Christmas for people. His imagination was like a creative tornado. He would come up with his wildest dreams and then hire people to carry it out. It was really amazing to be a part of that.”

SUPERBOWL PERFORMANCE

In January 1993 Batten accompanied Jackson for his legendary Super Bowl performance, which was watched by 1.5 billion people.

“I’ll tell you, it was the only time I ever saw Michael nervous. It’s live and there’s only the time of a couple of potato chip commercials to get the stage out into the field. There’s one scene where I’m on the corner of the stage with Michael and there’s so much fog coming out that we both get lost for a second, but that’s the beauty of live gigs. You never know what’s going to happen. That was one of my favorite times because it was a one-off special thing that will never be repeated.”

Michael Jackson and Jennifer Batten performing during the 1993 Super Bowl
performance. Photo Credit: Sawf News

CHILD MOLESTATION ALLEGATIONS

After the Super Bowl there was a long break before the second leg of the Dangerous Tour. Batten got antsy and left to pursue personal projects. It was during the second leg that allegations of child abuse were leveled at Jackson.

“I figured it was an extortion case, which I still figure it is,” she says matter-of-factly. “Everybody was concerned about him. I think it pains all of us that he was so attacked and so unfairly. Most artists are sensitive and he was talented times ten, so ultra sensitive, and to be slung that kind of stuff… I mean, you can hear it in his lyrics. It’s a real drag because you wonder what kind of music he would have come up with if people weren’t attacking him like that.”

The media, says Batten, has a lot to answer for over its coverage of the 1993
allegations.

“Honestly, I think it would have been considered uncool amongst the press to take Michael’s side. I think it would take a brave soul to do that, which is really sad. Really pathetic. Even at the 2005 trial… I know people who were inside the courtroom and then they would watch the news at night and it was complete lies.”

HISTORY TOUR

The case was settled in January 1994 and Jackson began work on his HIStory album. In 1996 Batten was brought back onboard for the accompanying HIStory Tour, although she recalls that it was ‘very last minute’:

“I got hired a week before I was supposed to start rehearsals, which was a real scramble. It was just nuts. I had to cancel some work.”

The tour brought with it more costume problems for Batten, who describes her black latex get-up as ‘just dreadful’.

“That mask I had to wear was just ugh… ghastly. Somebody had shown Michael an art book that was kind of S&M based and all the paintings looked really beautiful. So he had that in mind but when it came to real life it wasn’t too beautiful anymore,” she laughs. “I just had to remind myself that it was all about the theatre, you know? It’s not just about the music.”

Indeed, the tour provoked criticism from some fans who said that there was too much emphasis on theatre and not enough on the music, with much of each concert appearing to be lip-synched.

Fans’ explanations have ranged from nodules to laryngitis, but while she won’t be drawn on the subject of miming, Batten says she never heard anything about Jackson suffering from any throat problems.

“In fact,” she adds, “every night he’d be warming up with his vocal coach. You could hear him doing arpeggios from his dressing room.”

Michael Jackson and Jennifer Batten performing during the HIStory tour. Photo
Credit: Sawf News

MICHAEL’S ON STAGE APPEARANCES WITH CHILDREN

Batten says that initially she was alarmed by Jackson’s decision to end each concert flanked on either side by young children.

“At the end of the show he would disappear down an elevator in the stage with a little boy and a little girl. At first I thought, ‘God, because of the allegations you’d think he wouldn’t do that’. But then I thought, ‘You know what, he hasn’t done anything wrong so why the hell should he change his life?’ I think that was a little bit of giving a finger to his critics.”

The HIStory Tour lasted into the Summer of 1997 and would mark the end of the pair’s working relationship, but Batten says she never felt disappointed that he didn’t bring her back.

“I would just go off and work on my own career. If he calls, great, and if he doesn’t, great. It’s been a great ride with him anyway.”

Michael Jackson and Jennifer Batten performing during the HIStory tour. Photo
Credit: Sawf News

MICHAEL’S DEATH

Batten says she was out driving on June 25, 2009 when an acquaintance called to tell her about rumors of Jackson’s death.

“I didn’t really believe it when he told me because I had heard so many rumors about Michael over the years, false alarms about everything. I thought, ‘Yea, right’. I saw it was true when I got home and I had mixed feelings. I was sad but in a way I thought power to him for going to the other side, because of all the torture that had come at him. I just can’t imagine living with that.”

In the weeks after Jackson’s death Batten says she was unable to watch the media coverage, knowing how much of it was false.

“They were respectful for about two or three hours and then they turned it into a tabloid festival,” she laments.

“I just couldn’t watch it. There were a lot of specials on about him and once in a while I would turn one on and it was just sh*t. I guess it makes money to just bring up negativity and stir up controversy but it’s pathetic and I just can’t watch it. It’s

THIS IS IT MOVIE

But unlike some of Jackson’s friends, Batten says she was able to bring herself to watch This Is It, even if she did have mixed feelings about it.

“I hadn’t seen any video of him for years and just to see his talent, even when he wasn’t going full out, the way he sang Human Nature was just chilling. The way his body moves – there was just no other dancer in the world that was like that. So I enjoyed it.”

But thanks to a close friendship with Jackson’s make-up artist Karen Faye, who worked with the star during his This Is It rehearsals, Batten says she’s able to see the other side of the coin. Since Jackson’s death Faye has written on her Facebook page that Jackson was frail, cold to the touch and losing weight rapidly.

“She was closer to Michael than anyone,” says Batten, “She warned people that he was not well but everybody ignored her. You didn’t see it on the screen because they took every day that he rehearsed and pieced together the best bits. You didn’t see him when he was struggling up a ramp because he didn’t have any energy and he hadn’t eaten for two days. They’re not going to put that in the film. I mean, one of the songs he was wearing four different costumes. That just tells me that he never sang the song fully through.”

Nowadays Batten is focusing on her own career. As well as writing new music (“I’m getting into acoustic stuff, which I haven’t done since I was 14″) she has spent much of 2010 touring the world with her pioneering one-woman multimedia show. Last month she performed all over the UK and she’s currently on the road in Japan.

Michael Jackson and Jennifer Batten. Photo Credit: Sawf News

BATTEN POST MICHAEL JACKSON

“I’ve been doing a multimedia tour for a couple of years now where all of my tracks are cut to film,” she explains. “I thought about what it would take to get a band together and the expense involved. I thought, ‘Well, there’s got to be a way I can do this myself’. So I came up with the idea of film. If people want to just watch my fingers then fine but it’s not all that entertaining for 90 minutes.

“I had four filmmakers contribute films and that’s it. One of them showed me how to do it myself and now most of the films are ones that I’ve made. So I’ve been really obsessed with that part of it as well.”

When she’s not overseas Batten has taken to exploring territory closer to home. “I bought a motor home so I can travel around America doing my show,” she says. “I’ve got 40,000 miles on it already and it’s kind of cool to see my own country for a change.

“I’m just taking things into my own hands and not waiting for the phone to ring. I’m having a ball!”

More information on Jennifer Batten and her tour dates.

http://www.sawfnews.com/Entertainment/62954.aspx

Source: popcrush.com -  By Amanda Hensel

(picture) Frazer Harrison – Getty Images

It’s been two years since Michael Jackson‘s death, but his legacy and inspiration lives on through lots of people — like his musical nephew, Austin Brown. Brown, whose mother Rebbie Jackson was Michael’s sister, appeared on ‘Lopez Tonight’ to chat about what his childhood was like, as well as his soul-inspired new record, and perform a song for viewers.

Brown recalls that he was very fortunate as a kid, because being M.J.’s nephew helped shape him as a musician. “I was able at a young age to go around the world on with my uncle, on the History Tour, and watch him really perfect his craft,” Brown told Lopez. “Such a genius, and it was so amazing and so fulfilling for that to where I was able to take music personally and see the background of it and really the see the development of where it went.”

He continued, “The amazing thing about my family is that they always gave me and my cousins free reign to roam about. We got access to anywhere we wanted, whether it be tours, rather it be hanging out with the band … Just listening to them record! We had everything. It was amazing to grow up in that environment and really see the musicality of my family perfect their work.”

Brown added that while he’s so thankful for the influence he received from his most famous family members, he wants to create his own musical path. “The thing is, they have amazing accomplishments, but that’s their accomplishments — those aren’t mine,” he said. “I’m just a kid who loves playing soul music.”

Austin Brown’s new album, ’85,’ was named for the year he was born and chronicles his 25-year journey as a musician. “Music has been apart of my life since day one. I was fortunate enough to be able to see it my whole life,” Brown said. “I just really wanted to do something that inspired me to be a musician, to take elements from everything that I’ve heard and use it in my own way.”

Watch Austin Brown Perform ‘All I Need’ on ‘Lopez Tonight’

Michael Jackson: Nearly 21 but has no marriage plans, dates but not steady, fears love-sick fans, talks about racism and develops own lifestyle.

By Robert E. Johnson, JET Associate Publisher

Michael Joseph (Smiley) Jackson, the angelic-voiced lead singer of the world famous vocal quintet of Jackson brothers, is a handsome young man whose onstage magnetism and magic are exceeded only by his offstage majesty and meek heartedness.

Born the fifth of six talented sons of Joseph and Katherine Jackson in Gary, Ind., nearly 21 years ago (Aug. 29, 195 , he is a Virgo, whose trait is unselfishness, and is moved by magnetic forces which draw so many admirers into his life that love is his for the taking. And his love-struck fans often do strange things to show their affection for him.

When one beautiful Black teenager recently boarded a packed plane and spotted him seated with his brothers, she stared in disbelief, began breathing heavily and became so excited that she started wetting in her panties and froze in her tracks as urine trickled down her legs.

At the arrival gate where girls had gathered to meet the Jacksons, a blonde teenager squeezed through the crushing crowd, slipped past security guards, pulled Michael toward her and tried to make him kiss her.

Returning recently from a world tour celebrating their 10th anniversary in show business, Michael, the only Jackson son who has reached the age of consent and is still unmarried, waded through a room full of mail, sorting out those proposing marriage. Bashful Michael answered them the same: “Thank you for the beautiful letter. It’s very nice. And we will always love you. Love, Michael Jackson and the Jacksons.”

Mild-mannered Micahel makes it clear that he gets no satisfaction writing the same letter to all of those female fans who want him for a husband. But he responds in brief dignity because he actually fears love-sick fans.

Sitting in the living room of his family’s home located on a parcel of land in Encino, Calif., purchased form the sprawling estate of the late lady-killer actor Clark Gable of Gone With The Wind fame, the young and eligible bachelor talked about marriage, dating and a wide range of topics which deeply concern him.

“I don’t like to break hearts,” he said solemnly and shyly, shifting his 5-foot, 9 ½ -inch body in a sofa chair. “I don’t really know these people and, gosh, it’s a weird thing.” He continued:

“That, I think, is the weird part about show business. You portray an image. And those people are into you so long, buying your records. You’re all over their walls. They wake up seeing you. They wake up thinking about you. You’re totally on their mind. And when they meet you in person, they feel they have been knowing you for a long time. But I don’t know them. You see, that’s the painful part of show business—the breaking of the hearts. Do you know what that does to them? God, some of them go to the point of committing suicide because they get real serious. That’s what I don’t know how to handle.”

For the young female bubblegum crowd whose voices are now turning from no to yes, he is especially fearful. About them he says, “You have to be careful because sometimes love can reverse on you. They feel they can’t get you and they’ll go to the point of plotting and planning terrible things on you or do terrible things to hurt you. That’s why it’s important to be nice, but sincerely nice.”

He recalled the nasty rumor that surfaced last year, falsely claiming that he had undergone a sex change. The rumor is not dead yet and he said his encounter with a love-crazed blonde at the aforementioned airport helps to revive it. “This beautiful girl with blonde hair was trying her hardest to pull me into her to kiss her,” Michael remembers. “She said, ‘You’re so sexy, kiss me.’ When I showed no kind of interest in her, she said, ‘What’s wrong, you fag?’ and walked off.”

He laments that he still has to tell people: “There’s a reason why I was created male. I’m not a girl. And what kills me the most and makes me want to break down in tears is when little kids, seven and eight, come to me asking me that. I say, no, and please tell all your other little friends it’s not true.”

What disturbs Michael more than the rumor is the kind of mail he receives from some of the bubble gum set. “You wouldn’t believe the mail I get. I mean some of it gets real vulgar,” he revealed. To him, such mail is as shocking as seeing a priest at a movie house watching The Devil And Mrs. Jones or Deep Throat. “Some of the mail gets real funky, not polite at all,” he says. “They tell you the stuff they want to do to you and everything, and how they’re going to do it. I just read and go, ‘Oh my God, these girls.’ There’s not much charm in girls anymore, like the guy used to always pick up the phone and call the girl. She would never call the guy. She would sit there all day until the phone would ring for her. But now the girls bother you to death….You see girls today 11 years old with bags and lipstick and eyeliner and lashes as well. They feel they’re women and they’re not.”

Don’t get the impression that the soft-spoken singer is a saint or square. Looking like the cliché description—tall, dark, and handsome—Michael is very much aware that he can now do at age 20 what he used to sing about when he was 10. One well-known witness is Oscar-winning actress Tatum O’Neal, teenaged daughter of actor Ryan O’Neal.

A reporter for Modern People two years ago quoted Miss O’Neal as once saying she couldn’t wait to have her first affair. If she followed up the widely publicized comment with action involving manly Michael, he is not the kind to kiss and tell. He declined to discuss intimate details of dating Tatum, but was anxious to set the record straight about their romance. First, he readily admits the parallels in their lives: Both have protective parents. Tatum is a daddy’s girl and Michael is a mama’s boy. Both are attractive and wealthy. She rides in a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce and millionaire Michael drives his own Rolls. Both are very shy. Michael is one of the brightest stars of the future and Tatum is, too.

“I want all those people who read JET to just know that we’re mainly good friends,” Michael assured. Admitting that there have been criticisms about their relations, Michael mused: “People take it to crazy means and crazy extents and I just tell them we’re really, really, really good friends. That’s all I say. They say, ‘Well how good friends are you? Is there any romance going on?’ I say, yes sometimes but not all the time.”

Although dating is part of his lifestyle, he is more interested in developing a new lifestyle around his family’s home which is now undergoing extensive renovations. Emphasizing that he is not ready to move out on his own like his four married brothers (Jackie, Jermaine, Tito and Marlon), Michael explains:

“I’ve always wanted to do this for my mother. She loves homes and everything and I do things by feeling and force. I don’t feel that it’s time for me to move away yet. There are so many things I want to do just staying here.

“If I move out now, I would die of loneliness. Most people who move out go to discos every night. They party every night. They invite friends over and I don’t do any of those things. I would really die of loneliness.”

Michael’s renovation plans will include the addiction of a tennis court, a remodeled swimming pool, a gym room, a movie room, a rehearsal studio and a library.

Living at home with his mother, Katherine, father Joseph, brother Randy, and sisters, Janet and LaToya, the young entertainer explores his many talents and grapples with social and religious concerns.

Uppermost among his concerns are religion and racism. A devout Jehovah’s Witness, like his mother, he says: “I believe in the Bible and I try to follow the Bible. I know that I’m not an angel and I’m not a devil either. I try to be as best as I can and I try to do what I think is right. It’s that simple….I don’t just pray at night. I pray at different times during the day. Whenever I see something beautiful, I say, ‘Oh, God, that’s beautiful.’ I say little prayers like that all through the day.”

To cope with the stresses of show business, Michael says he turns to his deity, not drugs. “As corny as it sounds, natural highs are the greatest highs in the world,” he attests. “The stars, the mountains, children, babies smiling are just magic,” he happily beamed.

The one thing that dims this glow is the pervasive racism that’s rampant in the world today, especially in America, the world traveler observes. Recalling how badly the singing Jacksons have been treated in southern cities, he said that it was difficult to believe.

“The people told us just deal with it (racism) because that’s how the South is,” he said and added: “That’s ignorance and it’s taught because it’s not genetic at all.

“I’m really not a prejudiced person at all. I believe that people should think about God more and creation because if you look at the many wonders inside the human bodies—the different colors of organs…and all these colors do different things in the human body—why can’t we do it as people?

“That (racism) is the only thing I hate. I really do. And that’s why I try to write, put it in songs, put it in dance, put it in my art—to teach the world. If politicians can’t do it, poets should put it in poetry and writers should put it in novels. That’s what we have to do and I think it’s so important to save the world.”

As widely read as he is traveled, Michael, a private high school graduate who once quit public school because girls were always screaming and pulling on him, said: “I love to read. I wish I could advise more people to read. There’s a whole new world in books. If you can’t afford to travel, you travel mentally through reading. You can see anything and go anyplace you want to in reading.”

Traveling and reading have greatly influenced his religious and racial views. About his travels, Michael explains: “Wherever you go, man-made things are man-made, but you’ve got to get out and see God’s beauty of the world.”

Reflecting upon America’s racial problems, he said: “I wish I could borrow from other countries, say, like Venezuela or Trinidad, the real love and color-blind people and bring it to America. When you travel, you realize how different America is. God, I hate to say this but our people are brainwashed.”

Of all his travels, he says his most emotional and moving experiences came in travels in Dakar, Senegal. “I’m going to raise my hand (to God) on this one,” he lit up like a light. “I always thought that Blacks, as far as artistry, were the most talented race on earth. But when I went to Africa, I was even more convinced. They do incredible things over there….They got the beats and the rhythm. I really see where drums come from. It makes you think that all Blacks have rhythm….I don’t want the Blacks to ever forget that this is where we come from and where our music comes from. And if we forget, it (Black history) would really get lost. I want us to remember.”

MICHAEL: THE THRILL IS BACK!

Twenty-five years after the record-breaking Thriller album, the king of pop shares a rare glimpse into his creativity, where he has been and where he is headed next.

By Joy Bennett

They call him “Mr. Jackson.”

Dressed in black, a confident, mature Michael Jackson directs his staff’, guides his child and peers over the reading glasses perched on the edge of his finely chiseled nose.

Reading glasses? Yes, Michael Jackson, now a twice-divorced father of three, will be 50 next year, more than a quarter century after the boyish impresario moonwalked onto the world stage. And even though he still has the trim body and the dancer moves of the Michael Jackson of Thriller days, those glasses confirm the passage of time.

In his first U.S. magazine interview and cover story in a decade, the King of Pop sat down in a New York City hotel suite with EBONY magazine and offered a rare look into the life of an icon. The commander of a multimillion-dollar empire and arguably the single-most talented entertainer of a generation has not spoken publicly since his 2005 trial and acquittal. But today, he reflects on Thriller and the struggles that put him on the world stage, and wonders aloud, where did the time go?

On this unseasonably warm fall day, Jackson contemplated his past–this is his seventh solo EBONY cover; he also had five EBONY covers with his brothers as a member of the Jackson 5, the first one in 1970. He talked about what went into the creation of Thriller–the first demos were done in his home studio in early 1982 with his sister Janet and brother Randy singing background–and questioned the state of the music industry today.

When Thriller dropped in the U.S. on Nov. 30, 1982, America–and the world–were in transition. Ronald Reagan was president, E.T. was stunning movie crowds and Justin Timberlake was almost 2 years old. The United Kingdom and Argentina were sparring in the Falkland Islands, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high of 1,065.49, and Olivia Newton-John’s album Physical was No. 1 on the charts.

And Michael Joseph Jackson was quietly working in the studio with Quincy Jones, about to make history.

Michael Jackson has been an international star since he was 6 years old. While most kids were watching Scooby-Doo, Michael was choreographing the patented stage moves for himself and his brothers, the Jackson 5.

“In some ways, Michael was like a child. And in some ways, he was very sophisticated,” remembers Walter Yetnikoff, then head of CBS Records. “He was a very smart businessman, would read contracts as good as lawyers could. But in some ways, back then, he was like a baby.”

Today that whispery, high-pitched voice has more bass in it. Those soft features have become more defined. Traces of that “baby” in Michael Jackson appear to have faded. His musical genius and influence still dominate the music world, 25 years after Thriller came out and went on to become the best-selling album of all time–selling more than 104 million copies worldwide, 54 million copies in the U.S., and spawning no less than seven Top 10 hits and two No. 1 singles.

But that complicated transition from youth to adulthood has left the star with many life lessons, a few scars and even a bit of wisdom.

On this day, as Michael’s youngest child, Prince Michael Jackson II, 5–whom he affectionately calls “Blanket”–sits nearby watching cartoons and oblivious to the fuss everyone is making over his dad, Michael’s life appears to have come full circle. (Jackson also has two other children, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 9, and Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr. 10.)

As Jackson introduces his son, he instructs him about proper etiquette to greet his guests. “No, stand up and use THAT hand,” he shows the boy, who is reluctant to put down his fistful of LifeSavers candy and shake hands.

In many ways, it is a very “normal” moment between a father and a son. And for Michael Jackson, after all his records and all the drama, that sense of normalcy–and maturity–seems to punctuate this phase of his life.

(With 104 million copies sold worldwide, Thriller is the top-selling album in history, according to the Guinness Book of World Records)

With nearly a dozen solo albums, and more than a dozen more No. 1 singles, 13 Grammys and more than 750 million records sold worldwide in his career to date, Michael is humble about and proud of his influence on music history and the current music scene.

“I always want to do music that influences and inspires each generation,” he says. “Let’s face it, who wants mortality?

You want what you create to live, and I give my all in my work because I want it to live.”

Today, it’s virtually impossible to watch a music video without seeing a Michael Jackson-influenced dance step, music or theme. Justin Timberlake and Usher imitate his moves. Akon and Ne-Yo admire his sound.

(Jackson reportedly has been working in the studio with Akon, Kanye West and William of the Black Eyed Peas on a new album, expected sometime in 2008.)

Teen sensation Chris Brown paid tribute to Michael Jackson at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. “There isn’t an artist out now that hasn’t been influenced or inspired by Michael Jackson. When I was 2 years old in diapers, I sang and danced to Michael Jackson,” singer Brown tells EBONY. “Michael Jackson is as close to perfection as an artist can be.”

Nevertheless, there was a certain poetic justice in that recent MTV tribute. It almost didn’t happen.

In 1983, Jackson shattered an unwritten color barrier on MTV–initially the fledgling station was said to have refused to play his music videos. “They came right out and said it–they wouldn’t play my music. It broke my heart,” Jackson says now.

But that, says Jackson, lit a fire in him. “I refuse to be ignored. So I came up with Thriller and I was always trying to outdo myself,” he remembers.

When MTV supposedly said they wouldn’t play Jackson’s videos, Yetnikoff; head of CBS Records, fired back, “‘OK, I’m pulling Streisand, Chicago and everything else.’”

“Before Thriller–and Bob Pittman [founder of MTV in 1982] disagrees with me, but Bob Pittman is full of s***, and you can quote me–when MTV first started, it held itself out as a rock station,” Yetnikoff tells EBONY from his office in New York. “And, when ‘Billie Jean’ and ‘Beat It’ came out, MTV didn’t want to play it. They said, in effect, ‘No, no, no, we’re a rock kind of sensibility, and this is Michael Jackson and he’s Black.’”

Although Pittman was not available to respond, Les Garland, co-founder and originator of MTV, VH1 and The Box told JET in 2006 that the story was a “myth.” “There was never any hesitation. No fret. I called Bob [Pittman] to tell him, ‘I just saw the greatest video I’ve ever seen in my life [Billie Jean]. It is off the dial it’s so good.’ He added it that day. How [the myth] turned into a story literally blew our minds.”

However, Yetnikoff, now 74, says he recalls the episode vividly. “So I said, that’s fine, but I am pulling my entire catalog, all my records, forget about it. You’re not playing anything by CBS. And if that happened, you know Warner Brothers is going to follow suit.”

(Among CBS’ artists at the time were Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Living Colour and “tons and tons of artists.”) “I said, ‘C’mon, you are acting like a bunch of schmucks,’” Yetnikoff laughs.

Legendary music producer Quincy Jones, who was friends with the late Steven J. Ross–creator of parent media company Time Warner and father of MTV–remembers the MTV negotiations a bit differently but, nevertheless, acknowledges the importance of the network and the star. “The reality of it was that Michael and MTV rode each other to glory. Nobody had ever seen anything like that. And that can never happen again,” says Jones.

“I think it was a milestone, in a sense, that I think it made MTV,” adds Yotnikoff. “It made Michael into something that I think had not existed before. And it made CBS Records a lot of money.” Yetnikoff estimates the album was responsible for more than $500 million to $1 billion for the company. “At one point, we were selling about a million records a week!”

Jones, who produced the Thriller album, suggests one slightly less visible reason for the huge sales. “You could listen to the record seven different ways, we’d have seven different ‘hooks.’ You don’t get it all when you first listen to it. You’d have to listen to it six or seven times,” he adds. “So when it was on vinyl, people would be wearing it out, buying three or four copies of the record, ’cause you couldn’t listen to it all the first time.”

Yetnikoff says that Michael and Thriller made his own career, too. “I owe this guy,” he says. “HE may think he owes me, but it is pretty dear that I owe him.”

However, compared to Michael and the Thriller era, today’s music, he added, is a different story altogether. “It’s like ‘yucky-poo.’ If one more artist tries to sound like Michael Jackson, I am going to throw up!” says Yetnikoff.

And Michael seems to agree. “I don’t think people are being as experimental and innovative enough,” he says. “I know people can easily say, ‘Well, we don’t have the Michael Jackson budget,’” he laughs. “Wrong, you can be so creative with almost nothing,” Jackson adds. “And that’s usually the best stuff, when you strip it down to the bare minimum and go inside yourself and invent. I think there’s too much cookie-cutter stuff.”

Greg Phillinganes, a veteran arranger and keyboard player and a key musician on Thriller and many other Jackson projects, remembers working on the album.

“It was always special working with Quincy and Michael,” he says. “Those two bring out the best in everybody. You know going in that this is the A-Team so you have to bring the ‘A’ game.” Michael had strong musical goals and a strong sense of what he wanted to achieve artistically, he says, but the making of Thriller was also a very enjoyable experience. “Quincy always brought fun into the room. He understands how to cast–like a casting director for a movie–he gets the right people for the right job, and Quincy does the same thing for music. It was a brilliant time. I just remember the fun of layering all the parts together, the bass and the strings and listening to Michael’s vocals. We never saw the big sales coming. It was really very special, and Michael’s performances speak for themselves.”

James Ingram, a veteran singer and another protege of Jones, says, “Quincy is ruthless when it comes to music, he either thinks it’s a hit or it’s not, and he doesn’t care who you are,” says Ingram, who, with Jones, wrote “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing),” a Top 10 hit from Thriller.

“Quincy’s wife Peggy [Lipton] brought home some lingerie called ‘Pretty Young Things’ and Quincy, being the genius that he is, said that would be a good title,” Ingram recalls. Michael “just killed the song” in the studio recording, Ingram says, adding that he has never seen a performer dance through a re cording session like Michael Jackson. “Everybody I’ve ever seen when they go into the studio, they put all of their energy into the microphone–but here was Michael in there singing his butt off and dancing at the same time. That blew my mind,” Ingram says now. “See, Quincy is not from this planet–he’s a genius, and that’s why he attracts all these geniuses [like Michael Jackson].”

Jackson also credits Jones for creating the magical moments that fueled Thriller, Off the Wall and influenced the rest of his musical career. “When I was 8 years old, Sammy Davis Jr. introduced me to Quincy Jones; I’ll never forget it,” Jackson says now. “And I overheard him say to Quincy, ‘This guy is something; he’s amazing.’ I tucked it away subconsciously.”

Years later he asked Jones to work with him on his albums. Their chemistry on the set of the 1978 film The Wiz sparked a golden collaboration. “What’s great about working with Quincy is he lets you do your thing …” Deliberate about the creative process, Jackson, who is a huge classical music fan, says, “Once the tight chemistry gets in the room, magic has to happen.”

During the production of The Wiz, Jones saw something in Jackson he had never seen before. “In the process, I got to see a side of him that was never exposed to the public before,” Jones tells EBONY. “I saw how smart he was, how sensitive, and that had never been represented on a record before.”

But Jones almost didn’t do the project. “You know Epic [Records, part of CBS] didn’t want to use me … They said, ‘No way, Quincy’s too jazzy.’”

But Michael pushed for the maestro, and, as they say, the rest is history.

Nearly every day, Jones sees the impact of the project across the globe. “Look, I’ve been around the world at least three times this year–Angkor Wat, Vietnam, Seoul, Rwanda, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Moscow–and, man, you cannot tell what city you are in because at 12 o’clock, they start kickin’ that music, and you will hear ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Something’ or ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’ or ‘Billie Jean.’ It blows my mind, like it was 25 years ago. I’ve said it before: The ’80s were ours!”

Jackson is a product of diverse creative forces, from Bach to Bo Diddley.

“Classical music, in truth, is really my real first love,” Jackson reveals, and then adds “that, and real Southern ‘gutbucket,’ as my uncle calls it; you feel it in your backbone.”

Not surprisingly, Michael has a very intimate relationship with his music. For him, it’s all about the melody, and he does a rough “template” of all his songs. “Getting the character of the riff like you want it takes a lot of work and a lot of time.” He talks about the music as a protagonist, a story line. “Music is tapestry, it’s different layers, it’s weaving in and out, and if you look at it in layers, you understand it better.”

The King of Pop says working with Jones was so wonderful because “he’s genius enough to stay out of the way of the music. If something needs to be added, he would add it–like a nice riff. He would say, ‘Smelly [a nickname Jones gave to Jackson], let the song talk to you. If a song needs strings, it will tell you. Get out of the way and leave room so that God can walk in.’”

Jones agrees. “That was my motto. You’ve got to leave space for God to walk through the room. It’s not about us. The older I get, the more I see how little we all have to do with anything, really.”

Jackson’s spirituality is another source of his creativity.

“I believe strongly in a higher force, and I’m really thankful for all the blessings,” he says. When he writes something that he knows is right, Jackson shares, he “gets down on his knees” and gives thanks.

On August 29 of next year, Michael Jackson will be 50. He admits that, while still in excellent shape–he doesn’t have any special diet and rarely works out–and more creative than ever, he is a different man than he was at 24. “I always had this tug in the back of my head, the things I wanted to do, to raise children, have children. I’m enjoying it very much.”

He says he travels with his three kids quite a bit, recently visiting South Africa. “I just love Africa. They have lots for us to do. They have simulator tides, movie theaters, wave pools, we go to the record stores, the candy store, the book store, there’s so much there.”

Today’s Michael is maturing. And those who know him best can see it. The Rev. Jesse Jackson has known Michael for most of his life, since the early Jackson 5 days. In 2005, he was in daily contact with Michael during the California trial, and today he serves as a private adviser to the superstar.

“I think Michael is comfortable with himself,” Rev. Jackson says. “He knows he has a special genius and talent, and he knows he has a special responsibility. And he knows he is a superstar. He seems to have a great sense of self-control, but like any great star he’s like an enigma to many people. But underneath all of that he is devoted to his mother and father and brothers and sisters. In all that, he’s a Jackson.”

Will Michael Jackson still be moon-walking at 80? No, he says, sternly. He doesn’t want to grow old doing concert after concert, flying from one mega-stadium to the next. He just doesn’t want to go out like that. “Not the way James Brown did or Jackie Wilson did,” he says. “They just kept going, running, killing themselves. In my opinion, I wish [Brown] could have slowed down and relaxed and enjoyed his hard work.”

Michael has other plans for his next 25 years. “More in film, not on stage. I see myself more productive in film, and directing, and directing myself in film. Not so much [on stage] all over the world. Because [on stage] you’re not capturing anything–it’s fleeting. A concert is the most fleeting thing in the world. It’s excellent to look at, but you can’t capture it. With film you stop time.”

For Michael Jackson, time has never stopped. With each year, each challenge, each child and each success, he grows a little bit wiser.

Michael Jackson has met the man in the mirror. And he likes him.

THRILLER’S RECORDS

BEST-SELLING ALBUM, WORLDWIDE

104 million copies sold internationally, 54 million in the U.S.

BEST-SELLING ALBUM IN MULTIPLE YEARS

1983 and 1984

WEEKS ON BILLBOARD 100 CHART

122 weeks

WEEKS AT NO. 1

37 weeks

TOP 10 SINGLES

7

NO. 1 SINGLES

2 (“Billie Jean,” “Beat It”)

GRAMMY AWARDS

7

SOURCE: Sony/BMG, RIAA, Billboard, Nielsen Soundscan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PART II of Interview

Q&A: Michael Jackson In His Own Words By Bryan Monroe

Sitting on the sofa next to Michael Jackson, you quickly look past the enigmatic icon’s light, almost translucent skin and realize that this African-American legend is more than just skin deep. More than an entertainer, more than a singer or dancer, the grown-up father of three reveals a confident, controlled and mature man who has a lot of creativity left inside him.

Michael Joseph Jackson rocked the world in December 1982, when he exploded on the pop music scene with Thriller, the rich, rhythmic, infectious album that introduced many Whites to a talent that most Blacks had known for decades, and shattered nearly every industry record on the planet. The historic project was yet another, albeit giant, step in a musical career that began 18 years earlier, at age 6, with his brothers in the Jackson 5.

In his first major U.S. magazine interview in a decade and on the 25th anniversary of Thriller, Jackson sat down with EBONY magazine for a rare, intimate and exclusive conversation about the creation of Thriller, the historic Motown 25 performance, being a father, the state of the music industry and the force behind his creativity.

Here is Michael Jackson, in his own words …

Q: How did it all start?

A: Motown was preparing to do this movie called The Wiz … and Quincy Jones happened to be the man who was doing the music. Now, I had heard of Quincy before. When I was in Indiana as a child, my father used to buy jazz albums, so I knew him as a jazz musician.

So after we had made this movie–we had gotten pretty close on the film, too; he helped me understand certain words, he was really father-like–I called him after the movie, out of complete sincerity–’cause I’m a shy person, ESPECIALLY then, I used to not even look at people when they were talking to me, I’m not joking–and I said, ‘I’m ready to do an album. Do you think … could you recommend anybody who would be interested in producing it with me or working with me?’ He paused and said, ‘Why don’t you let ME do it?’ I said to myself, ‘I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.’ Probably because I was thinking that he was more my father, kind of jazzy. So after he said that, I said, ‘WOW, that would be great.’ What’s great about working with Quincy, he let’s you do your thing. He doesn’t get in the way.

So the first thing I came to him with was from Off the Wall, our first album, and Rod Temperton came in the studio, and he came with this killer–he’s this little German guy from Wurms, Germany–he comes with this … ‘doop, dakka dakka doop, dakka dakka dakka doop’, this whole melody and chorus, Rock With You. I go, WOW! So when I heard that, I said, ‘OK, I really have to work now.’ So every time Rod would present something, I would present something, and we’d form a little friendly competition. I love working like that. I used to read how Walt Disney used to, if they were working on Bambi or an animated show, they’d put a deer in the middle of the floor and make the animators kind of compete with different styles of drawing. Whoever had the most stylized effect that Walt liked, he would pick that. They would kind of compete, it was like a friendly thing, but it was competition, ’cause it breeds higher effort. So whenever Rod would bring something, I would bring something, then he would bring something, then I would bring something else. We created this wonderful thing.

Q: So, after Off the Wall, in the spring of ’82, you went back in the studio to work on Thriller.

A: After Off the Wall, we had all these No. 1 hits from it–”Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” “Rock With You,” “She’s Out of My Life,” “Workin’ Day and Night”–and we were nominated for a Grammy award, but I was just not happy with how the whole thing happened because I wanted to do much more, present much more, put more of my soul and heart in it.

Q: Was it a transition point for you?

A: A COMPLETE transition. Ever since I was a little boy, I would study composition. And it was Tchaikovsky that influenced me the most. If you take an album like Nutcracker Suite, every song is a killer, every one. So I said to myself, ‘Why can’t there be a pop album where every…’–people used to do an album where you’d get one good song, and the rest were like B-sides. They’d call them “album songs”–and I would say to myself, ‘Why can’t every one be like a hit song? Why can’t every song be so great that people would want to buy it if you could release it as a single?’ So I always tried to strive for that. That was my purpose for the next album. That was the whole idea. I wanted to just put any one out that we wanted. I worked hard for it.

Q: So, the creative process, were you deliberate about that, or did it just kind of happen?

A: No, I was pretty deliberate. Even though it all came together some kind of way, consciously, it was created in this universe, but once the right chemistry gets in the room, magic has to happen. It has to. It’s like putting certain elements in one hemisphere and it produces this magic in the other. It’s science. And getting in there with some of the great people, it’s just wonderful.

Quincy calls me a nickname, ‘Smelly.’ Smelly came from–and [Steven] Spielberg calls me that, too. Back then, especially back then–I say a few swear words now–but especially then, you couldn’t get me to swear. So I would say, ‘That’s a “smelly” song.’ That would mean, ‘It’s so great’ that you’re engrossed in it. So he would call me ‘Smelly.’

But yeah, working with Quincy was such a wonderful thing. He lets you experiment, do your thing, and he’s genius enough to stay out of the way of the music, and if there’s an element to be added, he’ll add it. And he hears these little things. Like, for instance, in “Billie Jean,” I had come up with this piece of the bass lick, and the melody, and the whole composition. But in listening, he’ll add a nice riff …

We would work on a track and then we’d meet at his house, play what we worked on, and he would say, ‘Smelly, let it talk to you.’ I’d go, ‘OK.’ He’d say, ‘If the song needs something, it’ll tell you. Let it talk to you.’ I’ve learned to do that. The key to being a wonderful writer is not to write. You just get out of the way. Leave room for God to walk in the room. And when I write something that I know is right, I get on my knees and say thank you. Thank you, Jehovah!

Q: When’s the last time you had that feeling?

A: Well, recently. I’m always writing. When you know it’s right, sometimes you feel like something’s coming, a gestation, almost like a pregnancy or something. You get emotional, and you start to feel something gestating and, magic, there it is! It’s an explosion of something that’s so beautiful, you go, WOW! There it is. That’s how it works through you. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s a universe of where you can go, with those 12 notes …

(He’s now listening to an early, “writing” version of Billie Jean playing on an iPhone …)

… What I do when I write is that I’ll do a raggedy, rough version just to hear the chorus, just to see how much I like the chorus. If it works for me that way when it’s raggedy, then I know it’ll work … Listen to that, that’s at home. Janet, Randy, me … Janet and I are going “Whoo, Whoo … Whoo, Whoo …” I do that, the same process with every song. It’s the melody, the melody is most important. If the melody can sell me, if I like the rough, then I’ll go to the next step. If it sounds good in my head, it’s usually good when I do it. The idea is to transcribe from what’s in your mentality onto tape.

If you take a song like “Billie Jean,” where the bass line is the prominent, dominant piece, the protagonist of the song, the main driving rift that you hear, getting the character of that riff to be just the way you want it to be, that takes a lot of time. Listen, you’re hearing four basses on there, doing four different personalities, and that’s what gives it the character. But it takes a lot of work.

Q: Another big moment was the Motown 25 performance …

A: I was at the studio editing “Beat It”, and for some reason I happened to be at Motown Studios doing it–I had long left the company. So they were getting ready to do something with the Motown anniversary, and Berry Gordy came by and asked me did I want to do the show, and I told him ‘NO.’ I told him no. I said no because the Thriller thing, I was building and creating something I was planning to do, and he said, ‘But it’s the anniversary …’ So this is what I said to him. I said, ‘I will do it, but the only way I’ll do it is if you let me do one song that’s not a Motown song.’ He said, ‘What is it?’ I said, ‘Billie Jean’. He said, ‘OK, fine.’ I said, ‘You’ll really let me do “Billie Jean?” He said, ‘Yeah.’

So I rehearsed and choreographed and dressed my brothers, and picked the songs, and picked the medley. And not only that, you have to work out all the camera angles. I direct and edit everything I do. Every shot you see is my shot. Let me tell you why I have to do it that way. I have five, no, six cameras. When you’re performing–and I don’t care what kind of performance you are giving–if you don’t capture it properly, the people will never see it. It’s the most selfish medium in the world. You’re filming WHAT you want people to see, WHEN you want them to see it, HOW you want them to see it, what JUXTAPOSITION you want them to see. You’re creating the totality of the whole feeling of what’s being presented, in your angle and your shots. ‘Cause I know what I want to see. I know what I want to go to the audience. I know what I want to come back. I know the emotion that I felt when I performed it, and I try to recapture that same emotion when I cut and edit and direct.

(Inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention  and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines staged a full performance of the Thriller video.  More than 4 million viewers have watched the re-enactment on YouTube)

Q: How long have you been creating all of those elements?

A: Since I was a little boy, with my brothers. My father used to say, ‘Show ‘em Michael, show ‘em.’

Q: Did they ever get jealous of that?

A: They never showed it at the time, but it must have been hard, because I would never get spanked during rehearsals or practice. [Laughter] But afterwards was when I got in trouble. [Laughter]. It’s true, that’s when I would get it. My father would rehearse with a belt in his hand. You couldn’t mess up. My father was a genius when it comes to the way he taught us, staging, how to work an audience, anticipating what to do next, or never let the audience know if you are suffering, or if something’s going wrong. He was amazing like that.

Q: Is that where you think you got not just a lot of your business sense, but how to control the whole package?

A: Absolutely. My father, experience; but I learned a lot from my father. He had a group when he was a young person called the Falcons. They came over and they played music, all the time, so we always had music and dancing. It’s that cultural thing that Black people do. You clear out all the furniture, turn up the music … when company comes, everybody gets out in the middle of the floor, you gotta do something. I loved that.

Q: Do your kids do that now?

A: They do, but they get shy. But they do it for me, sometimes.

Q: Speaking of showmanship: MTV, they didn’t play Black folks. How hard was that for you?

A: They said they don’t play [Black artists]. It broke my heart, but at the same time it lit something. I was saying to myself, ‘I have to do something where they … I just refuse to be ignored.’ So yeah, “Billie Jean,” they said, ‘We won’t play it.’

But when they played it, it set the all-time record. Then they were asking me for EVERYTHING we had. They were knocking our door down. Then Prince came, it opened the door for Prince and all the other Black artists. It was 24-hour heavy metal, just a potpourri of crazy images …

They came to me so many times in the past and said, ‘Michael, if it wasn’t for you, there would be no MTV.’ They told me that, over and over, personally. I guess they didn’t hear it at the time … but I’m sure they didn’t mean any pure malice [Laughter].

Q: That really gave birth to the modern video age …

A: I used to look at MTV. My brother [Jackie], I’ll never forget, he’d say, ‘Michael, you gotta see this channel. Oh, my God, it’s the best idea. They show music 24 hours a day … 24 Hours A Day!’ So I said, ‘Let me see this.’ And I’m watching it, I’m seeing all this stuff going on and saying ‘If only they could give this stuff some more entertainment value, more story, a little more dance, I’m sure people would love it more.’ So I said, when I do something, it’s gotta have a story–an opening, a middle and a closing–so you could follow a linear thread; there’s got to be a thread through it. So while you are watching the entertainment value of it, you’re wondering what is going to happen. So that’s when I started to experiment with Thriller, The Way You Make Me Feel and Bad and Smooth Criminal and directing and writing.

Q: What do you think about the state of music videos and music today?

A: [The industry], it’s at a crossroads. There’s a transformation going on. People are confused, what’s going to happen, how to distribute and sell music. I think the Internet kind of threw everybody for a real loop. ‘Cause it’s so powerful, kids love it so much. The whole world is at their fingertips, on their lap. Anything they want to know, anyone they want to communicate with, any music, any movies … This thing, it just took everybody for a loop. Right now, all these Starbucks deals and Wal-Mart deals, direct to artist, I don’t know if that’s the answer. I think the answer is just phenomenal, great music. Just reaching the masses. I think people are still searching. There’s not a real musical revolution going on right now, either. But when it’s there, people will break a wall down to get to it. I mean, ’cause before Thriller, it was the same kind of thing. People were NOT buying music. It helped to bring everybody back into the stores. So, when it happens, it happens.

Q: Who impresses you?

A: As far as artistry, I think Ne-Yo is doing wonderful. But he has a very Michael Jackson feel, too. But that’s what I like about him. I can tell that he’s a guy who understands writing.

Q: Do you work with these young artists?

A: Sure. I’ve always been the type where, I don’t care if it’s the mailman or the guy sweeping the floor. If it’s a great song, it’s a great song. Some of the most ingenious ideas come from everyday people, who just go, ‘Why don’t you try this, or do this.’ It’ll be a wonderful idea, so you should just try it. Chris Brown is wonderful. Akon, he’s a wonderful artist.

I always want to do music that inspires or influences another generation. You want what you create to live, be it sculpture or painting or music. Like Michelangelo, he said, “I know the creator will go, but his work survives. That is why to escape death, I attempt to bind my soul to my work.’ And that’s how I feel. I give my all to my work. I want it to just live.

Q: How does it feel to know you have changed history? Do you think about that a lot?

A: Yeah, I do, I really do. I’m very proud that we opened doors, that it helped tear down a lot. Going around the world, doing tours, in stadiums, you see the influence of the music. When you just look out over the stage, as far as the naked eye could see, you see people. And it’s a wonderful feeling, but it came with a lot of pain, a lot of pain.

Q: How so?

A: When you’re on top of your game, when you’re a pioneer, people come at you. It’s there, who’s at the top, you want to get at them.

But I feel grateful, all those record-breaking things, to the biggest albums, to those No. Is, I still feel grateful. I’m a guy who used to sit in my living room and listen to my father play Ray Charles. My mother used to wake me up at 3 in the morning, ‘Michael, he’s on TV, he’s on TV!’ I’d run to the TV and James Brown would be on TV. I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’

(Michael Jackson’s Thriller video, featuring distinctive choreography and costumes, premiered on MTV in 1983 and set a new standard for music videos. (right) Singer Chris Brown performed his own interpretation of Thriller at the World Music Awards in London in 2006.)

Q: Can we expect more of Michael Jackson?

A: I’m writing a lot of stuff right now. I’m in the studio, like, every day. I think, like, the rap thing that is happening now, when it first came out, I always felt that it was gonna take more of a melodic structure to make it more universal, ’cause not everybody speak English. [Laughter] And you are limited to your country. But when you can have a melody, and everybody can hum a melody, then that’s when it became France, The Middle East, everywhere! All over the world now ’cause they put that melodic, linear thread in there. You have to be able to hum it, from the farmer in Ireland to the lady who scrubs toilets in Harlem to anybody who can whistle to a child poppin’ their fingers. You have to be able to hum it.

Q: So, you’re almost 50 now. Do you think you’ll be doing this at 80?

A: The truth is, umm, no. Not the way James Brown did, or Jackie Wilson did, where they just ran it out, they killed themselves. In my opinion, I wish [Brown] could have slowed down and been more relaxed and enjoyed his hard work.

Q: Will you tour again?

A: I don’t care about long tours. But what I love about touring is that it sharpens one’s craft beautifully. That’s what I love about Broadway, that’s why actors turn to Broadway, to sharpen their skills. It does do that. ‘Cause it takes years to become a great entertainer. Years. You can’t just grab some guy out of obscurity and throw ‘em out there and expect for this person to compete with that person. It’ll never work. And the audience knows it; they can see it. The way they gesture their hand, move their body, the way they do anything with the microphone, or the way they bow. They can see it right away.

Now Stevie Wonder, he’s a musical prophet. He’s another guy I have to credit. I used to say to myself, ‘I want to write more.’ I used to watch [producers] Gamble and Huff; and Hal Davis and The Corporation write all those hits for the Jackson 5 and I really wanted to study the anatomy. What they used to do, they used to have us come in and sing after they did the track. I used to get upset ’cause I would want to see them make the track. So they would give me “ABC” after the track was done, or “I Want You Back” or “The Love You Save.” I wanted to experience it all.

So Stevie Wonder used to literally let me sit like a fly on the wall. I got to see Songs in the Key of Life get made, some of the most golden things. I would sit with Marvin Gaye and just … and these would be the people who would just come over to our house and hang out and play basketball with my brothers on the weekend. We always had these people around.

So when you really can see the science, the anatomy and the structure of how it all works, it’s just so wonderful.

Q: So, you play on a world stage. How do you see the shape of the world today?

A: I’m very concerned about the plight of the international global warming phenomenon. I knew it was coming, but I wish they would have gotten people’s interest sooner. But it’s never too late. It’s been described as a runaway train; if we don’t stop it, we’ll never get it back. So we have to fix it, now. That’s what I was trying to do with “Earth Song,” “Heal the World,” “We Are the World,” writing those songs to open up people’s consciousness. I wish people would listen to every word.

Q: What do you think about the next presidential race? Hillary, Barack?

A: To tell you the truth, I don’t follow that stuff. We were raised to not … we don’t look to man to fix the problems of the world, we don’t. They can’t do it. That’s how I see it. It’s beyond us. Look, we don’t have control over the grounds, they can shake. We don’t have control over the seas, they can have tsunamis. We don’t have control over the skies, there are storms. We’re all in God’s hands. I think that man has to take that into consideration. I just wish they would do more for the babies and children, help them more. That would be great, wouldn’t it?

(Michael Jackson’s historic performance of “Billie Jean” on the Motown 25 television special in 1993 was staged and choreographed by Jackson himself.  “I direct and edit everything I do.  Every shot you see is my shot,” Jackson says.)

Q: Speaking of babies, as a father now, rewind back 25 years ago. What is the difference between that Michael and the Michael today?

A: That Michael is probably the same Michael here. I just wanted to get certain things accomplished first. But I always had this tug in the back of my head, the things I wanted to do, to raise children, have children. I’m enjoying it very much.

Q: What do you think about all the stuff that’s out there about you, all the things you read? How do you feel about that?

A: I don’t pay attention to that. In my opinion, it’s ignorance. It’s usually not based on fact. It’s based on, you know, myth. The guy who you don’t get to see. Every neighborhood has the guy who you don’t see, so you gossip about him. You see those stories about him, there’s the myth that he did this or he did that. People are crazy!

I’m just about wanting to do wonderful music.

But back to Motown 25, one of the things that touched me the most about doing that was, after I did the performance–I’ll never forget. There was Marvin Gaye in the wings, and the Temptations and Smokey Robinson and my brothers, they were hugging me and kissing me and holding me. Richard Pryor walked over to me and said [in a quiet voice], ‘Now that was the greatest performance I’ve ever seen.’ That was my reward. These were people who, when I was a little boy in Indiana, I used to listen to Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, and to have them bestow that kind of appreciation on me, I was just honored. Then the next day, Fred Astaire calls and said, ‘I watched it last night, and I taped it, and I watched it again this morning. You’re a helluva mover. You put the audience on their ASS last night!’ So, later, when I saw Fred Astaire, he did this with his fingers [he makes a little moonwalk gesture with his two fingers on his outstretched palm].

I remember doing the performance so clearly, and I remembered that I was so upset with myself, ’cause it wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted it to be more. But not until I finished. It was a little child, a little Jewish child backstage with a little tuxedo on, he looked at me, and he said [in a stunned voice] ‘Who taught you to move like that?’ [Laughter] And I said, ‘I guess God … and rehearsal.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MYTHS, RUMORS & INNUENDOS

FACT VS. FICTION with Michael Jackson

Ever since Michael Jackson hit the world stage, he has been dogged by rumors and urban legends, some true, most false. From the old story of him sleeping in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber (false) to recent rumors of him moving to the Middle East (also false), the King of Pop’s team has been kept busy debunking myths. Here are a few of the latest stories floating around the Internet:

RUMOR: Michael Jackson is secretly married to his nanny. (National Enquirer)

FACT: Not true, according to his publicist. Real estate documents allegedly listing him as a “married man” have been called a “hoax.” He has been married and divorced twice, once to Lisa Marie Presley and once to Debbie Rowe, the mother of two of his children.

RUMOR: Michael Jackson has fled to the Middle East and has been living in Dubai.

FACT: False. While Jackson had visited Dubai and Bahrain several times, in fact, he had been living on a large estate near Dublin, Ireland for a year and a half (Ireland is said to have favorable tax laws). Recently, he has moved back to the United States and is living on the East Coast, according to a spokesman, and looking at vacation property in Maryland. He also has been considering homes in Las Vegas.

RUMOR: Michael Jackson is hooked on alcohol and painkillers, and required an “intervention” from his family. (People magazine)

FACT: False. In an open letter, Jackson’s mother Katherine and brothers Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Jackie, issued the following statement: “We categorically deny ever planning, participating in, or having knowledge of any kind of intervention, whatsoever. We strongly believe that these ‘sources’ and others, no matter who they are, are making these defamatory, inaccurate and untrue claims for monetary reasons.”

RUMOR: That he has a new album coming out.

FACT: Likely true. While his camp won’t confirm a release date, Jackson says he has been writing a lot and has been working intensely in the studio. Producer will.i.am recorded with him in Ireland, and Kanye West and Akon are reportedly working with him as well.

RUMOR: He and sister Janet are planning a world tour.

FACT: Unclear, but likely false. He told EBONY that he does not want to do a major tour, and doesn’t see himself growing old on the road for the next 20 years. “I don’t care about long tours … I wish [James Brown] could have slowed down and been more relaxed, and enjoyed his hard work.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW ROLSTON AT THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM

STYLING BY PHILLIP BLOCH

Michael Jackson tries to reclaim his throne as the King of Pop When you have been in show business 35 years — when you been a legend in show business for much of that time — you know how to make an entrance. At least Michael Jackson does.

The King of Pop doesn’t simply arrive anywhere, and his appearance in a lush room at the pricey Beverly Hills Hotel is no exception. He is two hours late. He is preceded by his bodyguard, whose security check includes peeks behind curtains and into closets and bathrooms. Then the guard dims the lights. When the door finally swings open, it is not Jackson but two small children who bolt into the room: Prince, 4, whose dark hair is bleached blond, and Paris, 3, whose brown curls tumble to her shoulders. Finally, their father arrives.

His image is ubiquitous — his sculpted face and doe eyes peer at us from supermarket stands seemingly daily — and yet unique. He’s slight, wearing a blue military shirt and his trademark short black pants and white socks. And then there is his nose. His famous nose, which, on this day, is covered by gray bandages.

“It is analgesic tape,” he says, quietly but good-naturedly. “For allergies.”

With his children playing on the floor by his feet, he talks about his life, politely and with an amazing sense of poise and self-possession. He is a man at times indignant about the press but able to laugh at himself, which may be the most surprising thing about Michael Jackson. At one point, he doubles over giggling at the thought of how at concerts women have fainted in his presence.

And yet he is apprehensive. At 43, Jackson is at a crossroads in his career, urgently trying to transform himself from ’80s icon to a player in the current pop scene. His first step in a climb back to the top were the two recent concerts at Madison Square Garden, his first public performances in America in 12 years. They have been edited into a two-hour television special titled Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration, airing Tuesday, November 13 (CBS, 9 pm/ET). He is anxiously awaiting reaction to his latest album, Invincible (at press time, its first single, “You Rock My World,” had reached No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, while the video has been an MTV staple). In addition, he has written and is producing a “We Are the World”-type song called “What More Can I Give”; its proceeds will benefit victims of the September 11 attacks. And he will make a cameo appearance in next summer’s film sequel Men in Black 2.

In the end, it was Michael Jackson the father, a man deeply connected to his children and his own childhood, who left the most lasting impression.

TV GUIDE: This television special celebrates your long career. Do you remember the
first time you ever stepped onstage?

MICHAEL JACKSON: I was 5 years old. And it was at a public-school recital. We had to
wear white shirts and short knickers. And I remember them saying, “Little Michael Jackson is coming up to sing ‘Climb Every Mountain.’” I got the biggest applause. When I went to my seat my grandfather and mother were crying. They said, “[We] can’t believe how beautiful you sound.” That’s the first one I remember.

TVG: It’s rare for you to do a TV special.

MJ: I’ve turned down so many because I just don’t like to go on television. I get embarrassed. So I’ll do a performance, but I won’t watch it until almost a year or two later because I’m always disappointed in something I did.

TVG: The concerts that were filmed for this special were packed with big stars. That
couldn’t have been disappointing.

MJ: The [second] show was good. [The first show] was horrible because, technically, there were a lot of breakdowns and intermissions in between each act. It was very difficult. The audience was waiting and waiting and waiting.

TVG: What does it feel like when you’re dancing onstage?

MJ: I am a slave to the rhythm. I am a palette. I just go with the moment. You’ve got to do it that way because if you’re thinking, you’re dead. Performing is not about thinking; it’s about feeling.

TVG: Do you plan the dance steps?

MJ: Certain steps are set with my brothers. But when I’m alone, it’s all improvised. Nothing is planned, ever. All the dance schools now teach kids to count, and that’s completely wrong.

TVG: What do you think about current pop groups like ‘N Sync? Are they imitating
you?

MJ: I think they’re very good singers. I know them very well, and we hang out every once in a while and laugh and play. I have no problem with them imitating [me]. It’s a compliment. Everybody has to start out looking up to someone. For me it was James Brown, Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Wilson, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly.

TVG: The special features an appearance by Marlon Brando. How did he get involved?

MJ: Brando’s a good friend of mine. I’ve known him for about 20 years. He comes to
my house all the time. He loves to play with the kids. I play with his grandchildren, and we love to watch movies.

TVG: Who else do you spend time with?

MJ: Elizabeth [Taylor], Brando, Gregory Peck, these are very close friends of mine. Either they’re much older than me or much younger. I’ve never had real contact with a person on my age level. I think this happened because all my life I played clubs, since I was 5 years old. I saw people drunk, fighting, and it was just disgusting. When people say to me today, “Hey, let’s go to a club,” I go, “No way.” If I go, it’s not a party for me — too many autographs and photographs.

TVG: Was that true at your postconcert party at [the] Tavern on the Green restaurant?

MJ: It was worse then — I couldn’t breathe because everybody [was crowding around].

TVG: And you fainted?

MJ: That’s a rumor. It was sensationalism. [The press] made it up. As usual. They love doing that to me.

TVG: What did happen?

MJ: Nothing. I didn’t faint. Not even close. [The press has] done this for so long, and it’s disgusting. [Gently, to Paris, who is skipping around the coffee table] Paris, you can’t make noise. You can’t — no, don’t bump the table. [The reporters are] tape recording.

TVG: Liza Minnelli also sang at one of the concerts. You two seem very close.

MJ: I speak to Liza every week. We come from the same planet. Like Elizabeth does.

TVG: What planet is that?

MJ: It’s called Capricious Anomaly in the Sea of Space [laughs]. Gee, I can’t name
it. Just beyond our solar system, I think. But this is true, and this is not to be taken lightly: People who grew up as child stars have the same thing in common. You’re cute, they love you; you go through the awkward stage, they don’t accept you anymore. Very few make the transition to adult star. And most of them become self-destructive. And it’s very sad.

TVG: How did you avoid self-destruction?

MJ: I think religion entered in.

TVG: Are you still a Jehovah’s Witness?

MJ: Yeah. I’ve done, you know, we call it pioneering. We do 90 hours a month. I don’t do as much now because I’m busy. You go door to door. I wear a fat suit, pop-bottle glasses, mustache, buck teeth and, like, an Afro wig. And I knock on the door and say we’re Jehovah’s Witnesses.

TVG: This special is in conjunction with the launch of your seventh solo album,
Invincible. Is this your comeback?

MJ: I don’t see it as a comeback. I only do an album every four years. It’s just that I’ve been on hiatus, writing.

TVG: The album features rap stars Will Smith and Jay-Z. It’s hard to imagine you working with Jay-Z, whose image is a bit rougher than yours.

MJ: [He] was just so sweet. And you hear these crazy stories about something [some of these rappers] did the next day, and it’s hard to believe. I always see them to be very kind. Perfect gentlemen.

TVG: What’s the message of “Unbreakable,” the first song on the album?

MJ: That [I'm] invincible, that I’ve been through it all. You can’t hurt me. Knock me down, I get back up. [To Prince, who begins to bang his Snapple lemonade on the coffee table] See the noise you’re making? You’ve got to be nice and quiet.

TVG: You are known for being eccentric. Did growing up in the limelight have
something to do with that?

MJ: [Smiling coyly] It depends on what kind of eccentricities you’re talking about.

TVG: People call you Wacko Jacko.

MJ: But that’s not nice. They do that because they’re jealous. I haven’t done anything. I go to hospitals and orphanages. And we take huge bags of toys. I spend thousands of dollars. What’s wacko about that?

TVG: Because of the way you are portrayed in the press, people wonder, “Is he
strange?”

MJ: [Exasperated] I did Oprah. I did Diane Sawyer. [People] saw me. [The press] is
just completely jealous. And it’s just one of those things that I have to deal with.

TVG: How do you deal with it?

MJ: I turn it into positive energy. And I write about it, I dance about; it’s in my movement, it’s in the expression on my face. And it becomes a part of me, part of my creation. And I try not to let it get to me. Because if you do, you’ll go crazy.

TVG: Your first video, for the single “You Rock My World,” is actually a 15-minute short film. How did you come up with its gangster theme?

MJ: I don’t know — the idea just kind of happened. In Cuba. Hot summer night. A club run by these hoods. I just wish [MTV] would show the long version. The short version I don’t like at all. It’s not entertaining enough.

TVG: How much are you involved in the video-making process?

MJ: When you say Michael Jackson, people always think of an entertainer. They don’t
think of the fact that I write songs. I’m not trying to brag, but I write them, and I direct a lot of [the videos]. I don’t think [younger artists] are aware of those things, which I think would be inspiring for them.

TVG: When you were making this video, did you think, “I want this to be as good
as the one for Thriller”?

MJ: No, because I know I didn’t have the time to execute that. There are ones that are coming up that will be better.

TVG: Do you let your kids watch MTV?

MJ: At a certain age I will, not now. They are going to have to be 15 or 16.

TVG: Do you watch TV?

MJ: I love PBS, the Discovery Channel, The Simpsons. I love Sesame Street. I could
watch it for hours. But my favorite show is Malcolm in the Middle. It reminds me so much of [my brothers and me] when we were little.

TVG: Which character do you relate to?

MJ: Malcolm. Mainly because he tries to fit into society, and he doesn’t — like
E.T. or Bambi, he can’t adjust to other people’s concepts. And I feel like that a lot of times. Once I’m offstage, I feel awkward, like this is not where I’m supposed to be.

 

Michael Jackson is the king of pop, the man who made the biggest selling album in history, a man whose dance routines and tunes have entranced people in every corner of the globe, from Johannesburg to Jakarta, from London to L.A.

magdalena “gold girl” Do you most see yourself as a musician, an entertainer or an entrepreneur?

michael jackson

Probably all of the above, because I love entertaining and I always will love entertaining. I love becoming a slave to rhythm. Because dancing is about interpreting the sounds and accompaniments of the orchestra. You know, you be come the sound, you become the bass, you become whatever you hear, and you do it bodily. But I try not to get so caught up in it all that you don’t think about your future. So many great entertainers have just been taken in the past, and they ended up lonely, sad and broken. I’ve always said to myself, I never want to be that way and I’m going to try my hardest to learn about the business side, support myself, invest my money, save. Who knows what tomorrow brings? You want to be protected financially so you can support yourself.

magdalena “gold girl” Would you like to be remembered as a great entertainer?

michael jackson

I love movies and I love art – and an architect is an entertainer, the guy who builds a rollercoaster is an entertainer. He knows where to build the slopes, and the big anticipation when you go up… He makes you go,’Oh my God!’ when you get to the top before you come down. It’s just the same as structuring a show or a dance.

magdalena “gold girl” Does it ever become a burden to be one of the most recognized stars in the world?

michael jackson

There’s nowhere in the world I can actually go and have privacy. The thing that hurts the most is the fact that your privacy is taken away from you. To use the silly expression, you live in a fishbowl, but it’s true. I do disguises… People know them all, it’s very hard, very hard.

magdalena “gold girl” What kind of disguises?

michael jackson

Bat suits, buck teeth, glasses, afros, prosthetics, make-up jobs, everything. Just to sit in the audience and experience it the way an audience would experience a show; I want to feel how they feel.

magdalena “gold girl” Do they find you out?

michael jackson

Sometimes, yes. In the beginning, no. Then they start looking me in the eyes. I put these things on and then they start looking behind the glasses… Girls are very smart, you know. You can trick a guy quicker than you can trick a girl. Women can just pick it up. They know the way you move your body, the way you walk, the way you gesture. I hear them go,’Look at the way he moves his hand’, or ‘ Look at the way he was walking’, and I think,’ Oh no.

magdalena “gold girl” If You were invisible for a day in London, what would you do?

michael jackson

Oh boy. Who would I like to slap? Let me see {laughs}… I think I’d find one of the tabloid paparazzis and kick his ass , moonwalk style. I’d really like to knock them off one of those little scooters they ride around on, I really would, knock the cameras right out of their hands. They’re so anoying. I’d go for them first, yeah. They drive you nuts. You can’t get away from them. It’s terrible.

magdalena “gold girl” Who has inspired you the most professionally, and who do you relate to?

michael jackson

Probably Walt Disney; because when I was little I grew up in an adult world. I grew up on stage. I grew up in night clubs. When I was seven, eight years old I was in nightclubs. I saw striptease girls take off all their clothes. I saw fights break out. I saw people throw up on each other. I saw adults act like pigs. That’s why to this day I hate clubs. I don’t like going to clubs – I did that already, I’ve been there. That’s why I compensate now for what I didn’t do then. So when you come to my house, you’ll see I have rides, I have a movie theatre, I have animals. I love animals – elephants and giraffes and lions and tigers and bears, all kinds of snakes. I get to do all those wonderful things that I didn’t get to do when I was little, because we didn’t have those things. We didn’t have Christmas. We didn’t have sleepovers. We didn’t have school, we had private school when we were touring. I didn’t go to a state school. We tried it for two weeks and it didn’t work. It was very difficult. It’s hard growing up a celebrity child. Very few make that transition from child star to adult star. It’s very difficult. I relate to Shirley Temple. I met her in San Francisco and I sat at her table and I cried so bad. She said,’What’s wrong Michael?’ I said,’I love you. I need to be around you more.’ She goes,’You’re one of us, aren’t you?’ and I said ‘Yes, I am.’ Somebody else said,’What do you mean?’ and she said,’Michael knows what I mean.’ And I know exactly what she meant – to have been there as a child star and to have graduated to have succeeded in making that transition to fame as an adult is very difficult. When you’re a child star people don’t want you to grow up. They want you to stay little for ever. They don’t want you to work afterwards. It’s very hard.

magdalena “gold girl” Tell me more about your interests in theme parks – what is it about them that interests you?

michael jackson

My favourite thing about theme parks – and I have a pretty good outlook on it because I’ve travelled the world many times over – is I love seeing people simply come together with their families and have fun. It really does bring them closer together. I go for fun, but I also go to study. I go after hours to most parks because I can’t go in the regular hours. They’re kind of like a ghost town.

magdalena “gold girl”: I hear you have some ideas for a theme park in Las Vegas?

micheal jackson

I’ve done many projects in Las Vegas, and what I think I’ve done is I’ve widend the demographic there. Because when I was a little kid – I was no more than eight years old – my brothers and I would go to Las Vegas, and at that time kids weren’t even allowed to walk on a casino floor. So we used to stay up in our rooms, bored, with nothing to do while everyone else gambled. There was only one place for kids in Vegas at the time, called Circus Circus. It was a hotel and the theme they had there was clowns, So there was a trapease man and there were chimps doing the little unicycles. When I got older we played Vegas a lot – we performed there many, many times – and I thought about it and I said,’It’s really not fair that there’s nothing here for children,’ so I started to conceive a couple of ideas for certain hotel owners. And now it’s like the family-themed vacation kingdom, it really is.

magdalena “gold girl” Who are your favourite people?

michael jackson

I love people who have really contributed to the pleasure and hapiness of the planet and mankind, people with light – from Walt Disney to Ghandi to Edison to Martin Luther King. These are people with light, people who really cared about children, bringing families together, and love. That’s what I try to say in my music and in my songs. If you go to one of my concerts, my shows, you will see 200,000 people swaying, holding candles, saying,’We want to heal the world,’ and ‘We love you.’ I’ve seen it around the world from Russia to Germany to Poland to Africa to America. We’re all the same. People cry in the same places in the show. They get angry in the same places in the show, they get the pathos in the same places.

magdalena “gold girl” Was Fred Astaire your friend?

michael jackson

Yes. Fred Astaire was my neighbour. I used to see him every day when I was riding my little motorscooter. He always told me, he would always say when I was a little kid,’You’re gonna be a big star.’ He told me that he thought I was an incredible entertainer and a great mover. And he always used to say,’You’re the best,’ and I’d say,’No, you’re the best.’ I remember the first time I did the moonwalk. Fred called me at home. He was screaming on the phone, raving. He said it was the best performance he’d ever seen. I said,’Oh, come on.’ He said,’Michael, you put them on their ass.You’re a hell of a mover. You’re a hell of a dancer.’ I said,’Well, coming from you, I don’t need any awards.’ Because I was nominated for an Emmy for that performance, and I didn’t get it, but it didn’t matter to me because Fred Astaire said he loved my performance, and that’s all the award I needed.

magdalena “gold girl” If you could work with anyone, alive or dead, who would that be?

michael jackson

If I could work with anybody it would be Charlie Chaplin, who I love so much. Also, Laurence oliver was a genius, really. Those two guys, I think. And also the king, Brando.

magdalena “gold girl” Last year you put together a short film, You Rock My World, with the assistence of Marlon Brando. What was it like working with the master?

michael jackson

Brando is a good friend of mine. He’s very much like me. He doesn’t go many places. He comes to Neverland or he stays in my house in Mulholland Drive, or he goes to Tahiti. His son worked for me for more than 20 years, and his other son was in my class in private school. He’s just a giant. You see, Brando’s smart, because when he works with me he always says,’I know what buttons to push to get emotion from you.’ He knows me so well. He knows how to get me ticked off, so he’ll say certain things to get me really geared up. He’s a genius. He’s a king. He’s the last of that generation. He’s a brilliant man, a lovely person. I love him and he’s my good friend.

magdalena “gold girl” You had a cameo in Men In Black II, was that fun to work on?

michael jackson

The Men In Black project really was a lot of fun because I introduced myself as the new guy.

magdalena “gold girl” It was obvious from the video of Thriller that you have a great interest in the visual arts.

michael jackson

Everything I do I like either to direct myself, or work closely with the director – we co-direct and come up with the ideas together. If you look at Ghosts, it says co-written by Michael Jackson and Stephen King. We wrote it on the telephone, Stephen and I – he’s a lovely guy, he’s amazing. We wrote it on the phone, just talking together.

magdalena “gold girl” Who are the figures in the movie business you most admire, and why?

michael jackson

I just love Robert De Niro. I think he’s such a multi-faceted actor. He can play anything from a comedian to a preist to a psychopathic killer to an idiot to a charming uncle to just anything. And of course, any of the great dancers.

magdalena “gold girl” Who would be your ideal leading lady, and why?

michael jackson

An actress? {laughs} You and I should do a film together. Let’s do it, I’d love that…

magdalena “gold girl” There was talk of you going to the moon to perform an authentic moonwalk here. Is there any truth in this?

michael jackson

{laughs} There is some truth in it. It’s not a rumour. I’ll just say that.

magdalena “gold girl” You outbid Paul McCartney for the Beatles archive. What was so special about it?

michael jackson

No, I didn’t, he didn’t bid for it. It was for sale and I liked it and I bought it, like buying a piece of art.

magdalena “gold girl” Tell me more about your passion for children’s charities. Which organizations do you support?

michael jackson

Well, I have a charity for kids that I created myself, called Heal the World. And whenever I do a concert or anything pertaining to entertainment, I give a certain amount to Heal the World – you know orphanages, hospitals, kids who need a lung or a liver, we’ll find it, we’ll pay for the surgery. On tour, I do as many hospitals and orphanages as I do concerts. We go to 12-years-olds and we take boxes and boxes and boxes of toys, a bunch of Michael Jackson posters and paraphernalia. They love it.

magdalena “gold girl” How much more do you feel you want to achieve in your life?

michael jackson

I’m never satisfied. There are so many different avenues and so many different things that I want to do. I’ve done a lot, but I don’t think it’s enough, which is why I don’t put up any awards or anything in my house. You won’t see any awards in my house, I put them all away in storage. Because if you get caught up in that, you start to feel like,’Oh, man, I did it.’ There’s so much more, so many more mountains to climb.

magdalena “gold girl” If one of your children came to you and said,’Dad, I want to be a pop star,’ what’s the best advise you could give them?

michael jackson

The best advise that I would give them is it’s a lot of hard work, and be propared, because it’s not all joy all the time. And that you’ve got to have rhinoceros skin, because the bigger the star, the bigger the target. The tabloid press are bastards, and you’ve got to have rhinoceros skin to deal with that kind of ignorance mentality. They do it simply to sell papers, because bad news sell, not good news. They simply make it up. If they don’t have anything, they just make it up. I’m nothing like the way the tabloids have painted me out to be, nothing. Nothing like that. They’re the ones who are crazy. They’re ignorant. I always say to my fans ‘Let’s have a tabloid burning. Let’s make a big mountain out of tabloids and just burn them.’ The real fans who love me know that garbage isn’t true. They know. They’re smart.

magdalena “gold girl” Have you always wanted to do film? If your family had not been such successful musicians, would you have turned to it earlier in your life?

michael jackson

I’ve always wanted to do film, but the tours got in the way. That’s why I want to take several years off just doing film. I’d like to get six great movies behind me, and then I’ll do a little bit of touring, then I’ll do more filming.

magdalena “gold girl” What kind of ideas do you have for film?

michael jackson

I have ideas for film and movement and dance and things that people have never seen. I can’t wait to just surprise people. That’s why I’ve been dying to start a film production company, and I’m very excited that that’s what we’re doing with Neverland Pictures. I get to just have a clean slate and play and create and sculpt.

magdalena “gold girl” Tell me a little bit about the werewolf idea in your films, and how does it relate to video?

michael jackson

I haven’t read the script yet for Wolfed – it’s one of the movies that we’re going to be making and I’m really excited about it. I’m so happy to be working with Sammy Lee {the co-writer of Music Box, who recently acquired ‘first look’ rights to Jackson’s films}. We’re doing some great projects together in film, and I’m really excited.

magdalena “gold girl” And Wolfed will be the first film?

michael jackson

As of now, our schedule says that Wolfed will be the first film. That’s going to be fun. I want it to be really scary. Rick Baker wants to do all the visual effects. He has seven Academy awards. Rick is very excited about it too – he did American Werewolf in London. He won an Oscar, and he said,’Michael, that was nothing.’ That’s nothing compared to what he can do today. And he did Thriller and he said of that,’It’s nothing’. He can go way beyond that. He did all the Eddie Murphy films, Clumps and Nutty Professor and all that Men In Black stuff too. He does all that.

magdalena “gold girl” So tell me how you would like to be remembered?

michael jackson

How would I like to be remembered? As a person who came and brought light to the world, some escapism. Also as the voice for the voiceless children, because I love them. I’m living for the children. If it weren’t for the kids, I would throw in the towel. A baby, a child – now that’s amazing. They’re little geniuses, you know, little geniuses. They really are.

magdalena “gold girl” Do you enjoy being a father?

michael jackson

It’s my favourite thing. I love it. I love it. I love it.

magdalena “gold girl” The other day I saw you pick up your daughter when she was sleeping. You just picked her up, and I could see the joy in your face…

michael jackson

Oh, I love them. The Jacksons have a lot of kids. I have a lot of nephews and nieces. There’s a lot of us!

magdalena “gold girl” What is your relationship with your brothers and sisters?

michael jackson

I love my brothers and sisters. When I’m with them we laugh. It’s like a different version of yourself. We can just laugh and giggle and talk about old times. We’re not together as much as we’d like to be. We’re all busy. We’re all in showbusiness. We’re always doing something. If I’m in town, Janet’s out of town. If we’re both here, my brother’s somewhere else. Everybody’s running around, you know.

magdalena “gold girl” Are you a family man? What do you like doing with your family?

michael jackson

My personal family? My Children? We love just sitting together, talking, shooting the breeze. We sit by the lake. I take the for a walk every day at my house. We sit by the lake and we throw rocks in the water and we just talk.

magdalena “gold girl” What do you think is the deepest form of love someone can feel? And have you felt it?

michael jackson

Wow, I think that’s really a matter of opinion. Have I felt the deepest form of love? I don’t know what would be the deepest… {long pause} and interesting question… {repeats question a few times}. I love my children very, very much, and I always look in their eyes and tell them that – I think that’s the most important thing.

WHEN he was out front as the 14year-old lead vocalist of the Jackson Five singing group, Michael Jackson visited Africa for the first time.

“When we came off the plane in [Daka, Senegal] Africa,” he recalls, “we were greeted by a long line of African dancers. Their drums and sounds filled the air with rhythm. I was going crazy, I was screaming, “All right! They got the rhythm… This is it. This is where I come from. The origin.”‘

Nineteen years later, when Michael, now 33, came off the plane in Gabon, a West African neighbor nation of Senegal, he was greeted by an excited, screaming crowd of grade-school students who carried a banner that proclaimed: “Welcome Home Michael.”

Drum sounds again filled the air with rhythm that flowed from fans who gathered at the airport and lined the streets in anticipation of seeing the “king of pop, rock and soul,” who would later be crowned “King Sani” in a West African village.

Despite or perhaps because of this acclaim, the pop idol almost immediately became the center of an international controversy based on a negative media campaign. The media bashing included these big lies:

The trip was a “public relations disaster for Michael.” Truth: It was a triumph in which he drew more spectators in Gabon than Nelson Mandela and more in the Ivory Coast than the Pope, according to African spokespersons.

“The singer cut short an African tour after a stopover generated the wrong kind of excitement.” Truth: The sponsors wanted him to extend his tour to meet the demand for his appearances everywhere.

He held his hand to his nose because the African nations smelled. Truth: He sometimes touched his nose, an old nervous habit which earned him the nickname “Smelly,” given originally by Quincy Jones because Michael was touching his nose in Los Angeles.

He collapsed from the heat and he went to London for a medical appointment. Truth: He was never bothered by the heat. His personal physician, Dr. R. Chalmers, accompanied Jackson on the trip. Jackson didn’t go to London for a medical appointment.

He refused to shake hands with Africans. Truth: He shook the hands of hundreds of people, hugged and kissed children in hospitals and institutions for the mentally retarded.

He is “neither Black nor White” and is not a good role model for children. Truth: After Michael read a prayer in the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in the Ivory Coast, a 9-year-old boy exclaimed “Michael is love, love, love! I want to be like him.”

Because he is well known for his humanity and philanthrophy, tour organizer Charles Bobbit reflected on the Affrican tour and said: “I was impressed with the interaction between Michael and the children. He sat on the bed with children who were deformed and children that were ill… He sat there and talked to them, hugged, cuddled them. He shook hands and did not wear a surgical mask like he does sometimes in America… That qualifies him as a role model for children–his deeds and not his looks.”

While the international controversy raged, Michael remained aloof, refusing to read the stories and saying that he preferred to let his deeds and his songs speak for him. Strangely and significantly, he had anticipated these and other criticisms in the song, “Why You Wanna Trip On Me,” in the Dangerous album. The song says, in part:

They say I’m different/They don’t understand/But there’s a bigger problem] Thats much more in demand/You got world hunger/Not enough to eat/So there’s really no time/To be trippin’ on

It was clear from the beginning that the African people agreed with Michael. And from the time of his arrival, the natWe of Gary, Ind., was welcomed like a ruling dignitary and a long-lost son.

He had come to the land of his ancestors to participate in a historic ceremony conducted beneath a sacred tree in the gold-mining village of Krindjabo, populated by the Agni tribe and located near Abidjan, Ivory Coast. As the village people stood in admiration, Amon N’ Djaolk, the traditional tribal chief of Krindjabo, placed a crown of gold upon the head of the musical monarch and pronounced him “king of Sani..

Almost overcome by emotions, the shy, sensitive son of Joseph and Katherine Jackson smiled and said, “Merci beaucoup,” to the French-speaking people and repeated in English, ‘Thank you very much.”

He then joined elders of the king’s court, signed official documents and sat on a throne of gold as women dancers, clad in white gowns, gave a dazzling performance of ritual dances. These elderly women are the guardians of the village, and their ceremonial dances gave their blessings to the crowning of”King Sani” and asked God for protection at a tree that symbolized the essence of power.

The musical messenger, who journeyed to West and East African nations as a self-proclaimed ambassador of peace, love and goodwill, achieved a success that exceeded his expectation.

From his sunset arrival in Gabon, where more than 100,000 people greeted him with spiritual bedlam, to his stop in Cairo, Egypt, to which he had paid homage on his newest album, Dangerous, with the best-selling single and music video Remember The Time, Michael was caught up in a hurricane of happy happenings.

In French-speaking, oil- and mineralrich Gabon, he received the West African nations Medal of Honor from President Omar Bongo, who was the official host of the performer’s “Come Back To Eden” tour.

President Bongo told Jackson that he was the first entertainer to ever receive the medal, which until then has been given only to heads of states and highranking diplomats and dignitaries–including Nelson Mandela.

As host of the tour, President Bongo appointed his daughter, Pasoaline Bongo, the nation’s foreign Minister, and his son, Ali Bongo, to coordinate the tour along with Charles Bobbit, a consultant to the president, who initiated the idea for Jacksons visit.

Jackson agreed to go on the non-performing tour with the stipulation that his priority was his “desire to visit orphanages, children’s hospitals, churches, schools and playgrounds.”

During his visits to Gabon, the Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Egypt, he encountered “Michael mania” everywhere. His image was on posters, T-shirts, billboards, a postage stamp (in Tanzania), and street banners. His music was played on the radio, piped into hotels– Okume Palace in Libreville, Gabon; Hotel Ivoire in Abidjan, Ivory Coast; and the Kilimanjaro Hotel in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Energetic and intensely interested in his fans, he logged 30,000 miles in 11 days; passed through 11 time zones, slept in five time zones and landed on four continents–South America, Africa, Europe and North America. His 26-porson entourage traveled in a Boeing 707 Executive plane with stateroom, private bath, open bar, lounges, dining areas, video and audio equipment, telephones and fax machines.

And when it was over, the entertainer, contrary to false rumors, had given a new Michael Jackson twist to person-toperson diplomacy and had touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of proud Africans.

MICHAEL SPEAKS

EBONY/JET: Do you have any special feeling about this return to the continent of Africa?

JACKSON: For me, its like the “dawn of civilization.” Its the first place where society existed. It’s seen a lot of love. I guess there’s that connection because it is the root of all rhythm. Everything. Its home.

EBONY/JET: You visited Africa in 1974. Can you compare and contrast the two visits?

JACKSON: I’m more aware of things this time: the people and how they live and their government. But for me, I’m more aware of the rhythms and the music and the people. Thats what I’m really noticing more than any thing. The rhythms are incredible. You can tell especially the way the children move. Even the little babies, when they hear the drums, they start to move. The rhythm, the way it affects their soul and they start to move. The same thing that Blacks have in America…

EBONY/JET: How does it feel to be a real king?

JACKSON: I never try to think hard about it because I don’t want it to go to my head. But, its a great honor ….

EBONY/JET: Speaking of music and rhythm, how did you put together the gospel songs on your last album?

JACKSON: I wrote “Will You Be There?” at my house, “Never Land” in California….I didn’t think about it hard. Thats why its hard to take credit for the songs that I write, because I just always feel that it’s done from above. I feel fortunate for being that instrument through which music flows. I’m just the source through which it comes. I can’t take credit for it because it’s Gods work. He’s just using me as the messenger….

EBONY/JET: What was the concept for the Dangerous album?

JACKSON: I wanted to do an album that was like Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. So that in a thousand years from now, people would still be listening to it. Something that would live forever. I would like to see children and teenagers and parents and all races all over the world, hundreds and hundreds of years from now, still pulling out songs from that album and dissecting it. I want it to live.

EBONY/JET: I notice on this trip that you made a special effort to visit children.

JACKSON: I love children, as you can see. And babies.

EBONY/JET: And animals.

JACKSON: Well, there’s a certain sense that animals and children have that gives me a certain creative juice, a certain force that later on in adulthoed is kind of lost because of the conditioning that happens in the world. A great poet said once. “When I see children, I see that God has not yet given up on man.” An Indian poet from India said that, and his name is Tagore. The innocence of children represents to me the source of infinite creativity. That is the potential of every human being. But by the time you are an adult, you’re conditioned; you’re so conditioned by the things about you–and it goes. Love. Children are loving, they don’t gossip, they don’t complain, they’re just open-hearted. They’re ready for you. They don’t judge. They don’t see things by way of color. They’re very child-like. Thats the problem with adults: they lose that child-like quality. And thats the level of inspiration that’s so needed and is so important for creating and writing songs and for a sculptor, a poet or a novelist. It’s that same Idnd of innocence, that same level of consciousness, that you create from. And kids have it. I feel it right away from animals and children and nature. Of course. And when I’m on stage. I can’t perform if I don’t have that kind of ping pong with the crowd. You know the kind of cause and effect action, reaction. Because I play off of them. They’re really feeding me and I’m just acting from their energy.

EBONY/JET: Where is all this heading?

JACKSON: I really believe that God chooses people to do certain things, the way Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci or Mozart or Muhammad Ali or Martin Luther King is chosen. And that is their mission to do that thing. And I think that I haven’t scratched the surface yet of what my real purpose is for being here. I’m committed to my art. I believe that all art has as its ultimate goal the union between the material and the spiritual, the human and the divine. And I believe that that is the very reason for the existence of art and what I do. And I feel fortunate in being that instrument through which music flows …. Deep inside I feel that this world we live in is really a big, huge, monumental symphonic orchestra. I believe that in its primordial form all of creation is sound and that it’s not just random sound, that its music. You’ve heard the expression, music of the spheres? Well, thats a very literal phrase. In the Gospels, we read, “And the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.” That breath of life to me is the music of life and it permeates every fiber of creation. In one of the pieces of the Dangerous album, I say:

“Life songs of ages, throbbing in my blood, have danced the rhythm of the tide and flood.” This is a very literal statement, because the same new miracle intervals and biological rhythms that sound out the architecture of my DNA also governs the movement of the stars. The same music governs the rhythm of the seasons, the pulse of our heartbeats, the migration of birds, the ebb and flow of ocean tides, the cycles of growth, evolution and dissolution. It’s music, its rhythm. And my goal in life is to give to the world what I was lucky to receive: the ecstasy of divine union through my music and my dance. Its like, my purpose, its what I’m here for.

EBONY/JET: What about politics?

JACKSON: I never get into politics. But I think music soothes the savage beast. If you put cells under a miscroscope and you put music on, you’ll see them move and start to dance. It affects the soul…. I hear music in everything. [Pauses] You know, that is the most I’ve said in eight years ….. You know I don’t give interviews. That because I know you, and I trust you. You’re the only person I trust to give interviews to.

Africa, 1992

As the kinetic and magnetic leader of The Jacksons, whose 1984 Victory Tour attracted the largest concert crowds and sold the most tickets in the history of show business, Michael Jackson is an extraordinary human being who is beyond category. Although he has been out front and outstanding for 20 years, the 26-year-old singer/songwriter/dancer and actor was not recognized as a super-super-star until his Thriller album became the best-selling LP of all time. Since then, much has been written about him, but the man behind the superstar is still a mystery and a media enigma. The White media’s Michael Jackson, portrayed mostly through gossip, rumors, hype, and sometimes slander, is not the Michael I have watched and reported on since he emerged from the anonymity of the steel town of Gary, Indiana in 1970. That Michael Jackson – the Michael Jackson nobody knows – is warm, sensitive, vibrant, keenly aware of the mysteries of life and the wonder and magic of children. Several months ago he told me that he was tired of the wave of lies in the White press. What he said then was reflected in the extraordinary and revealing statement he issued at a press conference through his manager, Frank Dileo:

“For some time now, I have been searching my conscience as to whether or not I should publicly react to the many falsehoods that have been spread about me. I have decided to make this statement based on the injustice of these allegations and the farreaching trauma those who feel close to me are suffering. I feel very fortunate to have been blessed with recognition for my efforts. This recognition also brings with it a responsibility to one’s admirers throughout the world. Performers should always serve as role models who set an example for young people. It saddens me that many may actually believe the present flurry of false accusations. To that end, and I do mean END – No! I’ve never taken hormones to maintain my high voice. No! I’ve never had my cheekbones altered in any way. No! I’ve never had cosmetic surgery on my eyes. YES!! One day in the future I plan to get married and have a family. Any statements to the contrary are simply untrue. Henceforth, as new fantasies are printed, I have advised my attorneys of my willingness to institute legal action and subsequently prosecute all guilty to the fullest extent of the law. As noted earlier, I love children. We all know that kids are very impressionable and therefore susceptible to such stories. I’m certain that some have already been hurt by this terrible slander. In addition to their admiration, I would like to continue to keep their respect.”

Michael Joseph Jackson, whose middle name is his father’s first, earned respect the old-fashioned way – the same way he earned the title “The World’s Greatest Entertainer”. His Thriller album has sold over 35 million copies and is still selling. He earns an estimated $2 from the album’s $5 wholesale price and has pocketed some $70 million from worldwide sales. He organized and now heads corporations that handle his business affairs, including Michael Jackson, Inc., which handles profits from his album and video royalties; Experiments In Sound, which deals with new techniques in recording; and Optimum Productions, which produces his music videos and video versions of records of other artists. The top winner of record and video awards, he received an unprecedented eight American Music Awards, a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards, and the MTV Video Award. Born the fifth of six talented sons of Joseph and Katherine Jackson in Gary, Indiana, 26 years ago (August 29, 1958), he is a positive thinker and a creative artist who is motivated by a deep concern for all of humankind and an unyielding love for his profession. His love for fans who have become admirers is, perhaps, without parallel. Love is what made Michael endure one of the most pressure-filled concert tours of his career. Even though The Jacksons Victory Tour is expected to gross over $70 million, he didn’t perform for the love of money. He said he did it for the love of family, fans, and favorite charities. Although it was projected that his parents, who organized the tour with boxing impresario Don King, could each earn $5 million and each brother pocket about $7.5 million, Michael announced that his share of the concert earnings would go to three worthy causes. They are the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), Camp Good Times for terminally ill children, and the T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia and Cancer research. He is also giving earnings from a special album called Let’s Beat It, to charity. He is doing it, he says, because children inspired him to write the hit single, Beat It, “Children are my biggest inspiration in anything I do,” Michael told this writer. “I adore children – crazy about them. I wanted to write a song, the type of rock song that I would buy….I wanted the kids to really enjoy it, the school kids, as well as the college kids,” said the sensitive songwriter whose two favorite songs are Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and Peter and the Wolf. He spoke of the song, Be Not Always, which he wrote with a little help from his brother, Marlon. In the sensitive, sentimental song recorded in The Jacksons’ Victory album, Michael makes a tearful plea to change a world in which “mothers cry, babies die helplessly in arms…” He observed that all of his brothers feel the same way about children, “not just me.” Recalling that the late superstar Josephine Baker, an entertainer he admired, had a United Nations of children that she had adopted, Michael smiled broadly and said with assurance: “I’m going to have children of my own, but I’m going to adopt as many races as I can. That is what I’m going to do. I love children. Like Emmanuel Lewis (tiny, 12-year old star of TV’s Webster series), he’s a real inspiration.” Nothing, however, inspires the proud performer more than his family and fans. He talked about this shortly after newspapers circulated reports that he had been spoiled by the success of his Thriller LP and the proliferation of music awards, which included EBONY’s American Black Achievement Award. “Because I have achieved a lot of broken records with Off The Wall [album] and I’ve been the lead singer for the longest and now with Thriller, which is the all-time best and everything, I’m not planning on leaving,” he said of a rumor that he plans to leave the Jacksons after the tour. “They are my brothers [Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon, and Randy] and I love them all dearly and I think the media begin to look for something to sell papers and they make up things and they twist them.” Michael said at the beginning of the tour, “I’m doing it for the joy of touring and the family as a whole, and for the kids out there who bought the records. I’m a stage addict. I have to be on the stage.” Once during an interview at his California home, where he still resides with his parents and sister, LaToya, Michael said, “I would like you to put this in quotations: ‘My main love for what I do is the admirers. I love the fans. Like when I’m doing a show and I see the fans out there dancing and screaming, excited, and we’re bringing that joy to them, that’s what I love most. And it’s just the greatest feeling in the world. You’re up there and you’re giving them that energy and that love and they’re just throwing it right back at you. And it’s great. And that’s my main love, the stage and making those admirers happy.’” As the interview continues, Michael talks of many subjects that reveal things about him that have been overlooked in the media’s rush for rumors. Here are some of his views:

EBONY: You have to cope with a lot of stress and pressure in the entertainment business. People make all kinds of requests of you and propositions come from all directions. How do you cope with these stresses and pressures?

MICHAEL: I cope with it in a way and I’m not calling myself Jesus because I would never even look at myself on the same level, but I’m comparing it to Jesus because what God gave to him was for a reason and he preached and people came about him and he didn’t get angry and push them aside and say leave me alone, I ain’t got time.

EBONY: But you must encounter some fans who pressure you and provoke you.

MICHAEL: I do get angry at times because there are those who will come up to you with the worst attitude and will say to you, ‘Sit down, sign my baby’s paper.’ They’ll throw it at you. I’ll say, ‘Do you have a pen?’ ‘You don’t have a pen? Well, go get one.’ That’s what they’ll actually tell me….I’m amazed by some of the people. They think they own you. And they’ll say to you, ‘Listen, I made you what you are.’ I say, ‘Wait a minute. You didn’t just buy it [album] to help me. You bought it because you like it and that’s true.’

EBONY: You are looked upon as a role model. You once appeared at the Chicago Public Library to encourage young people and adults to read, and a book marker souvenir was distributed with a quotation from you. Do you still enjoy reading?

MICHAEL: I love to read. I wish I could advise more people to read. There’s a whole other world in books. If you can’t afford to travel, you travel mentally through reading. You can see anything and go any place you want to in reading.

EBONY: Have you had a chance to do any reading related to the Black experience or in terms of Black history?

MICHAEL: Oh, yes! I’m really thankful for what Mr. [John H.] Johnson has done in bringing books through Johnson Publications….I think it’s good to show we are contributing to the world in many ways. That’s what a lot of people think – that we haven’t.

EBONY: How do you keep up with what Black people today are doing, saying, and thinking? And who are some of the people, other than your family and close associates, who influence your thinking?

MICHAEL: I love the way [John H.] Johnson runs his organization. Seems like everybody’s really nice. I’m sure there are quarrels and things, but everybody’s very nice….and have such an influence on the young. People rule their lives by JET and EBONY. I mean, they get their information from those two magazines and the young kids, too. I’ll say, where did you read it? I read it in JET. And they keep up with what’s happening in JET and EBONY. And I think that’s wonderful…God, I admire people like Johnson and [Walt] Disney. I think they’re phenomenal.

EBONY: You talk of the influence of books and people in your life. What part does travel play in shaping your attitudes and outlook on life?

MICHAEL: I think before anybody gets married, they should really travel the world if they can. It’s the most incredible education I’ve ever had. I think it’s phenomenal. I mean just to see the different cultures of people, the different faces, to talk to people and just to learn and see….When I traveled I was amazed. When we first went to Switzerland, I almost started crying. I really did.

EBONY: What touched you about that trip to bring about that emotional response?

MICHAEL: The beauty. It’s like, oh, God, it’s crying out in the sky. It’s an incredible country and it inspires me to see these things – the mountains. The pictures don’t do justice to Switzerland. Then there’s the Netherlands and France. Gosh, they’re incredible, too!

EBONY: Obviously, when you travel, you are more than a tourist, you are an observer.

MICHAEL: Well, a lot of people just stay in the cities when they travel. They should get out and see the real country. Wherever you go, man-made things are man-made, but you gotta get out and see God’s beauty.

EBONY: In your travels, what were some of the countries that impressed you most?

MICHAEL: I’m gonna raise my hand on this one. I’ll say this. I always thought that the Blacks, as far as artistry, were a talented race of people. But when I went to Africa, I was even more convinced. They did some incredible things over there. [West African countries, including Senegal]. We went to one place out in the flatlands where all these Africans sell their crafts and everything. I went to this one hut where this guy made incredible carvings….He took a piece of wood and a hatchet-like thing and started chopping and I just sat there amazed. He carved a big face…dipped it in some water…dried it off and he gave it to me and I paid for it.

EBONY: You seem impressed by African art but what about African music and dance?

MICHAEL: When we came off the plane in [Dakar, Senegal] Africa, we were greeted by a long line of African dancers. Their drums and sounds filled the air with rhythm. I was going crazy, I was screaming. I said, ‘All right!’ They got the beat and they got the rhythm… I just was so glad about the whole thing. ‘This is it’, I said. ‘This is where I come from. The origin…’

EBONY: You were obviously impressed by your musical roots, so where do you think the Africans derived their musical influence?

MICHAEL: Music started with nature. Music is nature. Birds make music. Oceans make music. Wind makes music. Any natural sound is music. And that’s where it started….You see, we’re just making a replica of nature, which is the sounds we hear outside.

EBONY: Did your travels have any influence on the way you think about races of people?

MICHAEL: The main thing that I hate most is ignorance, like the prejudice problems of America. I know it is worse in some other countries. But I wish I could borrow, like from Venezuela or Trinidad, the real love of color-blind people and bring it to America…

EBONY: You are making some observations with intense feelings. Please continue.

MICHAEL: I’m prejudiced against ignorance. That’s what I’m mainly prejudiced against. It’s only ignorance and it’s taught because it’s not genetic at all. The little children in those [countries] aren’t prejudiced. I would like for you to put this in quotes, too. I’m really not a prejudiced person at all. I believe that people should think about God more and creation….Look at the many wonders inside the human body – the different colors of organs, colors of blood – and all these different colors do a different thing in the human body. It’s the most incredible system in the world; it makes an incredible building, the human being. And if this can happen with the human body, why can’t we do it as people? And that’s how I feel. And that’s why I wish the world could do more. That’s the only thing I hate. I really do.

EBONY: What you have just said is not only compassionate but compelling. How do you communicate such feelings since you don’t make public appearances to express your views in public forums?

MICHAEL: I try to write, put it in song. Put it in dance. Put it in my art to teach the world. If politicians can’t do it, I want to do it. We have to do it. Artists, put it in paintings. Poets, put it in poems, novels. That’s what we have to do. And I think it’s so important to save the world.

EBONY: Stevie Wonder apparently shares similar feelings, judging by some of his musical messages.

MICHAEL: That’s why I love Stevie Wonder’s biggest-selling album called Songs in the Key of Life. He has a song on that album called Black Man….I just jumped up screaming when I heard that record because he’s showing the world what the Black man has done and what other races have done, and he balanced it beautifully by putting other races in there, what they have done. Then he brings out what the Black Man has done. Instead of naming it another thing, he named it Black Man. That’s what I loved about it….And that’s the best way to bring about the truth, through song. And that’s what I love about it.

EBONY: You don’t seem to have any objections to messages in music as long as the messages are positive. Your music, unlike some artists, stays clear of messages glorifying drugs. But drugs are a reality. How do you view it?

MICHAEL: In the field I’m in, there is a lot of that and it gets offered to me all the time. People even go as far as to just…stick it in your pocket and walk off. Now, if it was a good thing, they wouldn’t do that….I mean, would somebody drop something beautiful in my pocket and just walk off? But I don’t want to have anything to do with any of that. I mean, as corny as it sounds, but this is how I really believe: Natural highs are the greatest highs in the world….Who wants to take something and just sit around for the rest of the day after you take it [drugs], and don’t know who you are, what you’re doing, where you are? Take in something that’s gonna inspire you to do greater things in the world.

EBONY: Do you put God or religion in that process of a natural high?

MICHAEL: Oh, yes, God, really. I believe in the Bible and I try to follow the Bible. I know I’m an imperfect person….I’m not making myself an angel because I’m not an angel and I’m not a devil either. I try to be the best I can and I try to do what I think is right. It’s that simple. And I do believe in God.

EBONY: Do prayers or praying play a role in your life?

MICHAEL: I pray every night. I don’t just pray at night. I pray at different times during the day. When I see something beautiful, whenever I see beautiful scenery – like when I’m flying or something — I say, oh, God, that’s beautiful. And I always say little prayers like that all through the day. I love beauty.

EBONY: Speaking of beauty, you have been associated in a public way with many beautiful people, including your beautiful sisters, LaToya, Rebbie, and Janet, but also Diana Ross, Tatum O’Neal, and Brooke Shields. You have been linked romantically with the latter two. Someone said you and Tatum had a lot in common: the parents of both of you are protective – she’s a daddy’s [Ryan O’Neal] girl and you’re a momma’s [Katherine Jackson] boy.

MICHAEL: I want all those people who read JET and EBONY to just know that we’re mainly good friends. That’s the main thing. I think for guys, girls make the best friends. And for girls, guys make the best friends.

EBONY: What is your relationship with Brooke? When did you meet and has that relationship developed?

MICHAEL: We met at the Academy Awards. She asked me to dance because I was not going to ask her. You know, I’m really shy and embarrassed. So she says, ‘I got to dance with you tonight.’ I said, ‘great’. So we got together on the dance floor and danced. They were playing that old-fashioned Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey music, which wasn’t much of a groove. First, you’ve got all these bald-headed old people on the floor slow dancing, the Lawrence Welk sound. We really couldn’t get into it so we got to talking and got to know each other. We switched numbers and had phone conversations back and forth and we became real good friends.

EBONY: Does this mean that Brooke has replaced Tatum as a special friend?

MICHAEL: Tatum calls me all the time and I hope she reads this interview because I’m sorry I couldn’t get all of her calls. But she’s still a wonderful friend of mine.

EBONY: Both Tatum and Brooke are fine actresses. You did all right in The Wiz. What’s in the future for you now in films?

MICHAEL: I’m very excited about a lot of things that I want to do and that I’m going to do in films and things. I really can’t wait….Since The Wiz, incredible offers have come to me, things that are still in the making.

EBONY: You once said that you will be careful about choosing your next role so that you won’t be typecast anymore. You said that since The Wiz, some people still call you Scarecrow because of that character role you played.

MICHAEL: Whatever role you play, people link it with your personality. But it’s acting. You’re portraying another person….I wish it wasn’t called acting because I don’t really like actors. I mean, the word acting.

EBONY: Please elaborate.

MICHAEL: I don’t think acting should be acting. Acting, if you’re acting, you’re imitating realism. You should create realism. It should be called believing. You see, I always was against it when I thought about acting. I don’t want to see an actor. I want so see a believer. I don’t want to see anybody that’s gonna imitate the truths. It’s not real then. I want to see a person that’s gonna believe the truth… That’s when you move an audience.

EBONY: What kind of questions do you wish you would be asked but nobody ever asks you?

MICHAEL: That’s a good question. Probably about children or writing, or what I just talked about…You don’t make a better world of minds and things when people put the wrong things in their lyrics and give the wrong views on stage and everything. It’s just so important and I think this can lead so many people astray, because an artist can be built up so big in his career that this could change the whole world by what he does and thinks. They’ll listen to him before the President or any of these big politicians. You have to be careful. They could change these peoples’ way of life by what they say and do. That’s why it’s important to give off love vibes and that’s why I love what I do….When Marvin Gaye put out the album, What’s Going On, so many Blacks as well as Whites – but mainly Blacks-were educated. ‘Wake up. What’s going on? Wake up.’ I mean the ones that don’t watch the news, don’t read the papers to really dig in the depths of humanism. What’s going on? Wake up.

EBONY: There have been some campaigns against so-called dirty lyrics songs by some popular musical groups. Do you have any views about such groups and their lyrics?

MICHAEL: Sometimes they go too far. They don’t leave anything for the imagination. If I just walked out on stage naked, there’s no imagination. I’m not letting them imagine what I look like without the clothes. But you see, they overdo it… We got to leave them something to imagine. People go too far at times. I think it’s important to set the right example because there are so many kids who look up to us. As the most productive year of his entertainment career comes to a close and his talents helped him gross about $100 million, Michael is not content to rest on his laurels or his loot. He faces a future guided by two observations, both of which he made: “I’m interested in making a path instead of following a trail and that’s what I want to do in life – in everything I do,” Michael told this writer in an interview on July 13, 1979. He made the other observation in his role as Scarecrow in The Wiz, a movie in which he co-starred with one of his dearest friends – Diana Ross. In a scene near the end of the film, Michael spoke these words through his Scarecrow character: “Success, fame, fortune – they are all illusions. All there is that is real is the friendship that two can share.” Those are the thoughts of the Michael Jackson nobody knows.

On October 26, 2001 Michael took part in an online audio chat, answering fans’ questions via the telephone through moderator Anthony DeCurtis. The interview was sponsored by GetMusic.com and RollingStone.com and has been archived online at GetMusic.com.

 Anthony DeCurtis

    
Michael Jackson

     anthony decurtis

Hello Ladies and Gentleman, this is Anthony DeCurtis. You’re on Getmusic.com and we’re here tonight for a very special event. The King of Pop, one of the greatest artists in the history of popular music, Michael Jackson, is going to be joining us. He has a new record coming out on Oct. 30, it’s called Invisible [interviewer's error]. You can check it out at Michaeljackson.com, you can preorder it at getmusic.com.

 

anthony decurtis

 

Michael, it’s a pleasure to talk to you man.

michael jackson

Pleasure to talk with you.

anthony decurtis

 

Tell us a little bit about the new album. It’s your first new record in 6 years. Uh, do you still get exited when you have something come out? Obviously you’ve accomplished so much over the years. You know, do you still feel that, like, “Wow, I wonder what people are gonna think” or, you know, feel all of that kind of anticipation?

 

michael jackson

I kinda parallel it to a, uh, you know… It’s like the gestation process of, uh, birth. You know, it’s a… You know, it’s like having children, and having to raise them and bring them out into the world, and once they get into the world they’re on their own. So, it’s, it’s, very exciting. I mean, you never get too used to it, ever. It’s, uh, an incredible process. But you leave it in the hands of God, like you do when you’re having a child.

anthony decurtis

 

Absolutely. We’ve got questions already beginning to pour in from your fans on the Internet. We’ve got Electric Eyes, male, writing in. Says, “Michael, you are, in my mind, the greatest artist of all time. The true King of pop, rock, and soul.” And he wants to know, “What is your favorite song on the new album?”

 

michael jackson

My favorite song on the new album. Can I pick two?

anthony decurtis

 

Uh, yeah, I think you can do that. You can pretty much do whatever you like.

 

michael jackson

Uh, it would probably be Unbreakable… I’ll pick three. Unbreakable, Speechless, and The Lost Children.

anthony decurtis

 

Tell us about a couple of those tracks. You know, what was it like work… I mean, were there special guests, or were you working with new producers, or how you wrote them. You know, something that gives us some flavor.

 

michael jackson

Well, the songwriting process is something very difficult to explain because it’s very spiritual. It’s, uh…You really have it in the hands of God, and it’s as if its been written already – that’s the real truth. As if its been written in its entirety before we were born and you’re just really the source through which the songs come. Really. Because there is…they just fall right into your lap in it’s entirety. You don’t have to do much thinking about it. And I feel guilty having to put my name, sometimes, on the songs that I – I do write them – I compose them, I write them, I do the scoring, I do the lyrics, I do the melodies but still, it’s a…it’s a work of God.

anthony decurtis

 

Samantha from Canada just sent us in a question. She would like to know, “How would you describe the sound on Invincible and have you incorporated any other genres into the album?”

 

michael jackson

Well, the sound is…sonically, we always try to make sure we have, you know, pristine, detailed, uh, you know, the best sound, the best engineers, the best technicians available. And of course, I tried to make the album a potpourri of just wonderful melodies of any style. Because I don’t believe in stylizing or branding any type of music. I think a great artist should be able to just create any style, any form, any…any thing from rock to pop to folk to gospel to spiritual to just, just wonderful music where every, uh, anybody can sing it, from the Irish farmer to a lady who scrubs toilets in Harlem. If you can whistle it and hum it, that’s the most important thing.

anthony decurtis

 

Now, when you’re working do you find, are you in a mode where you like to listen to a lot of other music, or you’re listening to the radio and maybe picking up people’s CDs. Or when you’re working do you like to just kinda shut it all out and concentrate, you know, intently on what you’re doing?

 

michael jackson

I pretty much… I always know what’s going on, on the radio and in clubs, that people are listening to. Even though people think I live at Neverland — mentally I’m in Never Never land all the time — I’m always connected. I always know what’s going on in the music world, all the time. Not just in America but Internationally. You know, all over the world. And uh, when I’m working though, I don’t… I’m not in… I don’t think I’m influenced by a lot of the music today. Uh, I pretty much create what I think is in my heart. Very original. I try to be as original as possible. I don’t say, ‘OK, I’m gonna make this a great R&B song, a great pop… I just want to make a great song.

anthony decurtis

 

Like the song takes it’s own form.

 

michael jackson

Yeah. Yes.

anthony decurtis

 

Well, uh, Amber here on the Internet offers you lots of love and wonders if, um, it was fun for you to make the rock… the You Rock My World video.

 

michael jackson

Yes, that was a lot of fun. Uh, it was… We stayed up all night, which was very hard [giggling]. We, uh, it was fun hearing it blasted on the set on really good speakers. That’s one of my favorite things, hearing the music really loud. ‘Cause I like to play music loud. I mean, it’s, uh… If you play something over the Internet or small speakers, it doesn’t have the same punch. That’s why you have to buy it. You have to buy that CD to really hear that punch. It makes a huge difference. Huge difference. There’s no comparison. Buying the CD is the best thing. There’s no comparison. [Interruption from host]… You can’t hear all those sounds if you do it on a smaller system.

anthony decurtis

 

And when you’re, uh… So when you’re out on the video set, uh, you’re able to just kinda crank it up as loud as you want?

 

michael jackson

As loud as I want.

anthony decurtis

 

Very good [laughing]. Well, we have Michael Mathew from Canada. He says, “I just saw Ghosts on MTV. As always, you are awesome, Michael. Do you have any plans of releasing it as a DVD in America?”

 

michael jackson

Yes, it will be released as a DVD in America in it’s entirety, and some of the making of Ghosts. And that was one of my most favorite things I’ve ever done because it’s been a dream of mine for a long time to do something like, you know, scary but comical at the same time, and, uh, it’s all the elements, just fun. ‘Cause I don’t want to scare people to the point where they’re afraid to go to sleep. I want it to have a little twist of humor. And within the laugher there is a tear, you know? It’s fun, you know. These ghosts, they weren’t really scary, they were fun. They walked up the ceilings. Little kids were laughing at them. They were fun. You know, we don’t want to horrify them. But we gave this fat man, this Mayor, his justice, for coming into my house, which was private property, judging me. You know.

anthony decurtis

 

Absolutely. We have Cloudlee2000 who writes in and wonders, “Why did you name the album Invincible?”

 

michael jackson

Well, invincible is something of… I think it’s a proper name. It’s one of the cuts on the album and I’ve been an artist.. uh, not to pat myself on the back but the Guinness Book of World Records just listed me, uh, another time, as the artist who’s had the longest stretch career ’cause since I was a little, little kid to this point with still hit records from number one records, and uh, I’m so proud and honored that I’ve been chosen from the Heavens, or whatever it is, to be Invincible, and to just continue to grow and to be, you know… serve the people. It serves the people with wonderful entertainment.

anthony decurtis

 

Now, one of the, you know, the kind of conventional wisdom in the music industry is, you know, audiences don’t really have an attention span any more, you know. If an artist stays away for too long the audience wanders off and goes somewhere else. Was that a concern of yours with coming out with a record and taking a while to work on Invincible or do you, uh, are you convinced your fan base is still there and will be as strong as ever?

 

michael jackson

I’m, I’m … No, the answer to your question is that has never concerned me once and I’ve never thought of it. Because I’ve always known if music is truly great or if a movie is truly great, people want to see it or hear it. No matter where you, how long you’ve been away, or whatever the situation is. You know, greatness is greatness and if you really do a great job on what you’re doing, people want to hear it. Or they want to see it. You know, it doesn’t matter, It really doesn’t. Long as you’re an innovator and a pioneer, you know. And that’s the most important thing. Give them what they want to hear.

anthony decurtis

 

Now Slimslady420US sends in a question and wonders “which song on the Invincible album do you think you personally relate to the most?”

 

michael jackson

Ummm, Unbreakable.

anthony decurtis

 

Talk a bit about that track. Now you mentioned it a couple of times, I’m getting really curious about it. Could you… What could you tell us about it?

 

michael jackson

‘Cause, uh, I’ m one of the few people, probably in show business, that have been through the ins and outs, you know, of so many different things. Um, I’ve been through hell and back. I have, to be honest, and uh, and still I’m able to do what I do and nothing can stop me. No one can stop me, no matter what. I stop when I’m ready to stop. You know, and uh, I’m just saying, you know, I will continue to move forward no matter what.

anthony decurtis

 

Now we have Warful writes in, “Are you working or planning to do any more short films for Invincible, specifically for the really fast tracks such as 2000 Watts, Heartbreaker, Unbreakable, and Invincible?”

 

michael jackson

Absolutely, and she said… Whoever said that said the right word when they said said ”short films.” And uh, that’s what we try to make them, short films: a beginning and middle and a ending of a story. Uh, to take the medium to a new level but absolutely. There’s like a an array of, an encyclopedia of just great short films to make from the album. It’s very exciting. I can’t wait to do Threatened. It’s a kind of scary one with Rod Serling from the Twilight Zone. I can’t wait to get my hands on that one.

anthony decurtis

 

We have a question here from Nepolian3, says his name is George really, and it says, “Michael, I think this is your most cohesive and impressive album since Thriller. Or, really, Off The Wall. What are some of your most memorable moments while recording the tracks for this album?”

 

michael jackson

Most memorable moments were, it was… of all my albums I would say this one was the toughest. ‘Cause I was hardest on myself. Uh, I wrote so many songs, I don’t want to say the number, just to get to uh, how many are on there, 16? Just to get to the 16 that I think are acceptable. And, um, it’s the album where… I didn’t have children before other albums, so I caught a lot of colds; I was sick a lot. Cause my children got [interruption from host]. So we had to stop and start again and stop and start and… constantly. But I enjoyed it very, very much.

anthony decurtis

 

Now, when you describe yourself as being tough on yourself during the recording process. How does that, you know… what is the process that you go to. If you think something isn’t quite what it ought to be or maybe you could do better or you know, maybe you want to move something in a new direction. You know, what is that like?

 

michael jackson

If I truly told you, I don’t know if the fans would like me anymore [giggles]. I’ve had musicians who really get angry with me because I’ll make them do something literally several hundred to a thousand times till it’s what I want it to be. Um, but then afterwards, they call me back on the phone and they’ll apologize and say, “you were absolutely right. I’ve never played better, I’ve done better work, I out-did myself,” is what they’ll say. And I say, “That’s the way it should be because you’ve immortalized yourself. This is here forever. It’s a time capsule.” It’s like Michelangelo’s work. You know, it’s like the Sistine Chapel, it’s here forever. Everything we do should be that way, you know?

anthony decurtis

 

To try to bring it to the best possible standard that it can be.

 

michael jackson

Absolutely.

anthony decurtis

 

Now Sweetpea4286 wonders, “Are there any surprises on the new album?”

 

michael jackson

Any surprises? Boy. I think it is what it is, and you can interpret it the way you want to interpret it. Um, but uh, that’s all I can say about that. Other than some … we will be releasing some surprise CD singles at some point — something like that, yeah. In the future, though. That’s coming up.

anthony decurtis

 

Very good. I wanted to ask you, just as… in performing… and recently you’ve done a couple of shows, you did a couple at Madison Square Garden and you did a show at RFK stadium, a benefit concert, and you know, obviously, you know, you…. live performance has been one of the things that has distinguished you throughout your career. You’ve been offstage for a while. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about what it was like to be out there again in front of an audience and, you know, getting that opportunity to perform again.

 

michael jackson

It was, um, it’s hard to explain. It was quite exciting, to feel the audience and to see them and to be accepted so warmly by them. Um, it’s just an incredible feeling. It really is. They’re there to support you and to love you and to hear their favorite songs and you’re just standing there and they’re just giving you so much adulation and love and the sprit is just full of love, it’s wonderful. It’s very emotional. It, uh, brings me to tears. It’s wonderful.

anthony decurtis

 

I remember in your book you describe that like sometime on stage is when you feel the most alive, that those are the moments that, you know, really are the whole — kind of the most transporting for you.

 

michael jackson

It is. It’s being offstage that’s difficult for me. Uh, being on stage … either writing music or writing poetry, and being on stage, and watching cartoons are my favorite things to do in the entire world. Um, that’s what brings me to life. I love that. That’s what inspires me to do what I do, you know?

anthony decurtis

 

Excellent. We have a question from someone calling themself The best dancer in the world. Well, we’ve got you on the line, I’m not sure that uh, we might have to contest that a little bit. But anyway, the best dancer in the world wants to know, “Michaeljackson.com said that JayZ will appear with you on the new album. Is that true?”

 

michael jackson

No, but we are talking about doing something in the future together.

anthony decurtis

 

 Is JayZ an artist who’s worked you’ve liked, is ah.. as a person, have you spent time with him? What’s your impression of him?

 

michael jackson

I think he’s excellent. He has incredible rhythms, counter-rhythms. And he’s just one of the newer contemporary artists that the kids really love. He’s really, really great.

anthony decurtis

 

We have a question here from Sweden. Tony from Sweden writes in and says, “Hi Michael. You’re the most amazing artist of all time. I just love your music. Do you want to tour, and will you do a world tour or a European tour?”

 

michael jackson

Um, gee, we haven’t thought about it much right now, but uh, I don’t want to say it’s not in the works. Um, we’re concentrating on a lot of different things right now. But I can’t quite say.

anthony decurtis

 

Fine. I wanted to ask…

 

michael jackson

You know what, in the near future I’m sure there’ll be something that’ll come up. In the near future.

anthony decurtis

 

 People should, ah, keep their eyes open for announcements on that front. We have a question from Noria, describes him or herself as a 32 year old Spanish fan, writing from Los Angeles, would like to know if you have any plans to release any of your songs in Invincible in Spanish or any other language besides English.

 

michael jackson

Uh, as of now we haven’t but that would be a great thing to do. We haven’t written that off. We think it’s a big market, so that’s a great possibility.

anthony decurtis

 

Especially for someone like your self who has a big International following — you know, for many people, their following is in England or in the US, but your following is very International obviously.

 

michael jackson

Thank you.

anthony decurtis

 

Um, talk a bit… One of the things that was of kind of a little bit of a sensation this year was Alien Ant Farm’s cover of Smooth Criminal. I wanted to see if you’d paid attention it, if you… Do you enjoy it, or how you felt about it.

 

michael jackson

I saw it and fell in love with it. I loved it. I said, I just gotta have this come out. So, they wanted my permission; I saw it and I approved it and gave it a triple A, and said “go right ahead.”

anthony decurtis

 

Fantastic. It must be interesting, as a songwriter, to have other people do your songs and come up with another interpretation. What is that like?

 

michael jackson

It’s a great compliment. It’s a wonderful compliment. It makes you feel worthy and that your music is reaching all the different generations. You know, and all the different, uh… I mean, everybody’s out there listening and that makes me very happy.

anthony decurtis

 

 Now we have a question from Canada. Gary, who is 19, writes in, “What other artists did you collaborate with on Invincible?”

 

michael jackson

What other artists did I collaborate with on Invincible…

anthony decurtis

 

Do you have any special guests ?

 

michael jackson

Umm, oh yeah, Carlos Santana. He and I have done, like, a duet. He plays the guitar and I sing and it’s something that, uh, we’ve written. And it’s really, really a nice song.

anthony decurtis

 

Now had you known him from over time or did you meet him recently?

 

michael jackson

I’ve met him before, but we’ve been talking a lot on the phone recently. After winning his Grammy award he said to the press that he would like to meet me and he’s ready to work with me. So everybody’s been telling me that, and uh, I called him up and he said he really would, it would be his dream come true. And he was the nicest man. He’s so kind and so spiritual. I found him to be so humble, so I said to myself, “We have to make this work.”

anthony decurtis

 

 And so you wrote a song together?

 

michael jackson

Well, there’s a song that myself and two other people wrote and he was a part of it, and uh, Whatever Happens.

anthony decurtis

 

Ok.. We have a question from Anicia. Says, “Michael are you a fan of Chris Tucker.” Describes him being in your recent video.

 

michael jackson

I am a huge, huge fan Chris Tucker. He makes me laugh so hard. um, I uh, I’ve seen all of his films, and he’s just a funny guy. I like people who can make you laugh without using vulgarity, or bad words. For the kids, they’re for all different demographics, all the corners of the earth and he’s just a funny guy.

anthony decurtis

 

We have another question from Canada. Tony, who’s 17 from Canada, writes and wonders, “How long does it take you to produce a song from the initial conception to the final recording?”

 

michael jackson

Well….

anthony decurtis

 

[laughing] I guess it probably varies from…

 

michael jackson

Yeah, it does vary. And for me it’s really different than most artists because I’ll do a couple of songs, they’ll be 5, 6, 7 or 8 or 10 of them; I’ll throw them all away and start over. So, that’s a difficult question to ask me.

anthony decurtis

 

I wonder if… is there a specific song on the album — say Invincible — you know, how long… when… Do you remember getting the first inspiration for that song and then maybe the day when you finally said, “This is it, I’ve got it exactly the way I want it?”

 

michael jackson

On Invincible itself?

anthony decurtis

 

umhum.

 

michael jackson

Ummm, yes. Yes. I remember having the guys go back in and create more innovative… ‘Cause we don’t… um, this is our thing, we don’t, uh, a lot of sounds on the album that aren’t sounds from keyboards, uh, that are, you know, pretty much programmed into the machines. We go out and make our own sounds. We hit on things, we beat on things, so nobody can duplicate what we do. We make them with our own hands, we find things and we create things. And uh, that’s the most important thing, to be a pioneer. To be an innovator.

anthony decurtis

 

 Absolutely. Now we have Vernay who writes to us from Newark, Delaware, the good ole USA, and Vernay says, “I’m so pleased with the new album but I was particularly touched by Speechless. What was your inspiration for this song?”

 

michael jackson

Speechless was inspired to me by, um, I spend a lot of time in the forest. I like to go into the forest and I like to climb trees. My favorite thing is to climb trees, go all the way up to the top of a tree and I look down on the branches. Whenever I do that it inspires me for music. There are these two sweet little kids, a girl and a boy, and they’re so innocent; they’re the quintessential form of innocence, and just being in their presence I felt completely speechless, ’cause I felt I was looking in the face of God whenever I saw them. They inspired me to write Speechless.

anthony decurtis

 

Well, that answer actually might touch on this next question which we have, which wonders, “Where do you look for inspiration when you write your songs. Does inspiration come from a variety of different places?

 

michael jackson

Well, the best songs that are written write themselves. You don’t ask for them, they just drop into your lap. Then there are those songs that, you know, you kind of uh, incubate. You know, you plant the seed, let the subconscious take its course, and within time you hope something comes, and most the time it does. I don’t believe in the concept of writer’s block — that is a bad word. You create it when you say it. There’s no such thing. Um, like any painter or sculptor, they paint… they do their best work when they’re in the 60s and their 70s. Fred Astaire did his best dancing when he was in his 70s. Angelo [Michelangelo] sculpted late into his 60s and 70s, doing brilliant ingenious work. But in the music business some of these great artists have become stumped because they self-abuse themselves at a young age, with all these crazy things they drink and pills and things, and uh, that’s just not good — just not a good thing. I hate to say that to hurt anybody, but we should take care of our bodies a little more.

anthony decurtis

 

Naw, I think a lot of people have realized they’ve damaged themselves. You know, many people have talked about it in recent years, you know.

michael jackson

Yeah.

anthony decurtis

 

We have a question from Allen here who asks if you think that Rodney Jerkins and you have created a new sound for 2001.

 

michael jackson

For the song 2000 Watts?

anthony decurtis

 

He says, “Do you feel that you and Rodney Jerkins, of course the producer, have created a new sound for 2001?”

 

michael jackson

2001?

anthony decurtis

 

Yes

 

michael jackson

Oh. Um, that would be a nice thought, yes.

anthony decurtis

 

 What was it like working with him. How did you guys meet and, you know, how did your collaboration go?

 

michael jackson

He was this guy who went around Hollywood and around the industry saying his dream was to work with me to everybody. Then at Carol Bayer Sager’s house, who’s this great song writer; won several academy awards for her songwriting, said, “There’s a guy I used to work with. His name is Rodney Jerkins, he’s been crying to me begging to meet you. I mean, why don’t you pick up the phone and say ‘hi’ to him.” And he came over that day and he said, “Please, my dream is to work with you. Will you give me two weeks and I’ll see what I can come up with.” And uh, we ended up working together.

anthony decurtis

 

And what were your impressions of him, like as just somebody… What did he bring; what did you feel that his contribution was?

 

michael jackson

His contribution was he loves to create in the same kind of way that I like to create. But I pushed Rodney. And pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed him to create… uh, to innovate more. To pioneer more. He’s a real musician. He’s a real musician and he’s very dedicated and he’s real loyal. He has perseverance. I don’t think I’ve seen perseverance like his in anyone. Because you can push him and push him and he doesn’t get angry. Yeah, I think he’s a great guy, he really is.

anthony decurtis

 

That is a great compliment.

 

michael jackson

And um, and Teddy Riley is just incredible. He’s innovative too. I love working with him.

anthony decurtis

 

And you had worked with him in the past, of course.

 

michael jackson

Yeah, he’s one of my favorite… as a human being, he’s one of my favorite people in the world. He’s just a really sweet, kind guy. You know. And Rodney’s very funny. You laugh all day when you’re with him. He turns his music up in the studio and he starts dancing around the room. He’s fun.

anthony decurtis

 

We’d like to remind everyone, you’re on Getmusic. We’re here talking with Michael Jackson, whose new album Invincible is out on Oct. 30th. You can check it out at Michaeljackson.com. You can preorder it on Getmusic. Now we have a question from ItsJackson who is really named Rachel from Connecticut, wonders “Do you have any new dance moves that you’ve invented while you were making your album?”

 

michael jackson

For the first time working on any album, I put a halt to dancing. Because I was just so engrossed and so infatuated with what I was doing um, I did something that was very unusual. But once the music started playing, of course, I started to dance. But um, uh, it’s starting to now create itself and, uh, with the music playing I’m coming up with some new things. But that’s coming in the future with the newer short films. They’ll be seeing… they’ll be seeing all kinds of innovative things and movements that have never been seen before. We’ll go places where we’ve never gone in dance before. Cause all the hiphop things that are happening now are beginning to look like aerobics, it’s kinda getting annoying.

anthony decurtis

 

[laughs] We have a question from Simon who, you know, you’ve obviously mentioned you know, all the people who have wanted to work with you. He wonders, “Michael who wold you love to do a duet with, past or present?”

 

michael jackson

Uh, if it’s past, it’d be somebody like, uh, I would say Sarah Vaughn [*] or Nat King Cole. Present, I think, uh, Whitney Houston is brilliant and Barbara Striesand has a beautiful voice. You know, those kinds of artists, they’re just wonderful.

anthony decurtis

 

What’s your impression of some of the artists who’ve come on the scene just in recent years, you know, people like Britney Speares and Christina Aguilara. You know, young pop stars who are obviously hugely popular. You know, obviously, Britney participated in your show at the Garden, You know, what was your sense about her?

 

michael jackson

I think they’re a new breed that are coming out. They’re doing a very good job. And what impressed me more about any of these artists, like Speares and Christina, they’re so determined. I’ve heard about the way they work. They’ll work on a dance step, I mean, like, for months, and, uh.. to get it right, you know. Uh, they’re just so determined. And I’ve met… I’ve met Britney several times and she was very sweet and humble. She came to my room. We quietly talked for couple hours, and she was just, uh, like a Barbie doll. She was very sweet, she was very kind.

anthony decurtis

 

 I imagine that someone like you would be a kind of interesting and important resource for her, you know. As someone who was a star when you were so young, and then when… I don’t think people necessarily understand what a kind of strange reality that is, you know, within all the acclaim and the fame and the excitement, you know, to be a kid and have all that attention focused on you must be kind of scary also. Did you find it that way, uh, in your own experience?

 

michael jackson

Yeah, because where ever I go, um, I disguise myself, now — but now I can’t with, ’cause, you know, with what’s going on in the world — so I don’t wear a disguise. And uh, people they just go… They really go crazy. They’re very happy to see you. They feel as if they know you. You have to respond back to them like you know them. They feel they personally know you. My picture’s on their walls, you know, my music is playing in their house, so they grab you and they hug you and they touch you and they… So I usually respond back with hugs and loves and kisses. Cause I love… I love… I truly love my fans. Truly, truly from the heart. That’s the real truth. I love them. And the ones who are, um…. Like when we go to a certain country and they’re outside, and outside they’re sleeping on the street and I throw them pillows and cover and everything. And I have my security guards buy them pizza so they can all eat, and get the candles and, you know, we really take care of them. They’re very, very, very sweet and supportive.

anthony decurtis

 

Sam who is 20 years old and from Texas here in the US wonders, “Will you release Butterflies as a single? That’s one of your best songs.”

 

michael jackson

Butterflies is, uh, is a single that’s released now. It’s a single now. Tell him thank you very much.

anthony decurtis

 

Great. What other plans do you have, you know, when you… As somebody who’s been a kind of innovator in terms of making short films to accompany your songs, do you conceptualize all that ahead of time or, you know, do you decide, on a kinda step by step basis, you know, this is gonna be the next single and I want to make a, you know, a kind of visual statement to accompany it. You know, how does that all proceed?

 

michael jackson

All right, the short film itself?

anthony decurtis

 

Yeah.

 

michael jackson

Well, I let the song pretty much speak to me and I get in a room and I pretty much start making notes… You know, I’ll speak to a writer — like Stephen King and myself, both of us wrote Ghosts, the short film Ghosts, and we just on the telephone started writing it and let it create itself and go where it wants to go. But we try to do things that are very unusual. And it’s… it’s not an easy thing to do because you have to time it with the song, and you can’t spend too much time, and the special effects can take 5 months sometimes to execute. So, it’s just .. .it’s kinda difficult thing and the record company’s saying, “Come on, come on, come on, we have to go, we have to go.” So, I understand. So we try to do the best we can in the amount of time that we can execute it in.

anthony decurtis

 

We have a question now, uh, Helen from Scotland says, “If you could only perform one of your songs for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?”

 

michael jackson

Ooh, it would probably be… if I could pick more than one, up to two or three?

anthony decurtis

 

yeah, I think we can go that far.

 

michael jackson

Heal The World, Speechless, um, and that’s a difficult one… I think, uh.. huh… ummm, You Are My Life.

anthony decurtis

 

So, you went for the ones that are the… the kind of, uh, the biggest statements, in a way, it seems to me.

 

michael jackson

Yeah, because, uh, the point is that they’re very melodic and if they have a great important message that’s kinda immortal, that can relate to any time and space, you know.

anthony decurtis

 

 One of the things, actually, I wanted to ask you is, you know, we’ve had these, you know, horrible terrorist attacks here in New York City and in Washington, DC. What is the role that you feel, you know, artists can play in the wake of something like that. You know, I mean, you did that benefits show in Washington. You know, is there… In music and in… you know, can artists do something to help people get through what for many of us has been a very difficult time?

 

michael jackson

Yeah, you give of yourself. You give of your talent, of your ability… The talent that was given you by the Heavens. That’s why we’re here, to bring a sense of escapism in time of need. And, uh, if you’re a painter you paint; if you’re a sculptor, you sculpt; if you’re a writer, you write; if you’re a songwriter, you give songs; if you’re a dancer, you give dance. You give people some love and some… some bliss and some escapism, and to show that you truly care from the heart, and be there for them. Not just from a distance, but show you really care. You know, take the long mile and be there for them. And that’s what I did, and many others who cared and helped. And it’s an important thing.

anthony decurtis

 

 We have a question now from Chili Boy who wonders, “I’ve always wanted to know, how do you come up with a dance move, and how long does it take for you to put the choreography for a song together?”

 

michael jackson

I pretty much just get in a room and I start to dance, and uh, I don’t create the dance, the dance creates itself, really. You know, I’ll do something and I’ll look back… I’ll look back on tape and I’ll go, “Wow,” I didn’t realize I had done that. It came out of the drums. You become…. Dancing is about interpretation. You become…. You become the accompaniment of the music. So when you become the bass of Billie Jean, I couldn’t help but do the step that I was doing when the song first starts, because, uh, that’s what it told me to do. You know, if I turn around, spin, stop, move my legs to the side and then lift up the collar of my shirt, that’s for that moment is an accompaniment.

anthony decurtis

 

 I remember watching that moment on television and just leaping out of my chair. It’s so extraordinary.

 

michael jackson

Thank you very much.

anthony decurtis

 That was really one of the great, great moments.

michael jackson

It’s all spontaneous movement. Nothing in that piece was, on, uh, Billie Jean, was planned but the Moonwalk. Everything else was just, you know, improvising, really.

anthony decurtis

 

We have a question from SJ Chams who wonders, “Do you think you’ll do another duet with Janet?”

 

michael jackson

I would love to! It depends on the song, the time. When she’s in one corner of the Earth, I’m in another place. It’s very rare that our ships pass in the night. So it’s not easy to do ’cause we’re both very busy. But that would be very nice. I love working with her. She’s a true real professional and a wonderful sister.

anthony decurtis

 

 Excellent. Ah, we have Sheik 33 who wonders, “Who was your idol when you were a child?”

 

michael jackson

I always went nuts for…. I mean, I could be asleep… In Indiana, at like 5 years old, I’d be asleep and it’d be late at night, like 1 in the morning, some show on, I remember seeing my mother run to my room, “wake up , wake up! James Brown is on! James Brown is on!” Or “Sammy Davis Jr.’s playing” or “Fred Astaire! They got a good Fred Astaire movie on.” “Gene Kelly’s on right now!” And I’d sit there with my eyes just… I’d be awe-struck, just watching. So when videos came out, I had a collection. [giggles]

anthony decurtis

 

Yeah, I understand that you have a, an extraordinary collection of a kind of old movies of all of the performers that you like and, oh, the music performances of the artists that you admire. You know, talk about some of those, and some of the stuff that you’ve got that you like to watch.

 

michael jackson

Well, I .. I like to, um, before I do anything, it could be any situation, I love studying the whole history of it before I take the first step to innovate. So, um, I love studying any Vaudevillian, you know, who came from that era, even though they didn’t have T.V. Uh, but they, uh, they transcended into television later on. I love people like Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, I’m crazy about the 3 Stooges, uh, anything Walt Disney… And far as performers, uh, I love Anthony Newley, you know, like I said, Jackie Wilson, James Brown. So.. They’re incredible! I mean, when James Brown was “James Brown and the Famous Flames” he was so incredible. I would watch him and cry. I’d be crying and watching. I’ve never seen a person perform like that, ever.

anthony decurtis

 

You know, it must have been extraordinary for you, as a … you know, when you were young and making records and getting to meet some of your idols, you know, that must have been such a powerful experience.

 

michael jackson

Oh, it wa… It truly was. And to have them tell me that they … they thought I was incredible, and all my life I thought they were, like, the best. It was the best…I mean, it was the best compliment I could get, and no award could be given to me that could top that. You know. When Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly, who I knew very well, or Frank Sinatra, told me I .. they think I’m amazing and I have an amazing career ahead of me.. As a child they would tell me this. ‘Cause they were my neighbors. They lived by me. And uh, I felt very honored and happy to hear those kind of words from these legends.

anthony decurtis

 

That must have been very encouraging.

 

michael jackson

Yes, very.

anthony decurtis

 

 Now we have Mhagrice who is actually Margaret from the Netherlands, a 26 year old woman, says, “Is it true that you’ll star in Men In Black II, and will you record a soundtrack for that film?”

 

michael jackson

Uh, I don’t think we’re doing a soundtrack, but I did a .. a guest appearance, like a Cameo, for Men In Black, uh, 2, and we’re expecting to do part 3 as well. And it was a lot of fun, and exciting. Um, and it’s one of my favorite films of all time. Uh, I’m a big Men In Black fan. I love it very much.

anthony decurtis

 

 Well, weren’t you .. Now, I understand you’re also doing The Nightmare of Edgar Allen Poe. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

 

michael jackson

Yes, that one’s coming up. It’s about the great prolific American writer, Edgar Allen Poe.

anthony decurtis

 

Kind of a scary guy himself, too.

 

michael jackson

He’s very diabolical, and very dark, and .. But he was a genius and it’s… But his own personal life was very interesting, and that’s what it’s about, you know. How he was, you know… What he had to go through to create such ingenious work. It’s a great story. But… and by the way, make sure the fans know, all tabloids should be out. Do not believe anything you read in a tabloid. It’s garbage and it’s junk. We should have a tabloid burning, like a big mountain — just set it afire.

anthony decurtis

 

 You heard it first here from Michael Jackson.

 

michael jackson

Don’t waste your time with it. It’s stupid.

anthony decurtis

 

 Now we have Rapmaster JA writes in, who is actually Jason from Illinois. He says, “Michael, you are undoubtedly the greatest artist in the history of the world. How do you do the Moonwalk. It’s the coolest move I’ve ever seen?”

 

michael jackson

Gee, it’s hard to explain on the phone [interruption from host]. I love moves and dancing. I’s like walking forward and backward at the same time, but not just walking, but as if you’re on a conveyer belt. And it’s, uh, it’s hard to explain. If he was in the room with me, I could show him how to do it with my fingers, or with my feet, but. Maybe he could see at the end of the Jam video where I’m trying to show Michael Jordan how to do it. Only time I think I showed it.

anthony decurtis

 

 Now we have a Mark the Shark, uh, who asks, “How do you do that lean on the video to Smooth Criminal?”

 

michael jackson

Oh, Smooth Criminal, well. That one happened … it was in the middle of the shoot and it wasn’t .. I choreographed it right at the moment. Took us an hour to execute it. It’s a special effect that we kind of lean as far as we can and, uh, we let the conveyor belt do the rest.

anthony decurtis

 

Now Glenn from Toronto Canada asks, “Do you feel a special spiritual energy when you’re performing; do you feel you are connected to a higher force? Cause this is what you make many feel when they see you live?”

 

michael jackson

That’s exactly what it is, you’re connected to a higher source and you just go with the moment and you become one with, you know, the spirit. Not to sound religious or anything, but it’s a very spiritual… very much like religion, and it’s a God-given gift and you just go with it. And I’m honored to have been given it. And, uh, as fun to become one with the audience. It’s a one-ness, you know?

anthony decurtis

 

I was reminded of, ah, some of that when you were talking about the way you would work out your moves, you know, listening to … just listening to the music and kind of disappearing into it. You know, it has like a really mystical feel.

 

michael jackson

Thank you.

anthony decurtis

 

Now Charlie sends in a question and says, “What achievements in your life are you the most proud of?”

 

michael jackson

Boy, uh, one of my biggest dreams since I was really, really little… I think around 7 years old, I use to always buy the Guinness World Book of Records. [Giggles] You know what the answer’s gonna be right? I said, “Hmmm, I love to dance and sing. Hopefully one day I can be in this book.” And I believed that it was possible. So when Thriller became the biggest selling album of all time, and it was enlisted in the Guinness Book Of World Records, and, uh, there’s so many other lists… You know, they’ve enlisted me in there like 7 different times now. It was my happiest time of my life. I was so happy.

anthony decurtis

 

 To what do you attribute that level of ambition and possibility you felt when you were a kid. You know, I think it’s sometimes hard for people to feel… You know, you weren’t, obviously, rich as a kid or from some kind of fancy background, but still somehow you were able to envision a life of success. What do you attribute that to?

 

michael jackson

I attribute that to my parents who always taught us to persevere and believe in yourself, have confidence, no matter what you do. Even if you’re sweeping floors or painting ceilings, do it better than anybody in the world, no matter what it is that you do. Be the best at it, and have a respect for others, and be proud of yourself.. and to honor; be honorable, you know.

anthony decurtis

 

 Absolutely. Now, you’ve been making records for a long time, you’ve been a force on the music scene for many years. What do you think are the biggest changes in music that you’ve seen?

 

michael jackson

Biggest changes?

anthony decurtis

 

Yeah, what’s changed about the music industry or about, you know, the music that’s out there. What do you think is different?

 

michael jackson

Well, I think.. Ah, I don’t think people thought the Rap music would last as long as it has. And it has gone through evolutional stages — there’s more melody in it now, it’s more acceptable, because melody will never die. Will never die. And the rhythm– things are a little more rhythmic now. Because people want to dance. It’s part of the human condition; it’s part of our biological makeup. Our cells dance when we hear beats. You notice a.. a one year old child will start moving hearing music. How do they know to move? ‘Cause it’s biological. It’s not just hearing of the ear, it’s feeling, you know. And playing music, the grass and the trees and the flowers… They’re all influenced by music. They become more beautiful and more vibrant in how they grow. Music is a very important and powerful substance, and all the planets in the universe make music. It’s called music of the spheres. They all make a different note; they make harmony. So there’s harmony even in the universe as we speak.

anthony decurtis

 

Now we have a question from Holland, uh, Femka from Holland writes, “I love the special editions from Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous.” She loves you. And asks, “Why does Invincible… Why will Invincible be coming out in different colors?

 

michael jackson

Because we wanted the fans to have some fun with it and collect them and, uh… It’s a, uh, a Limited Edition, I think. And, uh, there’s albums that I love and I will buy them 5 times, even though I have the same cover. Like, 5 times ’cause I love that album so much. So, imagine if they did a different color or just changed the color, I would buy it 5 more times. We just wanted the fans to have some fun with the pictures and with the colors and… Just to try something a little different. That’s why we did it.

anthony decurtis

 

Now we have TJ who’s 17 and from Australia, wants to tell you that, “You are still my hero,” and says, “How do you explain your ability to inspire so many people all around the world?”

 

michael jackson

I just do what I do and I love doing it. And, uh, I love art. I love anything, any art. And, uh, if they’re inspired by it, I feel I’m … I pray that I’m doing my job; what I’m here to do on Earth. Because I love the fans, I love the kids, I love the babies, and that’s what give me my inspiration, the children, the babies, the fans. I love them very much.

anthony decurtis

 

 Now Michaela from Pennsylvania, who is 14, writes, “Michael, I’m only 14 but I’ve been a fan since I was 10. You’ve accomplished so much more than any artist ever. I was just wondering if you could change one thing about your life, what would you change?”

 

michael jackson

I would like to be able to go out in public and just be normal sometime, without people recognizing who I am, and to get a little bit of a feeling of what it’s like to, you know, be of the regular norm. To see how things are done; to learn what people speak about when they’re just casually talking. Cause soon as they see it’s Michael Jackson, the conversation changes; it all becomes about me and not about the situation — the moment, that’s happening at the moment. That would… I would learn a lot from that. I don’t get to see that unless I disguise myself and put on a lot of things, and then they stare at me, then it’s even different; it’s not the same even then. So, it’s a difficult thing to pull off. Tell him that’s a very great question he asked.

anthony decurtis

 

That’s a really interesting question, actually. We have an interesting answer, as well. We have Greg from Glasgow, Scotland, wants to know, “When do you plan to release the charity song What More Can I Give?”

 

michael jackson

Well, it’s being, uh.. We’re putting the final voices on and, uh, it’s coming very, very soon. We’re putting it together now; the final touches. It’s a very important song for the world. To give some feeling and some loving and some caring to those people who were thrust into orphanage, uh, or just within a matter of seconds they lost their parents and their loved ones, you know?

anthony decurtis

 

Absolutely. Um, what are some of the things you are looking forward to; what are your hopes for you know, the new year. You know, we’re coming down to the end of the year, you have this album coming out, we’ve had a lot of tragedies and crisis that we’ve all faced. Everybody’s trying to keep their spirit up. When you start thinking about 2002, what .. what kind of things come to mind for you?

 

michael jackson

Um, film. I love movies. To do more movies; to integrate the songs with the film. Dancing. And more peace into the world. I pray for peace all the time. And the most important thing I pray for is protection for children and babies. That’s the thing that concerns me the most, I like them to be protected and to have more children’s rights in the world, where children, you know, where there’s a day for children; a celebration for children. Give them a little more attention and love.

anthony decurtis

 

Now Sergei from Russia writes in, says, “Michael, sing a cappella for us.”

 

michael jackson

[laughs] You know what, I would love to do it. But believe it or not, I’ve been sniffling since this interview, I woke up with laryngitis, I caught a cold from the children the other day. My children were sick and I caught their cold. So, tell her I’d love to do it when I visit their town in concert. And Speechless opens a cappella, on the album, the song Speechless. It’s one of my favorites.

anthony decurtis

 

Opens in an a cappella part?

 

michael jackson

It opens and closes a cappella.

anthony decurtis

 

Now we have a question here from Karen who says that you’ve helped her since she was a little kid. You’ve always been one to think about other people; to care for children around the world. “What could we do for you,” she wonders. “We give you all our love, but what more could we give to you?” Obviously one of your great fans here.

 

michael jackson

When I come to town, I would love to see a children’s festival, to hear children’s choirs, uh, you know, pretty much present when I come to different countries, singing some of their favorite songs of mine. Uh, we should forge and create a children’s day, a celebration Internationally, where children are honored. Where parents can take their children to the movies or to the toy store or to the park. And that, alone, will create a bonding. Because the family bond has been broken. They don’t eat with their children or speak to their children much anymore, or mother their children. And I would love to see a celebration for children. Children’s Day; a holiday. We have Mothers Day, Fathers Day — no Children’s day. And, uh, I would love when I come to town just to see them sing songs, or a parade or something. I would love that.

anthony decurtis

 

Michael, we have one last question. It was a great pleasure talking with you. We have Emanuel, who is 16, from the US. Says, “Mr. Jackson, what would say to all your fans that have dreams and goals of being a star like you?”

 

michael jackson

No matter what, the most powerful thing in the world is the human mind and prayer, and belief in your self and confidence and perseverance. No matter how many times you do it, you do it again until it’s right. And always believe in your self. And not matter who’s around you that’s being negative or thrusting negative energy at you, totally block it off. Because whatever you believe, you become.

anthony decurtis

 

They say that the thing that most affects people, or the way that you can really tell someone’s had a successful life is the way that they deal with success or the way they deal with failure or challenges. That sounds like what you’re saying.

 

michael jackson

Yes, and after all that, the most important — most important: Stay humble. The humbleness that a child, like a new born baby has. Even though you become powerful or have power with people, with your talent .. like with what Michelangelo did with sculpting, you know, underneath all that be as humble as a child, as a baby, and be as kind and as giving and loving. They don’t become puffed up with pride.

anthony decurtis

 

I think we’re gonna sneak in one last question here from someone called Invincible103, “Halloween is coming up. Do you have plans to, uh, kind of dress up; do you have plans for a Halloween party?”

 

michael jackson

Uh, no. I was going to just go trick or treating. Go out, knock on some doors and get some candy. I love trick or treat. It’s one of my favorite ones. I love dressing up like some kind of monster or something and knocking on the doors. No body knows it’s me, and I get candy.

anthony decurtis

 

Now if Michael Jackson turns up at your door, people.

 

michael jackson

[giggles]

anthony decurtis

 

Sure, wouldn’t it be nice to have some nice things on hand for him. Well, Michael it was great, great pleasure talking to you. A lot of fun, and uh, everybody wishes you the best with your new record. We’re all looking forward to it.

 

michael jackson

Thank you so much and God bless you. Thank you.

anthony decurtis

 

 Thank you very much.

1982

In August of 1982, Interview’s executive editor, Bob Colacello, interviewed Michael Jackson, then 23, at the condominium in the San Fernando Valley that the singer was renting with his family while their house nearby was being redecorated. (Andy Warhol called from New York midway through their conversation.) Jackson, of course, was already famous for his work with his brothers in the Jackson Five, but his first adult solo album, Off the Wall (1979), released three years earlier, had made him a star in his own right. When this interview took place, he was at work on a storybook companion record for the Steven Spielberg film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)—hence the E.T. references—and was fielding an array of film-role offers. He was also finishing up recording Thriller (1982), which would go on to become the best-selling album of all time. The following is an excerpt from their interview as it originally appeared as the cover story of the October 1982 issue.

BOB COLACELLO: Did you like performing as a child? Did you always love it?

MICHAEL JACKSON: Always did. I always enjoyed the feeling of being onstage—the magic that comes. When I hit the stage it’s like all of a sudden a magic from somewhere just comes and the spirit just hits you and you just lose control of yourself. I came onstage at Quincy’s [Jones] concert at the Rose Bowl and I did not want to go onstage. I was ducking and hiding and hoping he wouldn’t see me hiding behind people when he called me on. Then I went up there and I just went crazy. I started climbing up the scaffold, the speakers, the light gear. The audience started getting into it and I started dancing and singing and that’s what happens.

COLACELLO: How do you compare acting to performing on the stage?

JACKSON: I love both. Acting is the cream of the crop. I love performing. It’s a phenomenal getaway. If you want to really let out everything you feel, that’s the time to do it. With acting, it’s like becoming another person. I think that’s neat, especially when you totally forget. If you totally forget, which I love to do, that’s when it’s magic. I love to create magic—to put something together that’s so unusual, so unexpected that it blows people’s heads off. Something ahead of the times. Five steps ahead of what people are thinking. So people see it and say, “Whoa I wasn’t expecting that.” I love surprising people with a present or a gift or a stage performance or anything. I love John Travolta, who came off that Kotter show. Nobody knew he could dance or do all those things. He is like—boom. Before he knew it, he was the next big Brando or something.

COLACELLO: He hasn’t done much lately.

JACKSON: I know. I think he’s choosing scripts and stuff. It’s always difficult for anyone trying to compete against their past achievements . . .

COLACELLO: It seems that what really motivates you is your desire to entertain people, to please people. What about fame and money? Could you imagine not being famous or does being famous bother you?

JACKSON: It never has bothered me except sometimes when you want peace. Like you go to the theater and you say, “Nobody’s bothering me tonight, I’m wearing my hat and glasses and I’m going to enjoy this film and that’s all there is to it.” You get in there and everybody’s watching and staring at you and at the climax of the film somebody taps you on the shoulder for an autograph. You just feel like you can’t get away . . .

COLACELLO: You’re very close to your parents. Do they live out here in L.A.?

JACKSON: Yes. My mother’s upstairs. My father’s at the office.

COLACELLO: What’s your typical day like?

JACKSON: Daydreaming most of the day. I get up early and get ready for whatever I’ve got to do, songwriting or whatever it is. Planning the future and stuff.

COLACELLO: Are you optimistic about the future?

JACKSON: Yes. I always like to plan ahead of time and follow up . . .

COLACELLO: Do you care about fashion much?

JACKSON: No, I care about what I wear onstage. You know what I love, though? I don’t care about everyday clothes. I love putting on an outfit or a costume and just looking at myself in the mirror. Baggy pants or some real funky shoes and a hat and just feeling the character of it. That’s fun to me.

COLACELLO: You like to act a lot just in everyday life?

JACKSON: I love it so much. It’s escape. It’s fun. It’s just neat to become another thing, another person. Especially when you really believe in it and it’s not like you’re acting. I always hated the word acting—to say, “I’m an actor.” It should be more than that. It should be more like a believer.

COLACELLO: But isn’t that a little frightening when you believe it totally?

JACKSON: No, that’s what I really love about it. I just like to really forget.

COLACELLO: Why do you want to forget so much? Do you think life is really hard?

JACKSON: No, maybe it’s because I just like jumping in other people’s lives and exploring. Like Charlie Chaplin. I just love him to death. The little tramp, the whole gear and everything, and his heart—everything he portrayed on the screen was a truism. It was his whole life. He was born in London, and his father died an alcoholic when he was six. He roamed the streets of England, begging, poor, hungry. All this reflects on the screen and that’s what I like to do, to bring all of those truths out . . .

COLACELLO: Do you sometimes feel as though you missed out on childhood because you’ve always been performing in the adult world?

JACKSON: Sometimes.

COLACELLO: But you like people older than yourself, experienced people.

JACKSON: I love experienced people. I love people who are phenomenally talented. I love people who’ve worked so hard and been so courageous and are the leaders in their fields. For me to meet somebody like that and learn from them and share words with them—to me that’s magic. To work together. I’m crazy about Steven Spielberg. Another inspiration for me, and I don’t know where it came from, is children. If I’m down, I’ll take a book with children’s pictures and look at it and it will just lift me up. Being around children is magic . . .

COLACELLO: Are you interested in art?

JACKSON: I love to draw—pencil, ink pen—I love art. When I go on tour and visit museums in Holland, Germany or England—you know those huge paintings?—I’m just amazed. You don’t think a painter could do something like that. I can look at a piece of sculpture or a painting and totally lose myself in it. Standing there watching it and becoming part of the scene. It can draw tears, it can touch you so much. See, that’s where I think the actor or performer should be—to touch that truth inside of the person. Touch that reality so much that they become a part of what you’re doing and you can take them anywhere you want to. You’re happy, they’re happy. Whatever the human emotions, they’re right there with you. I love realism. I don’t like plastics. Deep down inside we’re all the same. We all have the same emotions and that’s why a film like E.T. touches everybody. Who doesn’t want to fly like Peter Pan? Who doesn’t want to fly with some magic creature from outer space and be friends with him? Steven went straight to the heart. He knows—when in doubt, go for the heart . . .

[Andy Warhol calls from New York.]

ANDY WARHOL: Hello?

JACKSON: Hi.

WARHOL: Gosh, this is exciting. You know, every time I use my Walkman I play your cassette on it . . . How have you been?

JACKSON: I’ve been in the studio a lot, writing lyrics and working on songs and stuff.

WARHOL: I might go see an English rock group at the Ritz tonight called Duran Duran. Do you know them?

JACKSON: No.

WARHOL: I went to see Blondie at the Meadowlands last week.

JACKSON: How was Blondie?

WARHOL: She was great. She’s so terrific. Do you know her?

JACKSON: No, I never met her.

WARHOL: Well, when you come to New York I’ll introduce her. Going on tour is about the hardest thing to do in the world.

JACKSON: Tour is something—the pacing. But being onstage is the most magic thing about it . . .

WARHOL: Did you ever think you’d grow up to be a singer?

JACKSON: I don’t ever remember not singing, so I never dreamed of singing.

WARHOL: Do you go out a lot or stay home?

JACKSON: I stay home.

WARHOL: Why do you stay home? There’s so much fun out. When you come to New York we’ll take you out.

JACKSON: The only time I want to go out is when I’m in New York.

WARHOL: Do you go to the movies?

JACKSON: Oh, yes. We’re going to be working on the E.T. album. I had a picture session with E.T. and it was so wonderful . . . He’s hugging me and everything.

WARHOL: I like Tron. It’s like playing the video games. Have you seen it?

JACKSON: Yes. It didn’t move me.

WARHOL: Well, thanks a lot. See you soon.

JACKSON: I hope so . . .

   

Pictures not included in original article

2003

This interview, which took place in early June 2003, actually came about as the magazine was planning a piece on Pharrell Williams, who at the time was an upstart producer from Virginia. As the editors were arranging the story with Williams, he casually mentioned that he’d always wanted to speak to Jackson, who had been in the news after appearing in British journalist Martin Bashir’s infamous television documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, which portrayed the singer at his most bizarre. A complex chain of e-mails and phone calls ensued, messages were passed, reputations were vouched for, and a few days later, Jackson’s office called to say that he would do the interview.

MICHAEL JACKSON: So, I’m interviewing you, right? And I think it’s seven questions, or something like that?

PHARRELL WILLIAMS: Sure. Whatever you like.

JACKSON: Okay. What would you say inspires you in your music? What is it that inspires you to create your music?

WILLIAMS: It’s a feeling. You treat the air as a canvas and the paint is the chords that come through your fingers, out of the keyboard. So when I’m playing, I’m sort of painting a feeling in the air. I know that might sound corny, but—

JACKSON: No. No, that’s a perfect analogy.

WILLIAMS: And when you know it’s done, you know it’s done. It’s like painting or sculpting. When you let it go it’s because you know that it’s finished. It’s completed. And vice versa—it tells you, “Hey, I’m not done.”

JACKSON: Yeah. And it refuses to let you sleep until it’s finished.

WILLIAMS: That’s right.

JACKSON: Yeah, I go through the same thing. [laughs] And what do you think of the music today—are you into the new sounds that are being created and the direction that music is going?

WILLIAMS: Well, personally, I kind of feel like I’m taking notes from people like yourself and Stevie [Wonder] and Donny [Hathaway], and just sort of doing what feels right.

JACKSON: Right.

WILLIAMS: You know, like when everyone was going one way, you went Off the Wall.

JACKSON: Right. [laughs]

WILLIAMS: And when everyone else was going another way, you went Thriller. You just did it your way. And I’m taking notes from people like yourself, like not being afraid to listen to your feelings and turn your aspirations and ambitions into material. Making it happen, making it materialize . . .

JACKSON: Who are some of the older artists—not the artists on the radio today—who inspired you when you were younger? Like the artists your father listened to, did you learn anything from those artists?

WILLIAMS: Absolutely. The Isley Brothers.

JACKSON: Yeah, me too. I love the Isley Brothers. And I love Sly and the Family Stone.

WILLIAMS: Donny, Stevie.

JACKSON: You like all the people I like. [laughs]

WILLIAMS: Those chord changes. They take you away.

JACKSON: Beautiful, beautiful. Okay, well, where are you? In New York?

WILLIAMS: I’m in Virginia Beach, Virginia, sir.

JACKSON: Virginia! Oh, beautiful. Will you give my love to Virginia?

WILLIAMS: Yes. Thank you.

JACKSON: And your mother and your parents? Because God has blessed you with special gifts.

WILLIAMS: Thank you, sir. And I just want to say something, and I don’t know if you want to hear this, but I just have to say it because it’s on my heart. But people bother you—

JACKSON: Yeah.

WILLIAMS: Because they love you. That’s the only reason why. When you do something that people don’t necessarily understand, they’re going to make it into a bigger problem than they would for anybody else because you’re one of the most amazing talents that’s ever lived. You’ve accomplished and achieved more in this century than most any other men.

JACKSON: Well, thank you very much. That’s very kind of you.

WILLIAMS: What you do is so amazing. When you are 100 years old, and they’re still making up things about what you’ve done to this and what you’ve done to that on your body—please believe me, if you decided you wanted to dip your whole body in chrome, you are so amazing that the world, no matter what they say, is going to be right there to see it. And that is because of what you have achieved in the music world, and in changing people’s lives. People are having children to your songs. You’ve affected the world.

JACKSON: Thank you very much. It’s like the bigger the star, the bigger the target. You know when you’re—and I’m not being a braggadocio or anything like that—but you know you’re on top when they start throwing arrows at you. Even Jesus was crucified. People who bring light to the world, from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King to Jesus Christ, even myself. And my motto has been Heal the World, We are the World, Earth Song, Save Our Children, Help Our Planet. And people want to persecute me for it, but it never hurts, because the fan base becomes stronger. And the more you hit something hard, the more hardened it becomes—the stronger it becomes. And that’s what’s happened: I’m resilient. I have rhinoceros skin. Nothing can hurt me. Nothing.

WILLIAMS: That’s precisely my point. I just want to let you know you’re amazing, man. What you do to music, what you’ve done to music, from “Billie Jean” to “That’s What You Get (For Being Polite)”—[sings]“That’s what you get for being polite.”

JACKSON: Oh, you know that one? [laughs]

WILLIAMS: [sings] “Jack still sits all alone.”

JACKSON: Boy, you know all those ones . . . [hums a guitar riff]

WILLIAMS: If I never work with you, just know that you are unstoppable. That’s why I said, when you’re 100 years old and you decide to dip your entire body in chrome, as much as they say things—and I don’t care what they say about you, sir—they’re going to be right there to see it.

JACKSON: There’s a lot of jealousy there. I love all races, I love all people, but sometimes there’s a devil in people, and they get jealous. Every time there’s a luminary that goes beyond the heights of his field of endeavor, people tend to get jealous and try to bring him down. But they can’t with me because I’m very, very, very strong. [laughs] They don’t know that, though.

WILLIAMS: They know! Please believe me, they know!

JACKSON: Anybody else would’ve cracked by now; they can’t crack me. I’m very strong.

WILLIAMS: Of course. They couldn’t crack you when you were 10, because you were destroying grown men doing what you did with your voice and your talent. And when you were 20, you were outdoing people that had been doing it for 20 or 30 years. And nowadays they’re still waiting to see where you’re at. They want to see your kids, they want to see your world. You’re amazing, and I just wanted to tell you that, man. And I hope that this all gets printed because it’s very important to me. I hope that I can be half as dope as you one day.

JACKSON: Oh, God bless you. You’re wonderful, too . . . Have a lovely day.

WILLIAMS: You too, sir.

JACKSON: Thank you. Bye.

WILLIAMS: Bye.