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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 8, 2021 4:42:39 GMT
This thread will be for memories of all his friends, people who work with Michael, and people who had encounters with Michael but wasn't necessary an fan or friend of his.
all positive. negative is okay too as long it not being hurtful or bashing Michael, his family, etc.
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 8, 2021 8:23:41 GMT
'A sophisticated gentleman from the 1940s, his ankle-length hat and trousers became a symbol of artist Michael Jackson, as well as the embodiment of "Billie Jean" after revealing the moonwalk in 1983.
The moonwalk is unforgettable, but it wouldn't have been impressive if Michael's pants hem covered his shoes. ''A large picture is composed with small details,' he said
The details don't stop there. Billie Jean's Fedora hat paved the way for many later hats, including Smooth Criminal's white hat. The hats were functional and fun: they made Michael several inches taller, it was a fantastic accessory for and completed his look.
As the crowd around Michael increased, the hem of his pants shortened. When we become exclusive designers, we line up their classic Billie Jean cotton pleated pants with extra fabric in their pockets. While dancing, Michael could stick his hands in his pockets and lift his pants, thus directing the eyes of the audience to where he wanted them to look: probably his irresistible game of legs. Using a little extra fabric where it doesn't normally exist, we helped Michael get his clothes moving without the audience realizing how he touched them. Your clothes could move, jump, act... without the slightest change.
Another illusion we created has to do with Michael's height. He was 1.78 cm, but we created a larger figure than reality. The longest line of the body goes from waist to feet and most of the height is on the legs, so to make the legs even longer, we add a thin strap from the waist to the end of the hem. That worked wonderfully well because the strip captured the light as Michael walked and danced profile across the stage.'
— by Michael Bush, stylist and personal watch of Michael Jackson in his book 'The King of Style: Dressing Michael Jackson'
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 8, 2021 8:38:13 GMT
'The magic created through illusion has also gained the form of a Chinese seed. It was during the filming of the video "Dirty Diana". Michael should wear a black leather jacket. He put it on and stopped it. "Wait a minute," he said. "That jacket doesn't move with the wind.'' I saw him fighting with his jacket while dancing. The wind on his face didn't seem to make sense. The jacket didn't respond to your movement. During the break, we went to his trailer and he said, "Bush, your shirt is flashing at me." He didn't have to say anything else. I took off my white shirt and Michael put it on, looking delighted and relieved in the full-length mirror. During the next take, the white shirt became an extension of him, creating the illusion that his physical presence occupied more space than it actually did.' — by Michael Bush, stylist and personal watch of Michael Jackson in his book 'The King of Style: Dressing Michael Jackson'
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 8, 2021 9:20:09 GMT
''Andrew Wyeth calls and calls me to drink. He asks the following question, "So who is Michael Jackson?"
Jackson had just released Thriller and was the most talked about celebrity on the planet, but surprisingly, Andy had never heard of him.
Turns out Jackson had come into contact with Andy —he wanted a self-portrait. Andy was rarely open to this sort of thing, even remotely, but the next night I brought a video (remember the VHS?) Of Jackson doing his Moonwalk step
Andy was intrigued by what he saw and said he would meet jackson to see how it could all unfold.
The day Michael arrived was amazing. He traveled with a large entourage and it was all "top secret", but the ice broke very quickly when we all walked together through the Brandywine River Museum and admired Wyeth's paintings.
The things I remember most about the day include a young woman who realized she was a meter away from Michael Jackson and immediately fainted.
I remember all the museum staff begging to take a picture with Michael so they could share them with children; I vividly remember Michael being very shy.
And sweet. Above all, I remember that of all things that day, he was more attracted to the children. Nothing disturbing ... What I remember was thinking, this guy's just a kid, he was like Peter Pan.
Oh! and Michael jackson's portrait by Andy Wyeth never happened.''
— by Peter Ralston
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 8, 2021 9:37:47 GMT
The man I knew was a kind man who donned his work and money to charity. The countless profits of dozens of concerts were earmarked for Heal The World Foundation.
Michael Jackson felt pain, not only for the starving children, but for the people of America who remained indifferent to the injustice he did against him, making him a prisoner in his own land and causing him to flee to the Middle East and eventually find solitude in Ireland in my home.
What an irony that someone who cared so much about humanity was rejected by his own.
It was a pain that he felt deeply and that occasionally discussed with me...''
— by Dr. Patrick Treacy, physician and dermatologist
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 10, 2021 16:44:00 GMT
In 2006, I received a phone call asking if I was available to work in London. I was told that a gentleman had been traveling from America for ten days. They didn't tell me who it was, but they asked if I could work as a private security guard for him and told me that the job would start the next day. I agreed.
When I arrived at Heathrow Airport the next day, I received a document telling me who the customer was: Michael Jackson.
I went to London for the World Music Awards in 2006 stayed at the Hempel Hotel in Bayswater. There were fans from all over the world who rented rooms at the hotel just so they could be in the lobby when he came down every day. They all had taxis booked for the whole day to follow us wherever we went.
He's very calm and very quiet. I always remember him as a very polite person.
It wasn't until many years later that I realized how important that job was.''
— by Simon Newton, Newsweek
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 11, 2021 14:13:11 GMT
Michael Jackson ‘so generous and patient’ working in the studio – ‘Encouraging and sweet’ Michael Jackson collaborator Glen Ballard famously worked on the King of Pop’s studio albums Thriller, Bad and Dangerous, most notably co-writing Man in the Mirror. And now the lyricist and record producer has shared his studio memories of the late star. It all began when Glen was given his big break on Thriller by Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton. Glen, who was promoting Back to the Future the Musical which he wrote the lyrics and music with Alan Silvestri, shared: “I was just a young songwriter and they liked my songs. Somehow I got involved with them on a George Benson record in 1980 called Give Me the Night. “I did work on Thriller. I wrote a song for Thriller that didn’t make the album and actually Michael and I did a little demo of it in the studio at Westlake. “And the next week Michael Jackson came in with two new songs. One was called Billie Jean and the other was called Beat It. “So they knocked my little song right off the record. But, you know, I never complained because the two songs that knocked it off were so much better!” Nevertheless, Glen stuck around for Jackson’s 1987 album Bad and was fortunate to get a Billboard No 1 hit with Man in the Mirror. The 68-year-old said: “It’s one of the great weeks of my life to have Michael and the choir and we all felt something special was happening on that record. “I was just lucky to have been there and to have worked with Quincy. I worked as a staff producer with him for three years. “I was working with the greatest musicians, the greatest singers, the best studios. It was like a dream come true for me.” Glen added: “I don’t think I slept for about a decade because I was so happy to be working y’know.” On being with Jackson in the studio, he shared: “Michael was so generous with his time and with his patience. “Making records in the eighties was much more difficult. To get enough tracks we had to do all kinds of things to make it like a modern thing where you had unlimited tracks. “Michael was always patient. He was just a sweet presence always and always encouraging.” And then on working on 1991’s Dangerous, Glen said: “We wrote a song called Keep The Faith and I sat at the piano and Siedah Garrett was there with me and Michael. “We spent half the time laughing and having fun and just trying to find the easy end for the song. “It was never like a gun to your head, it was just fun. That’s the Quincy Jones way. We’ve got to have fun while we’ll working.” While on writing the music and lyrics of Back to the Future the Musical with Alan Silvestri, he said: “We discovered it lends itself perfectly to a two-act musical because we go to the fifties and we go to the eighties. From a musicians’ standpoint, just getting the flavors of those two periods’ music, which are quite different, gave us an opportunity.” Glen also confirmed that the Back to the Future theme does feature in the show. He continued: “We’re using it extensively throughout because every time you hear a note of his score you’re back in Hill Valley. So we already have a time machine, it’s called Alan Silvestri’s score. “We just used it in the most strategic and beautiful way, interwoven with new songs and we still have the greats from the movie: Johnny B Goode, Power of Love, Back in Time, Earth Angel. “We never wanted to dance around it. We wanted to firmly embed them where they belong. For us, it was just a gift.” www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/1500885/Michael-Jackson-studio-albums-Thriller-Bad-Dangerous-Glen-Ballard-interview
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 12, 2021 11:38:21 GMT
He was a very, very funny man. A real prankster who even laughed at himself.
I remember I was at the Hilton [Hotel] in California, doing some work for him. I don't remember what the project is now. Michael was on Sunset Boulevard in a recording studio. He called me and it was about 11:00 p.m., and he said,
"Did you get to finish our project?"
And I said, "Yes, I'm done."
"Come here to the studio!."
So I went there and when I came in through the front door, he picked me up and we went to a small warehouse, and he said, "David... someone is angry with me."
And I said, "What happened?"
There was Slash and Jimmy Jam and all those great musicians. And Michael made them all play a hundred times! These guys weren't used to recording the same song more than once and Michael kept them in the studio until 5:00 in the morning!
I had a big portfolio, a kind of folder with all my drawings. And after we saw and ate pizza, I went back to the hotel.
Returning to the hotel, I noticed that my briefcase was heavy beyond normal, I opened the briefcase, and it was like 10 kilos of gum cascading out. First of all, I didn't see him putting it there and secondly, who had hundreds or thousands of pieces of gum?
I wonder where he got them...''
— by David Nordahl, personal portraitist of Michael Jackson
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 20, 2021 13:55:03 GMT
''I've known Michael for over 20 years. I taught him meditation at the Neverland ranch. He was shy and withdrawn, but very interested in consciousness and spirituality. While the world called him a stranger, he wondered why the world is so strange.
He asked me why people went to war; what is happening in Sudan; because we destroy the environment; because genocide, racism, intolerance, hatred and prejudice exist...
When we talked about the hungry children in Mumbai, Michael cried; when discussing bear hunting in Canada, he was also extremely sad. In his opinion, this world was crazy.''
— by Deepak Chopra, physician and writer.
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 23, 2021 17:38:52 GMT
It was in the early 1990s that I met pop legend Michael Jackson in a recording studio. The meeting took place through my friend Harvey Elkin, then the manager of Jackson's album producer, Teddy Riley.
I went in and there was Michael Jackson sitting in the corner, Harvey took me to Michael and introduced me, however, I reminded Michael that we met a few years earlier at my brother's wedding.
He then remembered and invited me to dinner with them in the studio. Michael was also very impressed that I was John White's brother and was very curious about what I was doing, and I told him I was a Talent Agent and represented young comedians. Michael was fascinated, and when I told him I represented Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, Tommy Davidson and Russell Simmons, he was astonished. He was a big fan of Tommy Davison; I remember Michael saying he liked to watch Tommy Davidson imitating himself.
Michael even asked me if I could take him to the Comedy Store on Sunset Blvd, so he could see Tommy Davidson live and meet him. I told Michael I'd set it up.
Michael continued and asked me many questions about my life, my family and my childhood.
I was surprised and wondered why this icon was interested in my life, my career, my childhood and my family. After our dinner, Michael asked if I'd like to watch a movie with him, ''Sure! What movie?'', I asked. Michael said he loved the movie, The Ninja Turtles, I said I had never watched it and would love to watch it with him.
Harvey Elkin, he put the VHS on and we watched the whole movie. After the movie, it was after midnight, I felt I had to go. I said goodbye to Michael and thanked him for his hospitality. Michael made a point of telling my brother to call him; he hadn't spoken to him in a while and had some new business to discuss with him.
The next day I called John and shared with him the surreal night I had with Michael Jackson... My brother ended up calling Michael a few days after they reconnected on new projects. Michael met my brother a few weeks later during a Cirque du Soleil concert and asked my brother to invite me to go with them. I could invite a friend to come with me so I called my business partner, Worthy Patterson. It was a long ride!
We found Michael at his condo in West Wood. My brother came in to pick up Michael and Worthy and I waited in the car, thinking Michael would come with us. My brother went out alone and said that Michael was taking his car and that my brother was going to drive with Michael, and we'd follow him. I remember following Michael with his custom truck down Wilshire Blvd to Santa Monica, California.
And let me tell you something... It wasn't an easy task to keep up with Michael. He wasn't that kind of person who drove well. And most impressive was that there was no security with him—it was just Michael Jackson and my brother and I "trying" to follow them.
I distinctly remember stopping backstage at Cirque du Soleil, and there was security waiting for Michael, they waved him past and stopped me. Michael stopped his car and very quickly told the security guard "they're with me, let them in". We parked next to Michael and a security army accompanied us to the show, Michael put on a mask to cover his face and we were escorted to a place reserved for us. We were Michael, my brother, Worthy Patterson and me. Michael took off his mask and as soon as we sat down the show had just begun... I expected others to join us; however, no one did! It was just us.
After the show, I remember, Michael was recognized, and many fans showed up asking him to sign autographs, he kindly signed all his fans' autographs, and we were accompanied and taken on a backstage tour but in an instant the madness began, fans began to crowd and we knew it was time for us to go. Michael ran to his car with my brother. The windows darkened, no one suspected Michael was in the truck, however, everyone thought Michael was in my Rolls Royce and we had some trouble getting out of the parking lot.
Michael was right in front of us and he waited for us to catch up and we followed him back to his condo in Westwood. I remember, he drove straight to the underground parking lot and I waited outside for my brother to leave. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Michael, but my brother told me that Michael enjoyed our company and thanked us for joining him.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get Michael Jackson's date with Tommy Davidson, and that was the last time I saw Michael Jackson. I will always remember that day, unforgettable.''
— by Billy White
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 27, 2021 0:05:40 GMT
''It's very difficult to give credit to what I've written—I always feel like it's been sent. I'm the source this is coming from. It is a divine creation ... I can't have the credit; he uses me as his messenger... " " —
Joseph Vogel (writer): "Part of Michael's genius can be found in the extraordinary sublimity of the hymns he wrote." Will You Be There" is a personal song about the universal state. "Music critic John Keyes called this song "one of the best works of his career... a special movement that seems to have been carved from the pages of the Old Testament. If the final words are addressed to God, a beloved or humanity as a whole, they communicate the elementary human longing for love and understanding.''
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Oct 30, 2021 15:11:44 GMT
''Michael Jackson was a very humble, shy and pure person. When you see him on stage, dominated by his movements, you think, "Wow!" This is all very spectacular. But off stage, he was extremely simple and very easy to talk to, and, yes, infinitely shy.
I learned a lot from him. In dance, in the experience of life ... In everything. My goal is to try to inspire other people the way Michael does.''
— by Timor Steffens, dancer who accompanied Michael Jackson in the rehearsals of This Is It
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Nov 2, 2021 17:02:33 GMT
''Michael was very special! In the mid-1980s, when he started the Bad tour, I had the rare opportunity to see him in rehearsals —the opportunity to see Michael Jackson himself in action, with all his dancers, musicians... When you see all this, no doubt you understand who is the boss on stage and who is the real genius!
Every detail in relation to the dancers, every slightest movement—he knew everything.
He asked me to go to Kansas City and said he wanted me to be there at the beginning of the tour. 40,000 screaming fans! And I was there! So he took my hand and we went backstage together. And then I saw a shy and very kind artist who in front of the audience was transforming. A most extraordinary phenomenon I've ever seen!''
— Testimony of Mary Hart, journalist.
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Nov 16, 2021 5:29:52 GMT
"Jackson never made any qualms about his aspirations. He wanted to be the best. When his big hit album Off the Wall (in 1981, the best-selling album ever by a black artist) was overlooked at the Grammy Awards, it only fueled Jackson's determination to create something better.
His next album, Thriller, became the best-selling by any artist in the history of the music industry. He also won a record seven Grammy awards, knocked down color barriers on radio and TV and redefined the possibilities of popular music on a global scale."
— by Joseph Vogel, literary and cultural critic and author of the book, Man in the Music
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Nov 17, 2021 11:49:45 GMT
Felecia Childress was Michael's teacher when he was a young student in Gary, Indiana. In 2009, in front of tributes and memories, she talked about how she met that little boy:
"I think I remember his eyes because he was so happy and almost jumping around the room... and I remember Michael was the center of a lot of attention," Childress said.
The teacher at Garnett Elementary School also talked about a curiosity that perhaps many do not know. Michael Jackson was slightly stuttering:
"Michael had stuttering, but when he sang he didn't lose a note and his tone was perfect. His little voice was perfectly tuned."
Little Michael Jackson attended Garrett Elementary School and when he rose to stardom so young, Childress said he felt for him.
"My heart adid for him, because I remember the joy he felt in living with his little friends, but it was a short period. He didn't have time to be a kid. He just had to leave all that behind and go to the serious part of life. My heart adid when he was gone...''
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