Man in the Music

by Joseph Vogel

  Diane Dimond was perhaps even more forceful in her belief that Jackson was guilty, though some of her tactics and claims—including reporting that she was privy to an incriminating video of Jackson, which turned out not to exist—raised concerns from established journalists. Still, the information she received from the Chandlers and the district attorney’s office led her to the conclusion that where there was smoke, there was fire.

  Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli was sought out by many in the media at the time. His biography, Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story, was critical of Jackson in many ways, documenting an artist increasingly cut off from reality. However, he told Maureen Orth that in his decade interviewing people on and off the record he found nothing that pointed to Jackson’s guilt. Moreover, he noted that Jackson never tried to hide his relationships with children. “If Michael Jackson is guilty of anything, it’s poor judgment,” he said. “Many people have warned him over the years that this kind of thing could happen. But he’s the type of person you can’t really tell what to do.”

  In an in-depth piece for GQ in 1995, journalist Mary Fischer described the coverage of the allegations against Jackson as “a frenzy of hype and unsubstantiated rumor, with the line between tabloid and mainstream journalism virtually eliminated.” Fischer’s case, like Orth’s, was thoroughly sourced, though they came to very different conclusions. “What became of the massive investigation of Jackson?” she wrote. “After millions of dollars were spent by prosecutors and police departments in two jurisdictions, and after two grand juries questioned close to two hundred witnesses, including thirty children who knew Jackson, not a single corroborating witness could be found.”

  As the allegations swirled in the media, those close to Jackson watched him rapidly deteriorate. “Nothing in the world could have hurt him more,” said actress and close friend Elizabeth Taylor. “If it had been calculated. If they’d planned an assassination, they couldn’t have done it any better….It almost broke his heart.” After the news broke, Jackson canceled multiple shows on his tour due to “dehydration.” The truth was that he could barely function. He began taking heavy doses of painkillers; some close friends believed he might kill himself. Asked how he was holding up in a phone interview with Taraborrelli around this time, he confessed: “I’m just very, very…sad. It’s such a terrible world, isn’t it? No love in the world.” The Dangerous World Tour somehow pushed forward for another few months, but by November, the artist couldn’t do it anymore.

  That month he announced that he had become addicted to painkillers and would cancel the rest of his tour to seek treatment. He explained in a written statement:

  As I left on this tour, I had been the target of an extortion attempt, and shortly thereafter was accused of horrifying and outrageous conduct. I was humiliated, embarrassed, hurt and suffering great pain in my heart. The pressure resulting from these false allegations coupled with the incredible energy necessary for me to perform caused so much distress that it left me physically and emotionally exhausted. I became increasingly more dependent on the painkillers to get me through the days of the tour. My friends and doctors advised me to seek professional guidance immediately in order to eliminate what has become an addiction. It is time for me to acknowledge my need for treatment in order to regain my health. I realize that completing the tour is no longer possible and I must cancel the remaining dates. I know I can overcome the problem and will be stronger from the experience.

  Soon after, Jackson checked into a rehab facility recommended by friends Elizabeth Taylor and Elton John.

  NIGHTMARE IN NEVERLAND

  The investigation against Jackson was led by conservative Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon, who approached the case with unusual zeal. Nicknamed “Mad Dog,” Sneddon was known for his hot temper and aggressive legal tactics. He was also known as “the single most powerful person in all of Santa Barbara County.”

  His investigation began with a dramatic raid of Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, his family’s Hayvenhurst home, and his condo in Los Angeles shortly after the pop star left on tour in August 1993. More than seventy officers descended on his properties, breaking down doors, slashing open mattresses, and taking away journals, books, videos, and photos in boxes. Officers combed through every square inch of Jackson’s properties—looking under beds and in desks and closets and rummaging through his personal belongings. “Imagine having someone going through all of your stuff while you’re a million miles away,” Jackson later told Taraborrelli.

  They took all kinds of things, stupid things like videotapes of me at Disneyland, pictures of my friends, boxes and boxes of personal things. And diaries! Imagine having some stranger reading your most private thoughts, his filthy hands turning all of those private pages, thoughts about [my] mother and the way I feel about God. It was vicious. And we still haven’t gotten back a lot of stuff. It makes me cry when I think about it. But in all of my private stuff, there wasn’t one piece of evidence to prove I had done anything wrong.

  The Santa Barbara County Police Department scoured through Jackson’s belongings, searching for a note, a photo, a videotape—anything that might substantiate the allegation. Among Jackson’s massive library, they did find two large-format art books titled Boys Will Be Boys and The Boy: A Photographic Essay, but both books were legally available for sale at bookstores and not considered pornography. One of the books was inscribed by a fan who gifted the book to the artist; the other contained an inscription from Jackson, which read: “Look at the true spirit of happiness and joy in these boys’ faces, this is the spirit of Boyhood. A life I never had and will always dream of. This is the life I want for my children.”

  Toward the end of 1993, the Santa Barbara County Police Department received a warrant to conduct a strip search of Jackson’s body. Pictures were taken of the artist’s penis and buttocks. Some experts felt the intrusive search was not only unnecessary, given that Jackson’s medical records (including photos of his body) had already been obtained, but unconstitutional, because it was not a criminal investigation. Shortly after this experience, in his first televised appearance since the allegations surfaced, Jackson blasted the Santa Barbara County Police Department for forcing him “to submit to a dehumanizing and humiliating examination.” He continued: “But if this is what I have to endure to prove my innocence—my complete innocence—so be it.” (The rationale for the strip search—to corroborate Jordan’s description of Jackson’s genitalia—produced mixed results. It corroborated his skin disorder, vitiligo, but Sneddon had hoped to confirm that Jackson was circumcised; he was not).

  Over the nearly two-year investigation, dozens of children associated with Jackson were interviewed by investigators. All asserted that the artist never did anything sexually inappropriate with them. Meanwhile, the FBI was also conducting its own independent investigation of Jackson. Its three-hundred-page file on the pop star, released under the Freedom of Information Act in 2009, found nothing incriminating. According to the Associated Press, “The FBI monitored Jackson for more than a decade [after the 1993 allegations], but the files contain no major revelations about his private life and the bureau apparently never developed any solid evidence against him.”

  Not that this put an end to questions surrounding the nature of Jackson’s affection for children. For many, the indisputable fact that Jackson allowed children to sleep over at his house and in hotel rooms, including in his bed, was damning. Critics claimed he was able to get away with it because of his star power, his celebrity. Even his closest friends and supporters acknowledged that he made poor decisions. No matter how much he claimed to want to re-create the childhood he missed, they recognized, allowing children to sleep over was naive and reckless at best. All of Jackson’s close friends, family, and advisors told him as much. They believed he was innocent but saw a man who was, in certain ways, cut off from reality—oblivious to the vulne
rable position he had put himself in and how it would be perceived.

  For his part, Jackson adamantly maintained his innocence throughout the rest of his life. “I could never harm a child, or anyone. It’s not in my heart, it’s not who I am,” he told ABC-TV correspondent Diane Sawyer in 1995. In another interview, he said he would “slit his wrists” before he would hurt a child. Those close to the artist, including family, relatives, collaborators, close friends, and eventually his own children, all likewise attested to their belief in his innocence. “I never thought that Michael’s thing with kids was sexual,” said actress and friend Carrie Fisher. “Never. Granted, it was miles from appropriate, but just because it wasn’t normal doesn’t mean that it had to be perverse.”

  The trauma of the 1993 allegations, however, had lasting effects. Jordan Chandler’s life was torn apart. Not long after the allegations went public, he was separated from his mother, stepfather, and sister by his father. In her 2005 court testimony, June Chandler stated that she had not seen her son since 1994. Around the same time, Jordan filed papers for legal emancipation from both of his parents. In 2006, he accused his father of attacking him with a barbell and mace. In 2009, Evan Chandler died by suicide in his New Jersey high-rise apartment. Jordan has carried on with his life in quiet anonymity.

  For Jackson, meanwhile, his reputation would never be the same, nor would his life. His insulation and fear of the outside world only grew stronger. His anxiety became debilitating at times. And his dependence on painkillers and other prescription medications, as well as dangerous intravenous anesthetics to help him sleep, would eventually lead to his death.

  In early 1994, faced with the prospect of years of drawn-out litigation and bad press, Jackson decided to settle the civil case out of court. It was a consequential choice, and the artist’s bloated legal team and close advisors were divided on the decision. Attorney Bert Fields advised Jackson to vindicate himself in court. “They had a very weak case,” Fields said. “We wanted to fight. Michael wanted to fight and go through a trial. We felt we could win.”

  Ultimately, other voices prevailed upon Jackson. He was particularly concerned about how much of his life and career might be consumed in courtrooms. “I talked to my lawyers,” Jackson recalled, “and I said, ‘Can you guarantee me that justice will prevail?’ And they said, ‘Michael, we cannot guarantee you that a judge or a jury will do anything.’ And with that I was like catatonic. I was outraged. Totally outraged. So what I said…[I said,] ‘I have got to do something to get out from under this nightmare. All these lies and all these people coming forth to get paid and all these tabloid shows, just lies, lies, lies…This could be something that could go on for seven years.’ We said, ‘Let’s get it behind us.’ ”

  The settlement was officially announced on January 26, 1994, with Jackson acknowledging “negligence” but maintaining his innocence. The Chandler family reportedly received $15 million in the settlement. That same month, after interviewing more than two hundred witnesses and with Jordan Chandler refusing to testify, two grand juries deemed that there was insufficient evidence for criminal charges against Jackson.

  A ROYAL MARRIAGE

  Begun just weeks after the settlement was announced, the HIStory album became Jackson’s canvas for the anguish, anger, and emotional turmoil of the previous two years. “You have to have that tragedy, that pain to pull from,” he said of the paradoxical inspiration of art.

  The original plan for HIStory was a greatest-hits collection with a few new songs tacked on. However, with an influx of promising new material, Jackson quickly opted to make it a double-disc album—one disc containing his classic hits and one with all new songs. “In truth, I really didn’t want the album to be about old songs,” Jackson said. “To me greatest hits albums are boring. And I wanted to keep creating.” The new album, he believed, would be a powerful rebuttal to those who declared him dead.

  Helping with both his confidence and resilience was a new presence in his life—Lisa Marie Presley. The only daughter of rock legend Elvis, Lisa Marie was a breath of fresh air for Jackson. Introduced to each other by Jackson’s longtime attorney John Branca, the two grew close during the most difficult year of Jackson’s life. “I was on tour,” the artist recalled, “and it seemed like I was in Armageddon….All these horrible stories were going around about me….It was unbelievable. Lisa Marie would call. I could count my true friends on one hand. She was very, very supportive the whole time. That really impressed me. She would call and be crying.”

  Having lost her own father to a drug overdose, Lisa was sensitive to what Jackson endured as a larger-than-life superstar and anxious to help him recover from his addiction to painkillers. She was also eager to help fend off what she described as the surrounding “vultures.”

  When Jackson returned to the United States in December 1993, the two began seeing each other. “The brilliant thing about us is that we were often together but did not let anybody know about it,” said Jackson. “We got to see each other that way….We were really quiet and comfortable with each other. That’s pretty much how the dating started happening….We spent a lot of time on the ranch and just walked around and talked….It happened, it unfolded all natural. We could feel the feeling we had for each other without even talking about it. It was all in the vibrations, the feelings and the look in our eyes.”

  “We fell in love,” confessed Presley. While that was hard for the public to believe, she said their courtship contained all the normal things one would expect in a blossoming relationship—“flowers, calls, candies, you name it.”

  Jackson proposed to Presley in his library at Neverland. A few months later, the couple snuck out of the United States and were married in a private ceremony in the Dominican Republic. By some miracle, the couple managed to keep the marriage a secret for nearly two months afterward, as they honeymooned in Budapest, Hungary, and Disney World, before settling in together at Neverland Ranch.

  When the press finally got wind of the marriage, there was a predictable frenzy—and a great deal of skepticism. Many saw it as a PR move, given that Jackson was less than a year out of his child abuse scandal. Others claimed Presley was using him to launch her own singing career or to get Jackson and his money into the Church of Scientology (Lisa Marie was introduced to the religion by her mother, Priscilla, and still loosely connected to it when she and Jackson married).

  In multiple interviews (even after their divorce), however, Presley claimed that while she could understand the skepticism, the marriage was indeed real. “Our relationship was not ‘a sham’ as is being reported in the press,” she wrote shortly after learning of Jackson’s death in 2009. “It was an unusual relationship, yes, where two unusual people who did not live or know a ‘normal life’ found a connection….Nonetheless, I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much.”

  With her support and encouragement, Jackson was ready to start fresh and move on to a new phase of his life and artistry.

  HISTORY BEGINS

  Michael Jackson was about to begin recording music again at Record One in Sherman Oaks—the same studio where most of Dangerous was recorded—when a massive earthquake hit the Los Angeles area. It was January 17, 1994. The earthquake lasted only about ten seconds, but people felt it from hundreds of miles away. It ultimately killed ten people and caused over $25 billion worth of damage.

  The quake terrified Jackson so deeply that he decided to relocate his recording operations to New York City. In truth, by then he was ready to get out of California anyway, given the events of the past year.

  While he worked out a host of complicated, difficult decisions with his legal team, he sent musician Brad Buxer ahead to get set up in New York and start preparing tracks that were already demoed. The rest of the crew—including Bruce Swedien, Matt Forger, and Brad Sundberg—weren’t far behind.

  For HIStory,
Buxer became Jackson’s go-to musical translator. A brilliant musician and engineer, Buxer was meticulous, intense, and eager to please. “He lived and breathed the music,” recording engineer James Khalaf explained to biographer Steve Knopper. “He knew every little nuance of everything. He tried to make me put things in the [Dangerous World Tour] mix that weren’t even on the records because they were on the original multitrack recordings.”

  Buxer had earned Jackson’s trust during the recording of Dangerous—on which he helped out with songs like “Heal the World” and “Will You Be There”—but he impressed the artist even more while on tour. Not only did Jackson rely on Buxer to handle the details and responsibilities of the shows as music director; the two also began collaborating on new music. When Jackson had ideas, he would call up Buxer (who traveled with his keyboard and gear). Their most important collaboration came in Moscow in mid-September 1993, just weeks after the sexual abuse allegations had gone public. They were staying at the Hotel Metropol and Jackson was staring out his window at the rain one morning when inspiration struck. He called Buxer up to his room. Less than two hours later, they had created a demo for one of Jackson’s best songs: “Stranger in Moscow.”

  It was the song Buxer went back to work on when he arrived in New York City in the winter of 1994. That January, the new creative team gradually got settled in to their new headquarters. Jackson rented out the entire thirty-fourth floor of the Four Seasons hotel in Midtown Manhattan for his team. The artist, meanwhile, stayed a couple blocks away in a three-floor suite at Trump Tower.

  Jackson arrived in New York in early March, a couple of months behind the rest of the crew. Initially, he worked with Brad Buxer and his sound engineer Eddie DeLena at Sony Music Studios. Sony wanted to push a greatest-hits album out as quickly as possible to remind the public of Jackson’s musical legacy. They thought that by allowing him the studio space, it would help them keep an eye on the artist and ensure that the project stayed focused.