Michael Jackson

by J. Randy Taraborrelli

  Michael intended to deliver Decade to the Sony Corporation, CBS Records’ parent company, in August of 1989. It was scheduled to be released in November in time for the Christmas sales rush.

  ‘I want more money than anyone else has ever gotten,’ Michael told John when the attorney began negotiating with CBS Records for the new album. John did not let him down. He arranged an eighteen million dollar advance, which was, indeed, ‘more money than anyone else has ever gotten’. The deal included a fifteen million dollar straight advance – which CBS would recoup from Jackson’s royalties before he would make a profit on the album – and a non-recoupable three million dollars which was a gift for Michael from his label. (On each of the three album deals John Branca negotiated for Michael Jackson at CBS he succeeded in getting for Michael three million as a bonus.)

  Prior to the latest Michael Jackson deal, the Rolling Stones, who were also represented by John Branca, held the record for the most lucrative contract, with five-million-dollars-plus per album. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Billy Joel had $1.7 million as an advance at the time, Bruce Springsteen $2.5 million, and Madonna $1 million before bonuses, which could make it several times that.

  Michael Jackson’s album royalty was forty-one points. What that means in terms of percentage of retail sale varies with each formula, from CD to tape to disc; however, the album came to approximately 25 per cent of the retail price of each record. Michael’s 25 per cent translated to $2.50 per album sold. However, when the three-million-dollar non-recoupable gift was added to Michael’s royalty rate, it actually jumped to about 29 per cent of retail.

  To put Jackson’s royalty into perspective, Madonna made 18 per cent at the time. Most other acts of superstar status made 12 per cent.

  In its entirety, Michael’s new deal with CBS would be worth as much as fifty million dollars because, in addition to the advance and non-recoupable gift, John Branca had negotiated a joint business venture with the company. According to that arrangement, CBS would finance a custom label for Michael Jackson – a subsidiary of CBS Records which would be Jackson Records (shades of Joseph!) – which Michael would oversee. CBS would provide 100 per cent of the funding for the new label, and then split the profit equally with Michael. He would also own half the stock and thereby be entitled to half the assets if the label was ever sold. This was a coup for Michael and still yet another tribute to John Branca’s masterly negotiating skills.

  Since Janet Jackson had constantly called upon her brother for advice and guidance, John felt that she would be the most logical choice as first artist to sign to the label. Michael was elated at the possibility. (It didn’t happen, though. Instead, Janet signed a contract with Virgin Records for an estimated thirty-two million dollars. When finalized, in March 1991, it was said to be the largest recording contract in history, but these deals are always said to be just that. There’s always a way to calculate ambiguous figures and money not yet earned but projected in such a way to make any decent, big-money record deal ‘the largest in history’.)

  In the final coup de grâce for Michael, as far as Decade was concerned, John Branca negotiated a five-million-dollar advance from Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corporation, the Warner Bros. publishing arm that administers the copyrights on Jackson’s songs. (Michael owns all of his copyrights. Warner-Tamerlane has no ownership, but, for a small fee, the company does collect money generated by publishing deals around the world involving his compositions.) For an artist, five million dollars is a huge advance from a music publishing company; most superstars get about one million.

  All of the pieces of the puzzle were in place for a tremendous Decade kick-off. However, by January 1990, it was obvious that Michael would fail to deliver Decade. He was ambivalent about the format, there was some confusion as to which songs to include on it. The original plan was for the package to consist of four cuts from Off the Wall, seven from Thriller, six from Bad, three to five new songs, ‘State of Shock’ (the hit duet with Mick Jagger); ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, ‘Someone in the Dark’ (from Michael’s E.T. narration album), ‘Come Together’ and two vintage Motown songs that Michael was re-mastering. However, Michael kept vacillating about the plan, and, in the end, his close friend, entertainment mogul David Geffen, finally talked him out of putting out the album, altogether. Rather, Michael would produce an album of new material. (The deal John Branca negotiated for him at CBS and with Warner-Tamerlane applied to any product Michael chooses to issue.) Here we go, again, John Branca must have thought.

  David Geffen Influences Michael

  Though Michael is the sole director of all of his companies, he has an investment committee that meets informally about once a year to discuss his many investments. In 1990, that committee consisted of John Branca and his partner, Kenneth Ziffren; Jackson’s accountant, Marshall Gelfand; John Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company (which publishes Ebony and Jet); and David Geffen. The committee had no real power; Michael could veto any decision five minutes after it has been made.

  None of the members pocketed any money from investments made on Michael’s behalf. Mostly, the committee was formed by Michael so that these powerful men would be well acquainted with one another and be able to follow one another’s activities throughout the year. Michael believes in having his associates watching over one another to see who may be taking advantage of him. Because his investments are so fascinating – and because it seems an honour for these gentlemen to be involved, even if it does not mean a personal profit for them – Michael has no difficulty in organizing such an investment committee.

  In recent months, David Geffen, who had been a member of the investment committee for about ten years, had begun to exert great influence over Michael. At one point, Michael had signed a development deal with David’s production company to do a film. David’s task was to procure a script that would meet with Michael’s approval. However, the two couldn’t agree on one. (Michael still wants to do a movie that would be a fantastic, big-budget combination of Star Wars and Busby Berkeley.)

  It’s easy to see why Michael – a man who is most impressed by wealth and power – would be enamoured of David Geffen. In its 24 December 1990, issue, Forbes dubbed David, ‘the richest man in Hollywood’ and, indeed, he probably was then, and still is, today with an estimated worth of over $100 million.

  David has a reputation as being shrewd and savvy, an intuitive show-business genius who knows when to buy and, just as important, when to sell. He is intelligent and witty. He can also be temperamental, and is considered by some associates to be conceited and arrogant. Over the years, David earned a respectable reputation in the music world (with his Geffen Records) and film world, producing movies that were distributed by Warner Bros., including Risky Business and Beetlejuice. In addition, he made money in the theatre, co-producing the Broadway hit Dreamgirls with Michael Bennett and helping to finance Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats.

  Michael admired David’s business savvy and vision. ‘Michael told me he thinks David is the most amazing man he has ever met,’ said a Jackson associate. ‘He felt that if he listened to David’s advice, he, too, could become a mogul, like David. He hung on to his every word the way he used to hang on to John Branca’s. Unlike Branca, though, Geffen really kissed up to Mike, flattered him constantly. He and David became extremely close in many ways. Not only did they have a professional relationship, they also had a close personal relationship. David was the one who told him that Decade was a mediocre idea and that Michael shouldn’t waste his time on it. He convinced Mike to do an album of new material, and Michael agreed. So, obviously, John Branca is not a fan of David Geffen’s.’

  There was some talk that Michael would hire Quincy Jones for the new project. However, Michael no longer wanted to work with Quincy because he felt that the producer had become too possessive of him and his work, and had taken too much credit for it. Michael was still miffed that Quincy gave him a tough time about ‘Smooth Criminal’ – Quincy didn’t want it on the Bad al
bum. For Quincy’s part, he felt that Michael had become too demanding and inflexible. With emotions running so high, the partnership that had once sold millions and millions of albums had soured. Still, Quincy figured he would work with Michael, again. He was never informed otherwise. Michael just began work without him; he hasn’t worked with Quincy since Bad.

  David Geffen had obtained all of Michael’s financial information – it is quite possible that Michael gave him the documents – and started discussing with him his relationship with CBS Records. He pointed out to Michael that he had spent about forty million dollars making music videos for Bad (including the cost of Moonwalker), an exorbitant amount to spend on video production. David was right about that. However, John Branca had made back an enormous amount of money for Michael on these videos as a result of distribution and other sales deals, and Michael’s net loss was ‘only’ ten million dollars. Practically no one in the record industry makes thirty million dollars from music videos. But, still, Michael began to believe that CBS Records was making more money on him and his videos than he was making for himself. Soon, he was riled up enough to want to leave CBS altogether.

  Prior to this time, Walter Yetnikoff and Michael Jackson had had an outstanding relationship. Michael brought him up on to the stage during the 1984 Grammys. Walter was appreciative and felt that Michael’s public show of gratitude helped him earn millions of dollars for himself and his label. ‘You don’t bring record executives up at the Grammys, ’cause no one’s interested,’ Yetnikoff told Rolling Stone in 1988. ‘I went back to CBS and I said, “Give me another two million dollars for that.”’

  Walter Yetnikoff had been one of the most powerful men in the record business for many years. By 1990 his line-up of superstar recording artists included Michael, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. But his power had slipped during the year due to a deteriorating relationship with CBS Records’ new parent company, Sony, and, in part, to his estrangement from Bruce Springsteen and Springsteen’s attorney, John Landau. Now, without Michael Jackson in his corner, Yetnikoff’s future looked cloudy.

  The Still-Struggling Jacksons

  By 1990, Janet Jackson had come into her own with the biggest success of her career, the A&M album Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814, a string of hit records – ‘Miss You Much’, ‘Escapade’, ‘Rhythm Nation’, among others – and her first national tour. Charming and timid, talented and driven, Janet has turned out to be one of the better-adjusted Jackson siblings. With the exception of a relationship she maintains with her mother, she keeps her distance from the rest of the family. Though she is no longer managed by Joseph – the break was predictably volatile – he does profit from Rhythm Nation.

  ‘I’ve studied the best – Michael Jackson,’ Janet said in April 1990. ‘I’m not saying that just because he’s my brother. I really feel he’s the best. I saw how hard he works, his ambition. It’s so strange to read things about him, because people just don’t understand Michael much.’

  Janet also noted, ‘Michael has said that, out of everyone in the family, we’re the two that think the most alike.’ Janet is the only family member who makes it a point to show up at the taping of Michael’s videos, just so that she can sit and watch him work. Still, she has to admit that a rivalry does exist between them. ‘He’s very competitive,’ she said in November 1990. ‘And so am I.’

  Surprisingly, Michael is not as competitive with Janet as people might think. Mostly, he supports her efforts and offers advice whenever she asks for it. He thought Rhythm Nation was the work of a genius, and his biggest concern was not that it had sold so many copies, but that it hadn’t sold enough. ‘Why did it only sell five or six million copies?’ he asked a former associate. ‘And what does this mean for me and my next album?’

  Like Michael, Janet has not been resistant to the plastic surgeon’s knife. She has had at least two nose jobs, and some have speculated that she has had surgery on her breasts. But she knows how to make plastic surgery work to her advantage. She looks stunning, especially after shedding, on a nine-hundred-calorie-a-day diet, the weight she’d been trying to lose for years.

  The rest of the Jacksons have not fared as well in their recordings without Michael. Solo albums by Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Randy all had disappointing sales. So too did an excellent group album (recorded by Jackie, Jermaine, Tito and Randy) called 2300 Jackson Street, after the street on which the family lived in Gary.

  Michael was bothered that 2300 Jackson Street had not been a commercial success, especially since he had telephoned Walter Yetnikoff and specifically asked him to take a special interest in the album. But CBS Records could not successfully promote the Jacksons without Michael. It’s not that the brothers have no talent; they do. After decades of experience, most of the Jacksons are first-rate vocalists, and they are all champion entertainers. However, trying to pursue their own careers while Michael Jackson’s shadow looms is not easy. The public doesn’t seem to want Michael’s brothers; it just wants Michael.

  CBS did not renew its relationship with the Jacksons after 2300 Jackson Street. There was no fanfare, as when the Jacksons left Motown for CBS. Rather, the label just did not pick up the brothers’ contracts. The Jacksons simply fizzled out.

  Without Michael in the lead, his brothers have not been able to secure a new record deal.

  Rebbie, by far the most resourceful singer of the three daughters, no longer records.

  LaToya’s memoirs, ‘LaToya – Growing Up in the Jackson Family,’ was published in September 1991. In it, she was extremely critical of her family, but generous to Michael (and did not suggest that he had been molested). While she did not claim to have been molested by Joseph in the book – the publisher did not want to risk legal liability on such a volatile issue – she did so in her promotional tour. On talk show after talk show, she spoke of Joseph having forced her into sexual relations with him, and Katherine having told him, ‘Not tonight, Joseph. She’s had enough.’

  Again, who can truly know, considering the personalities involved in such madness, if the awful charges LaToya made against her father were true, or not?

  Losing Count of the Plastic Surgeries

  There has always been a great deal of speculation about Michael’s nose; it’s the first of his features referenced when discussing, or even joking about, the extent of his plastic surgery. By the end of 1990, most people had lost count of how many surgeries Michael had undergone on his nose, but some in his camp have figured that it had to be at least ten. For years, plastic surgeons not related to his case have speculated as to whether the nose – which has an elfin quality to it – is made of bone, cartilage or latex. It’s part of the public discourse when speaking of Michael: what is the truth about his nose?

  The truth is that the structure of Michael’s nose collapsed years ago, a consequence of extensive trauma from previous surgeries on it. One subsequent operation was to add cartilage into the tip, to support and reshape it. However, that procedure was not completely successful. Therefore, when appearing in public, and often in private, Michael wears a latex appliance, a prosthetic nose-tip, which he camouflages with stage makeup.

  Interestingly, when Michael is seen wearing the surgical mask that is so much a part of his image, it’s not always because he is attempting to hide his identity or even avoid germs. Sometimes, it’s simply because he was not inclined to wear the prosthesis. Putting on the appliance is an annoying and frustrating process. It’s his cross to bear on a daily basis, and there are days when he simply can’t bear it… thus, the mask.

  In March 2003, Vanity Fair reported that, without the prosthesis, Michaels ‘resembles a mummy with two nostril holes.’ This is not true. Without the device, his nose appears flatter, more blunt – not pointed – and he doesn’t really look like… Michael Jackson. Self-conscious about his face, he refuses to be seen without it. If nothing else, the prosthesis must be a painful and daily reminder to Michael of his past choices where plastic surgery
is concerned, and the impact they have had on his life.

  It has been suggested that Michael is somehow addicted to plastic surgery. ‘People can easily get addicted to plastic surgery, as they can to alcohol, drugs, or food,’ according to Dr Alfred Coodley, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA.

  ‘Actually, it’s more of an obsession than an addiction,’ Dr Robert Kotler, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who has not treated Michael, observed. ‘I think you have to know when to quit. That’s the greatest message a cosmetic surgeon can bring to his patient. A conscientious surgeon will say to a patient, “Enough is enough.”’

  There are several reasons for Michael’s extremely pale skin, especially on his face. First, he used to bleach his skin with different chemicals. Is it possible for a black person to make his skin lighter? ‘Yes,’ said Robert Kotler. ‘You can’t make it white, but you can make it lighter. There are classic bleaching compounds that are commonly found in over-the-counter bleaching creams like Porcelana. Also, there are known bleaching agents, a class of compounds called Hydroquinones, that will make a black person’s skin lighter.’

  One employee of Michael’s recalled, ‘He used to rub a cream on his face and neck in the morning and, again, at night. He had all of these little tubes in his makeup kit. I asked him what it was, thinking it was some kind of skin nutrient. He told me it was ‘medicine’. I left it at that. I then noticed that whenever Michael would go out into the sun, he would cover his face with his hand or wear a big hat. He seemed petrified of sunlight, as if he was afraid he would burn.’