Michael Jackson

by J. Randy Taraborrelli

  From the beginning, Michael didn’t seem excited about the project, and perhaps his lack of enthusiasm and focus became apparent to some listeners. The fact that it took about three years to compose the album – more than fifty songs were produced, mixed and remixed with writers and producers being hired and fired and hired and fired – made some observers feel that Michael was, as one producer put it, ‘sick to death of the whole thing.’

  Also, Michael began battling with Sony early in the production of Invincible. He had thought that the licence to the masters to his biggest-selling albums (Thriller, Bad, Dangerous, etc…) were to revert back to him in 2000, and was counting the days until that would happen. He would then be able to market the songs himself in some way or with some other label, and not have to split the proceeds with Sony. However, when his advisers checked his contract, they found that the classics revert back to Michael only if he releases about one new CD for Sony every couple of years – which was never going to happen in Michael Jackson’s world, one in which he spends years on just one project. There was even a Christmas CD specified in the deal (he’s not done one of those since 1970, with The Jackson 5), which Michael said he didn’t know about, as well as a couple of soundtracks. Michael was way behind in this proposed release schedule, would never be able to catch up, and wouldn’t think to even attempt to do it. However, for each specified album he did not deliver (which was most of them), Sony was able to add a few more years to the countdown of rights reversion of the others. As it stood, Michael would be just a tad older than God before the rights to his top-selling albums would ever be reverted to him.

  After some investigation into the matter, it was learned that the same attorney who represented Michael on this deal had also represented Sony. (How, one wonders, was this ever allowed to occur?) Thus Michael managed to extricate himself from the entire Sony deal, then, using the obvious conflict of interest in this negotiation as leverage… In the end, it was decided he would be able to leave Sony, but not until he had delivered Invincible, then a Greatest Hits package and then a Box Set.

  Still, signed to the label or not, Michael would owe Sony hundreds of millions in advances, loans and other monies the company had invested into in his chaotic personal life and professional career. Michael was so chagrined by the situation with Sony that he really didn’t want to produce another record for them.

  If he received a telephone call while in the studio recording Invincible, it could mean the end of that day’s work. ‘Sorry, I’ve got business to take care of,’ he’d announce while walking out the door. If he had to go to the bathroom, the production staff would fret because Michael would sometimes sneak out and not be seen or heard from for days. ‘He’s an artist,’ explained one producer. ‘They’re usually pretty nuts.’

  However, when the album was finally released, it demonstrated something many of Michael’s supporters already know: he is best when recording his own material, such as the sublime ‘Speechless’, which is really the only track he solely wrote (in about forty-five minutes, he says, after a water-balloon fight with his children) and produced, from beginning to end. However, he doesn’t seem to have the fire in his belly he once did to write and produce his own music, therefore Invincible was largely a compilation of material from outside songwriters and producers, such as Rodney Jerkins, the hit-making mastermind behind tunes by the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Brandy and Destiny’s Child. If Michael wants a huge-selling album in his future, perhaps he should write and produce it himself – all of it. He still has the magic touch, if not the drive, ambition and, perhaps, self-confidence.

  The initial single release was the somewhat formulaic Rodney Jerkins song, ‘You Rock My World’. It had been Sony’s decision; Michael was against it and fought for the upbeat, probably more commercial ‘Unbreakable’ to be issued. He had already conceived of a video for the song. It’s interesting that even at this stage of his career, his choices were vetoed by his label. In the end, ‘You Rock My World’ stalled at number ten in the United States. It debuted at number two in the United Kingdom, but dropped from there quickly. Sales in the rest of Europe were comparable; a Top Ten hit in most countries, but not a huge record.

  The video for ‘You Rock My World’ was a miscalculation; it looked like a remake of the ‘Smooth Criminal’ short-film, but with Michael in a black suit instead of a white one. In most of the production, Michael seems to be camouflaging the top half of his face with his fedora, causing the viewer to wonder what he is trying to hide. Again, he didn’t seem inspired by the concept, anyway – even if it did have a weird cameo appearance by Marlon Brando. There had been upsetting debates between Michael and Sony over the video’s budget, and by the time he was to begin production he was, as one of his intimates put it, ‘completely over it, done with it.’ The dancers had rehearsed for days before Michael appeared on the set. When he finally arrived, he did pretty much the same variety of jerky, robotic steps he’s been doing for years, as if trapped in his own myth and afraid to break out of it.

  A stand-out on Invincible is Carole Bayer Sager’s, Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds and John McClain’s sparkling, ‘You Are My Life’. It was recorded just five weeks before the album was released – that’s how late in the schedule they were considering material. The writers first played it for Michael on a Thursday, he loved it – changed the lyrics from ‘You Are My World’ to ‘You Are My Life’ (and got a songwriting credit in the process!) and then recorded it the next evening. John McClain, an executive at DreamWorks Records, has been one of Michael’s most trusted and capable advisers for decades. He wrote the song based on a finger exercise he had created for his guitar practice!

  The second release from the album was ‘Cry’. However, Michael was so angry at Sony for the budget allocated for the video, he refused to even appear in it. Then, the delightful ‘Butterflies’ began receiving radio, and could have been a hit record. However, again, Jackson and Sony battled over the video, and production was cancelled – as was the commercial release of the song.

  The battle lines were boldly drawn between Michael and Sony in a war that continued to be so bitter it would contribute to the commercial failure of Invincible. The executives at the label, all the way up to its chieftain at the time, Tommy Motolla, didn’t care what Michael thought about anything, he was now that low on their priority lists. His very good song, ‘What More Can I Give?’ (recorded with a host of pop stars in the wake of 9-11 in an effort similar to ‘We Are The World’), was shelved by the label. Of course, Michael didn’t help matters when he hired a former gay porn director to direct the video; the man is a friend of his, and Jackson didn’t feel that anything was wrong with the association. However, he inadvertently provided Sony with more ammunition to use against him. Frustrated and angry at the label for this and other sins, Michael then went on a terrible, ill-advised campaign against Tommy Motolla, holding a press conference and other public events in the summer of 2002 to call him a ‘racist’, insisting he is ‘very, very, very… devilish.’ This was not his best moment.

  In the end, Invincible sold only about ten million copies worldwide – a crushing blow for Michael, as well as for loyal fans who campaigned for it with more devotion and organization than Michael’s own label, Sony, possibly did. Even though it entered the Billboard charts at number one, it sank quickly, falling out of the Top Ten in a month. It also debuted at number one in the UK, Germany, Holland and a number of other countries, but didn’t last long at the top of those charts either – except in France, where it was number one for three weeks. (In Britain, it fell out of the Top Ten completely in three weeks.) The reviews were, generally, dreadful, and often unfair, focusing on the artist’s unusual nature, rather than his music. Maybe the expectations had been so high for a new Michael Jackson collection, there was no way for any recording to rise to the occasion, let alone one caught in the cross-fire of such acrimonious exchanges between artist and label.

  Justin and Britney

  Mic
hael Jackson does try to stay current with musical trends, as evidenced by some of the hip-hop production work on Invincible. One way he attempts to do that is to keep the lines of communication open with popular young entertainers, such as pop heart-throb Justin Timberlake. Michael is a big admirer of Justin’s and was determined to meet him. A couple of years ago, when Justin was about twenty, Michael asked Wade Robson (who, when he was a youngster, was brought forward by Anthony Pellicano to say that he slept innocently in bed with Michael), to arrange a meeting. Robson was a friend of Timberlake’s and worked with him and ’N Sync as a choreographer.

  ‘Are you kidding?’ Justin said when asked by Wade if he’d be interested in meeting Michael. ‘Hell, yeah. Who wouldn’t want to meet Michael Jackson? He’s my idol.’ The meeting would take place at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York.

  At the appointed hour, Wade, his girlfriend Mayte Garcia (ex wife of Prince), and Justin showed up in the hotel lobby… with Justin’s then-girlfriend, Britney Spears. Britney, who is a big admirer of Michael’s, simply couldn’t resist tagging along.

  ‘Oh no,’ Michael said when told that Justin had brought Britney. ‘I didn’t invite her. Why’d he have to bring her?‘

  ‘Well, she’s his girlfriend, Mike,’ said one of his advisers.

  ‘Oh man, you gotta be kidding me?’ Michael remarked. ‘He brought his girlfriend? Damn. I just wanted to see Justin. Maybe she should wait downstairs, or something?’

  The notion that Britney Spears might wait in the lobby while Michael entertained Justin, Wade and Mayte was not an idea his associates felt they could suggest. ‘Mike, look. You can’t keep her waiting in the lobby,’ said one of them. ‘How’s that gonna look? She’s one of the biggest stars in show business, Mike. Come on!’

  ‘Oh, man,’ Michael protested again, chagrined by the turn of events. ‘Damn. She’s just gonna be in the way.’

  On and on went the discussions. Finally, Michael agreed to allow them both up to his suite.

  Once they got up there, however, Michael was enchanted by both Justin and Britney. They were so thrilled to meet him, the two lavished more praise upon him than he’d probably gotten in about a week.

  ‘How about when you did the moonwalk on that Motown show?’ Justin said, according to one recollection. ‘Man, that was so fucking cool. You are the coolest, Michael. I can’t believe I am standing here with Michael Fucking Jackson.’

  ‘And how about that “Thriller” video?’ Britney enthused. ‘That was the best. You revolutionized videos, dude. You are the fucking best.’

  His indelible influence on modern pop is so far-reaching and entrenched, it’s probably not surprising that Justin and Britney were dazzled to be in his presence. Michael beamed; as far as the top teen stars of the day were concerned, he was still the man. *

  ‘Everyone wants to be crazy’

  Michael Jackson has earned an estimated $500 million dollars in his lifetime, about $100 million from 1982’s Thriller alone. A report by the business magazine Forbes last year estimated his net worth at $300 million but warned that he had incurred big debts and that his spending seemed to be out of control.

  Though Michael has made some canny investments, he has experienced financial difficulties in recent years because of his high overheads. He spends money like mad, as demonstrated when he appeared to shell out about six million dollars in minutes on baroque vases and urns, with Martin Bashir’s cameras rolling in Las Vegas. ‘I want that one,’ he exclaimed, ‘and that one and that one and… yoo-hoo? How much is that one!’ (However, he did return much of that merchandise after the programme was broadcast – buyer’s remorse, perhaps… or maybe just a reconsideration of his taste in furnishings.)

  His staff of 120 people costs him about $300,000 a month. More than once, the company that leases much of the amusement park equipment has threatened to repossess it; Michael has had to come up with emergency payments, thereby not being able to compensate certain employees. Neverland’s monthly expenditures amount to about $1.2 million.

  A couple of years ago, Michael used his one-half share of the Sony/ATV music catalogue as collateral to borrow $200 million. (Michael bought ATV in 1985 for $47.5 million. Ten years later, in 1995, he sold 50 per cent of ATV to Sony for about $90 million. Sony/ATV, of course, owns the publishing rights to hundreds of Beatles songs, as well as more than 400,000 other songs, including some of Elvis’s and even Madonna’s.) Sony guaranteed the $200 loan for Michael. However, if he defaults, the company can then move to claim his share of ATV.

  ‘He’s a ticking financial time bomb waiting to explode,’ claimed the attorney of Myung Ho Lee, his former financial manager from 1998 to 2001 who sued him for back payment. (The suit was settled in June 2003.)

  More than likely, in order to meet the loan, Michael will borrow $200 million from someone else, pay back the original lender, and then owe the money to a new one. He’s never going to be sensible when it comes to finances; yet he will always live like a king. According to different legal filings along the way, he owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to attorneys, publicists and even to limousine companies; people apparently work for him, and then wait to be paid, because it’s worth it just to be able to be affiliated to him. He even still owes money to the contractor who built Neverland! Those who predict his financial downfall forget that he’s a person with whom powerful people want to rub shoulders, no matter what, a famous man who traffics with the international elite. There will always be someone, somewhere, willing to bail him out, if it becomes necessary to do so, even if he’s viewed as a poor risk. Why? Because he’s Michael Jackson.

  Besides, the $200 million isn’t due until 2006. In Michael’s world, that’s a lifetime away. There are times when he’s simply trying to get through the week; his eye certainly isn’t on what will happen in three years. Also, he can take comfort in knowing that he can eradicate the entire matter by doing the one thing he most doesn’t want to do: tour. A couple of unsuccessful CDs, videos and bad judgement calls can still not dim the glory that has been Michael Jackson’s performing career for decades. His 1997 HIStory tour was a monumental success for him, setting attendance records at each stop along the way. The public might not be as supportive of his music as it was before the allegations, but Michael still sold out concert halls after the scandal.

  For instance, he feared that he would have problems performing in the United States, and was particularly nervous about two January 1997 dates in Hawaii, his first American shows since the scandal (and his first US Tour stop since 1989). However, the two concerts (4 and 5 January 1997, in Honolulu) were hugely successful for him. While no other musical act had ever sold out the stadium, Michael’s shows sold out in less than a day. Hawaii promoter, Tom Moffatt enthused, ‘I’ve never seen anything like it… there’s been nothing even close to this the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Julio Iglesias, the Eagles.’ Evan Chandler may have thought he would ‘ruin’ Michael Jackson… and maybe he did do him significant damage where record sales are concerned, but not when it comes to his ability to draw concert goers.

  In 2001, he was offered ten million dollars simply to perform two nights in Las Vegas. He also had $100 million guaranteed for a national tour. Imagine what he might command for a world tour? He could earn enough to handle his responsibility with the bank loan – plus whatever he may require to cover his annual Toys ‘R’ Us budget. ‘But it takes too much out of me,’ he told me of touring, back in 1995. ‘It’s like a two-hour marathon, every show. I swear, I must lose ten pounds a concert. The expectations are too high. It’s hard.’

  Michael also spends a fortune on presents for children around the world, some of whom he knows but many of whom he doesn’t and who are connected to him through various charities. Also, of course, he splurges on himself: for instance, in June 1999 he paid $1.54 million at a Sotheby’s auction to own David O. Selznick’s Best Picture Oscar for Gone With the Wind. Moreover, he gives generously to friends such as Elizabeth Taylor, who is accustom
ed to receiving expensive baubles from Michael on a regular basis, and he doesn’t disappoint. He recently spent $10,000 in Las Vegas, on perfume for her.

  Unfortunately, making his life more complex is the fact Michael is always involved in lawsuits from people with whom he’s done business in the past: former promoters, producers, managers, accountants, investment bankers, employees have all come after him for tens of millions of dollars. It seems that the lawsuits never stop coming. Brian Oxman, who has represented Michael and some of his siblings for more than ten years, says that Michael has given about 500 depositions in his lifetime and, amazingly, been involved in more than 1,500 lawsuits. If one figures that Michael didn’t start becoming involved in litigation until he was a professional entertainer of about ten years of age, and it’s unlikely that the suits started that early, it would amount to thirty-five years of lawsuits or an average of forty lawsuits a year.

  Michael, of course, is not the only one giving depositions – all of the litigants are required to do so, as well. Such interrogations then become public record and, often, the foundation for interesting assertions. Earlier this year, as a result of depositions given during a lawsuit filed against Michael, it was reported by Vanity Fair that he hired a witch doctor named, Baba, to sacrifice forty-two cows in order to curse David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and dozens of others on a Hate List. Sure, it’s preposterous, but in Michael’s world – one in which he whisks his baby out of a hospital, ‘with all the placenta and everything all over her’ – it could be argued that anything goes.

  In Michael’s song ‘Tabloid Junkie’ he wrote, ‘Just because you read it in a magazine or see it on a TV screen don’t make it factual.’ He might have added,’… or read it in a deposition.’