Michael Jackson
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I drew from the interview I conducted with Tito Jackson, Marlon Jackson and Jackie Jackson in 1978.
The incident between Rhonda Phillips and Jackie Jackson was recreated based on personal interviews with Ms Phillips on 8 March 1990 and 15 March 1990.
Among other sources I consulted were back issues of Soul magazine. I also drew from my interviews with Ken Kingsley (14 April 1990), Stewart Drew (3 May 1990), Mark Butler (12 June 1990), Gil Askey (5 March 1984) and Walter Jackson (5 December 1989).
I relied on press reports and eyewitness accounts regarding The Jackson 5’s various tours overseas.
I depended on press reports – including those found in Soul, the Los Angeles Times and Ebony – as well as eyewitness accounts to write about Jermaine Jackson’s wedding to Hazel Gordy. I also reviewed press releases from Motown Records.
I drew from my interviews with Walter Burrell (6 March 1989), Steven Sprocket (24 June 1990), Harry Langdon (16 March 1984), Joyce Jillson (20 February 1990), Hal Davis (5 March 1985) and Susie Jackson. I also drew from an interview I conducted with Marvin Gaye in 1982. Steve Manning’s comment about Hazel Gordy was published in Ebony.
I obtained background information on The Jackson 5’s trip to Africa from press reports. Also, I drew from Cathy Griffin’s conversations with Richard Arons. The comments by members of The Jackson 5 about Africa were published in Soul magazine.
I viewed a videotape of the Cher show on which The Jackson 5 appeared and interviewed one of Cher’s assistants for a biography of Cher (St Martin’s Press, 1987); the assistant requested anonymity at that time.
Katherine Jackson v. Joseph Jackson (I)
Details of the divorce action brought by Katherine Jackson against Joseph Jackson were culled from the following documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Los Angeles County, all case number 42680:
Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, 9 March 1973.
Certificate of Assignment of Transfer, 10 March 1973.
Financial Declaration, 11 March 1973.
Katherine Jackson’s Sworn Declaration, 16 March 1973.
The Final Years at Motown
The background on Sammy Davis, Jr., was culled from information contained in his excellent second autobiography, The Sammy Davis, Jr., Story – Why Me? I also drew from my 1978 interview with Michael Jackson and my 1980 interview with Jermaine Jackson. Some of Janet Jackson’s comments were published in Interview. I also culled information from Vince Aletti’s features on The Jackson 5 in the Village Voice (see bibliography). Also, I viewed a videotape of The Jackson 5’s entire Las Vegas act.
I viewed a videotape of The Jackson 5’s performance on The Bob Hope Show.
I interviewed Raymond St Jacques in March 1987 and culled comments about Isomand and Cross and his relationship with the Jacksons from that interview.
I also interviewed friends of the Jackson family who requested anonymity.
Enid Jackson’s memories of her first encounters with Jackie Jackson were culled from interviews conducted with the late Mrs Jackson for this book on 29 October 1990, 7 November 1990 and 19 November 1990. Jackie Jackson’s comments about his wedding were meant to be published in Soul magazine on 6 December 1974, but most were not. I obtained a transcript of the interview.
Information regarding Jackie Jackson’s automobile accident was culled from a report in Soul magazine.
Theresa Gonsalves was interviewed on 5 January 1991.
Details of Michael Jackson’s meeting with Berry Gordy on 14 May 1975 were culled from the Sworn Declaration of Michael Jackson, 20 February 1976. (The declaration became part of case number C139795: Michael Jackson et al. v. Motown Record Corporation of California et al., 30 March 1976.) I also referred to Michael’s account of his meeting with Gordy in his autobiography, Moonwalk.
I drew from my interviews with Gil Askey (5 March 1984) for my first book, Diana.
I obtained a copy of the Jacksons’ original CBS recording contract.
The confrontation between Jermaine and Joseph Jackson was recreated based on my interview with Jermaine Jackson in 1980.
I referred to an interview with Jermaine and Hazel Jackson in Ebony. I also referred to Katherine Jackson’s autobiography, The Jacksons – My Family. I also used as source material reports from The Hollywood Reporter and Variety (see bibliography).
I referred to my interview with Marlon Jackson in 1978 to recreate the scene at Westbury Music Fair when Jermaine walked out on the group. I was present backstage after the show.
Also I obtained a copy of Berry Gordy’s application, dated 30 March 1972, to register The Jackson 5’s name as being owned by Motown Records. I obtained a copy of the United States Patent Office’s acceptance of Gordy’s request, and documentation that Gordy owned the name exclusively. I obtained the Forms of Patent from the United States Patent Office, numbers 965,808 and 965,809, registering in the name of Motown Record Corporation the logo Jackson 5ive and the name Jackson 5, ‘For entertainment services rendered by a vocal group, in class 107, Int. Cl. 41.’
I drew from an interview I conducted with Melvin Franklin in 1977 for The Black American.
Again, I referred to the Sworn Declaration of Joseph W. Jackson, 20 February 1976.
I obtained a transcript of the Jacksons’ press conference at the Rainbow Grill in Manhattan on 30 June 1975. I also obtained a copy of the 1 July 1975 telegram from Michael Roshkind to Arthur Taylor, president of CBS, informing him that The Jackson 5’s name belonged solely to Motown Records. I also interviewed witnesses to the press conference. Vital to my research were Motown memoranda from Tony Jones to Joseph Jackson regarding The Jackson 5’s activities at Motown.
I also interviewed Martha Gonsalves (3 June 1990), Edward Lewis (16 July 1990), Michael Lewis (16 September 1990), Susan Myerson (1 October 1990), Harry Weber (5 October 1990), Mark Kelly (15 November 1990) and Lee Casto (2 December 1990). Joyce McCrae was interviewed by Cathy Griffin on 14 October 1990.
The matter of the late Enid Jackson’s filing for divorce from Jackie Jackson is documented in papers originally filed in September 1975 in Los Angeles Superior Court, County of Los Angeles, but also included in the 1985 divorce case, file number DI57554.
I obtained a copy of Marlon and Carol Jackson’s wedding certificate, dated 16 August 1975. Joseph Jackson’s comments about his son’s wedding were originally published in Soul, January 1976.
The Sworn Deposition by Michael Jackson, dated 15 January 1976, was utilized.
I used as source material an interview with Jermaine Jackson by Cynthia Kirk in Good Evening, 29 April 1976.
I viewed videotapes of all episodes of the Jacksons’ television series for CBS-TV.
Motown v. The Jacksons
Details of the lawsuit brought by Motown Record Corporation against the Jacksons were culled from the following documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Los Angeles County, all case number C139795:
Michael Jackson et al. v. Motown Record Corporation of California et al., 30 March 1976.
Tariano Jackson, Sigmund Esco Jackson, Marlon Jackson and Michael Jackson, a minor, by Joseph Jackson, his Guardian v. Motown Record Corporation of California, Inc., 11 February 1977.
Ralph Seltzer’s Sworn Deposition, 24 March 1976. In this fifty-page deposition, Seltzer recalled Joseph Jackson’s original negotiations with Motown regarding his sons’ recording contracts. Of Joseph Jackson and the Jacksons, he remembered, ‘I do not recall that any of them read the contract prior to signing it.’
Supplemental Declaration of Joseph W. Jackson, 30 March 1976. In this lengthy document, Jackson gave his version of the day he and his boys signed their Motown contracts and described how he felt about Ralph Seltzer and Berry Gordy. He also recreated the telephone conversation with Gordy in which he thought he had successfully renegotiated the contract’s original terms.
Sworn Declaration of Joseph W. Jackson, 20 February 1976. Jackson’s declaration shed more light on his dealings with Motown, the ‘take-it-
or-leave-it contracts they made us sign,’ the accommodations Motown arranged for them when the group moved from Gary to Los Angeles, how ‘neither I or my sons ever read any contracts we signed once we got to Los Angeles,’ and his relationship with Johnny Jackson. Most importandy, he reconstructed angry conversations he had with Jermaine regarding Jermaine’s decision not to sign with CBS Records. Joseph Jackson’s memory of these conversations corroborated Jermaine’s in an interview with me on 27 May 1980.
Sworn Declaration of Richard Arons, 20 June 1979. As Joseph Jackson’s attorney, Arons was privy to all of Jackson’s business dealings, and he described, in this fifteen-page document, how Joseph went about searching for a new label for his sons and how his sons reacted to leaving Motown.
I also reviewed 367 other legal documents and correspondence relating to this case, from which I gleaned details applicable to this book.
Flashback to Early Days on the Road
Tito, Marlon and Jackie Jackson have discussed their father’s behaviour in the early days while on the road in a number of interviews. We discussed it in our interview in 1978. Michael wrote about these experiences – though not in a very in-depth manner – in Moonwalk. For evaluation purposes, I drew from my interview with Beverly Hills psychiatrist Dr Carole Lieberman on 8 January 1991. Also interviewed: Yolanda Lewis (5 June 1990), James McField (30 October 1990), Gregory Matthias (15 November 1990), Gregorio Joves (1 December 1990), Sarah Jackson (2 May 1990) and Tim Whitehead (18 November 1990). I also drew from interviews with Theresa Gonsalves, Tim Burton and Sylvester Goodnough.
Tatum O’Neal declined to be interviewed for this book. Biographical information about her and her family was culled from accounts published in Good Housekeepings, Ladies’ Home Journal and Redbook. The information about Michael and Tatum at the Playboy mansion was culled from an interview with Michael Jackson in Soul magazine.
The rumours about Michael Jackson and Clifton Davis were published in many publications. Michael discussed the matter with reporter Steve Ivory for Soul (issue of 12 September 1977). I interviewed Clifton Davis in 1978.
Michael and I also discussed rumours of his homosexuality in 1978. His comments about that subject are interspersed through this book.
The Wiz and Off the Wall Years
I interviewed Rob Cohen, producer of The Wiz on 14 February 1989 and again on 25 April 1989. I also interviewed the film’s director, Sidney Lumet, on 22 August 1978.
Other information was drawn from interviews with James McField, Susie Jackson and Theresa Gonsalves. Having written about The Wiz in depth in my 1989 book, Call Her Miss Ross, I utilized research conducted for that work in this chapter. I attended the press conference for The Wiz at Astoria Studios in September 1977, interviewed Michael at that time and drew from an interview I conducted with Diana Ross on 19 October 1981.
I drew from an interview with the Jacksons at their home in Encino in August 1978 and another interview with Michael Jackson in July 1979.
I also culled material from early published accounts of Michael’s relationship with Quincy Jones. I interviewed Quincy Jones during a break in the recording of a Brothers Johnson album in 1979, and some of the material regarding Off the Wall is culled from that interview.
Cheryl Terrell, Joh’Vonnie Jackson, and Other Subject Matter
I obtained a copy of Joh’Vonnie Jackson’s birth certificate, 30 August 1974.
I also obtained property information on Cheryl Terrell’s Gardena, California, apartment building from World Tide Company. Residents of the apartment house were interviewed on 25 August 1990. Cheryl Terrell spoke to my private investigator, Cathy Griffin, on 29 August 1990, but declined to be formally interviewed for this book.
I obtained the Escrow Instructions from Imperial Escrow Company for the property on 6908 Peach Avenue, Van Nuys, purchased by Joseph Jackson as trustee of the Joh’Vonnie Jackson Trust, 25 January 1981, as well as a Property Profile on 6908 Peach Avenue from World Tide Company.
I obtained a copy of the Trust Corporation established for Joh’Vonnie Jackson on 23 February 1981.
I also procured a Property Profile supplied by Fidelity National Title. The profile includes a copy of the Individual Quitclaim Deed signed by Katherine Jackson releasing any of her interest in the property to Joseph Jackson, and the Quitclaim Deed executed on 20 January 1980, and signed by Joseph Jackson, turning the same property over to the Joh’Vonnie Jackson Trust.
Joh’Vonnie Jackson posed for our photographer; the photo appears in this book.
I drew from my and Cathy Griffin’s interviews with Marcus Phillips (3 June 1990), Tim Whitehead and Stanley Ross (1 November 1990) and Jerome Howard.
Paula Reuben interviewed Carol L. Kerster in June 1990.
I also drew from Charles Sanders’s story of Jermaine and Hazel Jackson in Ebony in August 1981.
Gina Sprague v. Joseph and Katherine Jackson, Randy Jackson and Janet Jackson
Gina Sprague was interviewed for this book on 16, 18 and 21 September 1990.
Susie Jackson was interviewed on 21 September 1990.
I obtained a copy of the police report (DR. number 80-749111) filed by Gina Sprague on 16 October 1980.
Other details of Gina Sprague’s lawsuit against Joseph Jackson, Katherine Jackson, Randy Jackson and Janet Jackson, a minor, were culled from the following documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Los Angeles County, all file number C383387:
Complaint for Personal Injuries, Assault and Battery, Conspiracy, 21 September 1981.
Sworn Declaration of Gina Sprague, 20 September 1981.
Sworn Declaration of Gina Sprague, 21 September 1981.
Sworn Declaration of Joseph Jackson and Katherine Jackson, 22 September 1981.
Answer to Complaint for Personal Injuries, Assault and Battery, Conspiracy, 5 March 1982.
Notice of Motion for Order Granting Leave to Amend Complaint, 16 November 1982.
Sworn Declaration of Michael S. Fields. Fields was Gina Sprague’s attorney.
Amended Complaint, 11 January 1983. This ten-page complaint graphically depicted details of what Sprague alleged happened the day she was attacked.
Fifty-two other court documents relating to the Sprague v. Jackson case were also used as source material.
I also obtained legal documents filed by Joyce McCrae, an employee of Joseph Jackson’s, on 16 June 1981: Complaint for Declaratory Relief, Partition, Money Due on Demand to Establish Deed Absolute as Mortgage and Judicial Foreclosure, and Joseph W. Jackson v. Joyce McCrae, 16 June 1981, case number C371220. Both were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Los Angeles County. Though I decided not to write about this particular suit – which involved a condominium jointly owned by Jackson and McCrae – I utilized the documents to learn more of Jackson’s relationship with McCrae and Gina Sprague. In this lawsuit, McCrae claimed, ‘I was asked to testify at a hearing held at the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office regarding assault charges filed against Joseph Jackson’s wife by Ms Gina Sprague. When I informed Joseph Jackson that I had been asked to testify, Joseph Jackson told me that he wanted me to stay out of the matter. I did testify at the hearing on 17 December 1980. I am now informed and believe and allege that my employment was wrongfully terminated by Joseph Jackson in retaliation for the testimony I gave at that hearing regarding his relationship with Gina Sprague…’
The Early Eighties
I obtained the Grant Deed filed in Los Angeles County on 20 February 1981, in which Thomas Laughridge and Billie Laughridge granted to Michael Jackson unit nine at 5420 Lindley Avenue, Encino.
I also obtained the Individual Quitclaim Deed filed in Los Angeles County on 26 May 1981, by Michael Jackson, granting 25 per cent of the property to his mother, Katherine Jackson.
I referred to Robert Hilburn’s Los Angeles Times feature, ‘The Jacksons – Hail and Farewell’, 13 September 1981.
I also referred to the Billboard magazine special on Michael Jackson (21 July 1984) and Steven Demorest’s article o
n Michael Jackson in Melody Maker (see bibliography).
The interview I conducted with Michael Jackson through his sister Janet, took place on 3 October 1981, at the Jackson family’s home in Encino.
Katherine Jackson v. Joseph Jackson (II)
Details of Katherine Jackson’s second action to divorce Joseph Jackson were culled from the following documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, County of Los Angeles, all case number D076606:
Application for Order and Supporting Declaration of Katherine Jackson, 19 August 1972. This form appears to have been filled out by Mrs Jackson personally. She typed the information used in this book regarding her charge that Joseph Jackson spent ‘in excess of $50,000’ on ‘a young woman’ and that he had ‘purchased for her parcels of real property from our community funds.’
Katherine Jackson’s Request for Dissolution of Marriage, 12 November 1982.
Katherine Jackson’s Sworn Declaration, 16 April 1983.
Joseph Jackson’s Sworn Declaration, 18 April 1983.
Sworn Declaration of George M. Goffin in support of Motion to Compel Answers to Interrogatories, 8 April 1983. Goffin was one of Katherine Jackson’s attorneys.
Notice to Produce Documents, 10 May 1983.
Sworn Declaration of Minda F. Barnes, 15 June 1983. Barnes was another of Mrs Jackson’s attorneys. This document details Mrs Jackson’s difficulty in obtaining financial information from Joseph Jackson.
A five-page letter from George M. Goffin, Esq., to Arnold Kassot, Esq., dated 20 April 1983, was particularly revealing; from it were culled details of the Jackson family’s income and wealth.
A twenty-page declaration of George M. Goffin, 15 June 1983, was vital to the research of this book since it described the manner of the purchases of the Hayvenhurst property, the Peach Street property, the Jackson Street property and the Lindley Avenue property. It also explained Michael Jackson’s financial participation in the purchase of Hayvenhurst and the Lindley Avenue condominium.
Exhibit B, Schedule of Community Property Assets, 15 June 1983, was also invaluable to the research of this book in that this exhibit contained a complete list of all of Joseph and Katherine Jackson’s financial assets and liabilities, as well as the dates of all of their acquisitions, and the costs of purchase of all of their properties and Michael Jackson’s involvement in those purchases.