Megastar, Michael Jackson Dead at 50

Michael Jackson was a phenomenally talented individual. Most folks seem to agree that he had some very deeply rooted issues going back perhaps to his childhood. I do not know the whole truth, but I think it is fair to say that he deserves a place among the all time greatest singer/songwriter/performers of all time.

Michael Jackson sold over 750 million titles in his lifetime. This places him in an elite group of entertainers including Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, the Beatles, and much to the surprise of a lot of people, Mariah Caray.

I first remember the Jackson Five when I was maybe 12 years old. I had a few of their 45's including ABC and I'll Be There. I recall hearing two young girls singing I'll Be There in harmony as they walked home from grammar school one day. I did not know them, but they sounded really good to me.

A few years later, I bought a Motown set that had 3 or 4 lps. Those records are long gone, but I think I may have been the only white boy in Georgia who owned this particular set at the time. It had Marvin Gaye, the Jackson Five and the Supremes among many other notable Motown artists of the time. I remember taking the record set to a party at a friends house and putting the records on the stereo. I just remember how the girls at the party seemed to favor this music over the harder rock music. Nonetheless, I was brow beaten into submission by my peers and I no longer shared my facination with this music openly with my friends. I would listen to WRDW Radio (owned by James Brown) in my car when I was alone, but I would quickly switch back to the Top 40 station or my tape deck when friends were around. Nonetheless, it was the beginning of a long journey for me and it all started with the Jackson Five. I bought records by Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix. When I got to college I started a retrospective of listening to blues artists like Muddy Waters, BB King, and Freddie King, a facination that continues today for me. I also still love funk and R&B music. But Michael Jackson's music was mostly dance and pop.

Anyway, many more years passed and I recall listening to Michael Jackson again when his song Billie Jean played at all the dance clubs. I was a lonely guy in a predominately male population at an engineering school, so dancing at the clubs was a way to get within a few feet of a female. I appreciated Michael Jackson, but not to the level of my wonderful wife. She loved Michael Jackson and still does. I admit that I was amazed by his dance moves, the relevance of his music and the shows that were drawing record crowds. This guy had a lot of everything. A great voice, great songs, great moves, and for a while, charm and boyish good looks.

I found out that Anne, my wife, was born in the same hospital as Michael Jackson in Gary, Indiana. My father-in-law loved to tell me that Michael's father, Joe had worked for him at Gary Works, a large steel plant that employed much of Gary's population during the late 50's and early 60's when Anne and Michael were born. I frequently played devil's advocate to Anne's insistance that Michael missed his childhood and was tormented by isolation and success. I would offer examples of his strange behaviors to counter her position, although I believed then and now that she was correct in her assertion. That is, I believe that Michael should have received help very early to deal with the childhood issues and spoils of mega-stardom. He certainly had the financial means to get help. I cannot help but wonder why he did not receive the guidance from friends and family. This story has become all too familiar. A very wealthy entertainer surrounded by sycophants.

We all witnessed a variety of transformations with Michael Jackson after Thriller. His appearance began to change and was seen many times with various veils to cover his face. He told the press that he had a skin disorder, but his skin color began to become much lighter. At some point, Michael indicated that he was teased about the size of his nose. His nose started to get smaller and smaller and his skin around his mouth started to change into a odd shape that reminded me of the cowardly lion on the Wizard of Oz. Perhaps it was no coincidence that Michael once had a role in the musical, The Wiz.

Then it was the children and Michael's insistance that sleeping with small boys was harmless. several allegations were made. The first involved a settlement of $20 million. The second was an undisclosed amount that was negotiated along with a final verdict of innocent. There were also many lawsuits that had no merit and it is not surprising given Michael's reported $500 million net worth during the pinnacle of his career. He made a few very good business decisions during this time, including the purchase of a significant portion of the Beatles song catalog. However, his career began to falter in the mid 90's and his extravagant spending quickly caught up with him. Michael was sometimes spending over a million dollars a day on lavish decorations and art for his home. Of course, everyone knows about the other stories of exorbitant spending including his Neverland ranch, a hyperbaric chamber, and rather large array of exotic live animals. He also attempted to buy the body of The Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick. Perhaps the incident that revealed the most about Michael, however, was dangling a very young son over a balcony in Paris. This was apparently too much for the public to dismiss as many began calling for the removal of the children from Jackson's custody.

Most recently, Michael had planned a comeback tour consisting of 50 shows in London. These shows were recently postponed, despite claims by his publicist that everything was going well. Several reports of various health issues continued to surface, but were somehow muted by a few earlier false incidents. It was to be, in his own words, "the final curtain call". Instead the final curtain call was at his rented mansion in Westwood.

On June 25th at 2:26 pm in Los Angeles, Michael died. The toxicology results of the autopsy are expected very soon, but there is much speculation that Michael's overall health had deteriorated significantly. There are also rumors of Michael abusing prescription drugs. Not many people would be surprised. I think it is interesting that Michael's doctor was at the residence and that someone had placed Christmas wreaths on the iron gates outside the home. However bizarre his life, I think I would like to remember Michael Jackson for his talent rather than his behaviors. It is not my place to judge another human being, so I will leave that up to God. I just hope that Michael is at peace.