Life

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Legend
There was nothing
The black and white about
Michael Jackson’s life…

and
Anu Gulmohar pays
HIStory homage to the late
King of Pop…
l i f e
From left to
right: The
Jackson 5, MJ
performing at
the Dangerous
World Tour, MJ
with ex-wife
Lisa Marie
Presley, MJ with
younger sister
Janet, a young
Michael poses
for the camera
O n 26th June, a day af-
ter the King of Pop’s
life came to an abrupt
end, Lisa Marie Presley,
daughter of Elvis and Michael’s
ex-wife, wrote on her blog –
“Years ago Michael and I were
having a deep conversation about
life in general.
I can't recall the exact subject
matter but he may have been
questioning me about the circum-
stances of my father’s death.
At some point he paused, he
stared at me very intensely and
stated with an almost calm
certainty, "I am afraid that I am
going to end up like him, the
way he did."
I promptly tried to deter him
from the idea, at which point he
just shrugged his shoulders and
nodded almost matter of fact as if
to let me know, he knew what he
knew and that was kind of that.”
The end wasn’t all that differ-
ent. If an overdose of the drug
Demerol is being blamed for
taking Michael Jackson away at
the young age of 50, Elvis too
was addicted to Demerol in par-
ticular, and after his death a con-
coction of 14 drugs were found
in his system. People were
shocked, crushed and devastat-
ed at the death of the King of
Rock 'n' Roll, much like people
of the world are now, some in
tears, others in silent prayer.
Best-Selling Pop Male Artist
of the Millennium, a double-in-
ductee of the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame, Guinness World Record
holder for Most Successful En-
tertainer of all time and winner
of 13 Grammy Awards, Michael
Jackson is not someone the
world will forget in a hurry. “Mi-
chael was an incredible singer
and a brilliant dancer. He had the
dance flair of Fred Astaire and
the voice of an angel/devil. He
was absolutely mesmerising
when on stage,” says Alyque Pad-
amsee. Michael’s incredible jour-
ney began when he was six-
years-old. He joined his brothers
in their band Jackson Brothers,
and by the time he turned eight,
he turned lead singer along with
the sunday indian 48 12 july 2009
bro Jaermaine, and the group
from then on came to be known
as The Jackson 5. “Michael Jack-
son was a child prodigy. A child
who becomes famous may focus
on his field of interest exclusively
and exclude interactions with his
peers, as a result of which he may
find himself alone and this may
lead to depression and anxiety,”
says Dr Sonali Bali, Consultant
Psychiatrist, VIMHANS, Delhi.
Michael’s cherubic charm and
angelic voice wooed the people
and the group delivered hits like
“ABC” and “I Want You Back”. But
behind this picture perfect band
was a controlling father who
would mentally and physically
torture the boys. Michael, in an
interview years later, was in tears
as he described the abuse.
As his dance evolved,
Michael was even able to
make movements like touch-
ing one’s crotch iconic!
In 1978, Michael acted in the
musical, “The Wiz”, and this is
where he met Quincy Jones, who
went on to produce his solo album
– “Off The Wall” – which went on
to sell 20 million copies. Both of
them worked together for Mi-
chael’s next album too. This time
the result – “Thriller” – sold more
than a 100 million copies. While
Michael was declared a “blinding-
ly gifted vocalist” by some, others
compared his style with the
“breathless, dreamy stutter” of Ste-
vie Wonder. Michael also put in a
lot of effort, and money too, in his
videos. And so he triumphed in
creating videos like that of “Billie
Jean”, which incidentally paved the
way for black artists to be aired on
MTV, and also brought the chan-
nel into mainstream attention. He
focussed equally on his dance, and
it was at a live performance of the
same song that he premiered his
signature step – the Moonwalk.
With every song, his dance
evolved and strangely enough,
Michael was even able to make
movements like touching one’s
crotch iconic! Prabhu Deva, often
referred to as India’s MJ says,
“Dance suddenly became a rage in
India because of MJ. India was
shocked to see a man who could
dance like him and I too was
shocked and inspired by him. He
had a unique dance style, it wasn’t
break dance … it was just typical
Jackson Style!”
Growing up in the 90s, I didn’t
believe people when they told me
that MJ was really a black guy.
Soon enough I found out that the
guy I was in love with was the
product of several cosmetic sur-
geries. In 1979, Michael had his
first rhinoplasty after breaking his
nose during a dance routine. This
was followed by many more sur-
geries. In the mid 80s, Michael
was diagnosed with vitiligo and
lupus that considerably lightened
the colour of his skin. Michael lit-
erally reinvented himself via sev-
eral cosmetic surgeries, a transi-
tion that drew much flak from the
public and the media.
Most of his adult years were
lonely; his relationships with
women fleeting and his two mar-
riages were short lived. One, is
now speculated to have been all a
sham. For while Lisa left him
when she realised that she could
not save him, Debbie Rowe has
revealed post his demise that she
had agreed to bear him children
to help him and to keep him from
being lonely, and that while she
was artificially inseminated, Mi-
chael was not the biological father
of the children! Michael went on
to have a third child via a surro-
gate mother.
Michael never experienced a
normal childhood or adulthood,
for he was the man who lived in
'Neverland' – a place where peo-
ple don’t grow old. “Michael
Jackson has been labelled as the
Peter Pan of Pop music. Whether
the sunday indian 49 12 july 2009
michael jackson - a tribute
he suffered from the Peter Pan
Syndrome is best answered by
someone who has known him
closely, but many of the charac-
teristics of Peter Pan were seen
in him as well,” says Dr Sonali
Bali. He preferred the friendship
of children to adults, for he felt
that he could trust them. Alas,
this eccentric habit was misinter-
preted and exploited by conniv-
ing people. He was first accused
of sexually abusing a child in
1993, by 13-year-old Jordan
Chandler and his father, and
while the child’s mother severely
refuted their accusations, investi-
gations were carried out where
many children in Michael’s fami-
ly were interrogated and he was
even subjected to a strip search.
The public and media lambasted
him, Michael couldn’t cope with
the stress and it was then that he
began to take painkillers. Suffi-
cient evidence was not found
and Michael eventually coughed
up $22 million to put an end to
the episode. Similar charges re-
turned to haunt him in 2003. In-
vestigations followed, TV chan-
nels and newspapers wouldn’t
stop deriding ‘wacko Jacko’, and
Michael’s dependency on drugs
increased and his health deterio-
rated. Though he was acquitted
on all counts, the world still
labelled him a paedophile.
People across generations and
across the continents have appre-
ciated and enjoyed Michael Jack-
son’s music. More than his death,
perhaps the reason why the
mourning for the King of Pop
doesn’t seem to pause is because
we all realise that we loved him for
his rare talent and we were witness
to the last act of his life and did
nothing as we saw him consumed
by misery and loneliness. The
drugs might have put him to sleep
for good, but then legends never
die. Like Jackson said in 2007,
“Music has been my outlet, my gift
to all of the lovers in this world.
Through it, my music, I know I
will live forever.” RIP Michael.
With inputs from Aakriti Bhardwaj
and Ravi Inder Singh