Thesun 2009-06-29 Page18 The End Of History

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theSun

| MONDAY JUNE 29 2009

in memory MICHAEL JACKSON: Aug 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009

The end of HIStory ‘KING OF POP’ DIES ON THE EVE OF MAKING HIS FINAL COMEBACK, BUT HE LIVES ON IN HIS MUSIC by Simon Price

LONDON: Late last Thursday night, amid the chaos and chatter of the midnight vigil which arose on the internet as news of Michael Jackson’s death began to break, I bid the online world goodnight by pleading for a moment’s calm. My plea, directed at anyone who happened to be reading, was, with the greatest respect, to shut up for a moment. I begged them to mute the television, put down the phone, stop typing, be still for a minute, and just listen to something I’d found on YouTube. It was a vocal track of the young Michael singing I’ll Be There a capella, accompanied by footage of The Jackson 5 performing the song on The Jim Nabors Hour, an American variety show, in 1970. Have a look: it may still be there, unless some joyless recording company drone has had it removed. I’ll Be There is a song which, in even the happiest of times, can send shivers through your body. On a night like Thursday, as an oasis of beauty among all the ugliness and ghoulishness, it had the power to spear through your skin, rip out your heart and nail it to the wall. At the age of nine, 10, 11, Michael Jackson had the uncanny ability to deliver vocal performances which

combined the purity of an infant with the emotional experience of an adult. At the turn of the 1970s, when The Jackson 5 were turning out single after killer single for the Motown label, nobody knew the price he’d already paid behind the scenes, sacrificing his childhood in Gary, Indiana, at the hands of a harsh and abusive father. And yet ... what utter joy The Jackson 5 produced in those early years under the wing of The Corporation team, with their own cartoon series to spread their popularity: ABC, The Love You Save, and every DJ’s emergency floor-filler, I Want You Back. Michael, although the youngest, had emerged as lead singer. Berry Gordy knew the kid has something special, and soon he was a solo artist, putting down extraordinarily mature vocals on cuts such as the chart-topping Got to Be There, Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine, Stevie Wonder’s Shoo-BeDoo-Be-Doo-Da-Day, the gorgeous ballad One Day in Your Life, and even on trite trash such as Rockin’ Robin and Ben (an improbably moving paean to a pet rat). In 1976, The Jacksons, now microphone-headed teenagers, jumped ship to CBS/Epic minus Motown loyalist Jermaine but plus Randy, leapt aboard the disco train with considerable success (Blame

From child to megastar MICHAEL Jackson was born on Aug 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children. Five Jackson boys – Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael – first performed together at a talent show when Michael was six. They walked

off with first prize and went on to become a best-selling band, The Jackson 5 (below). Jackson made his first solo album in 1972, and released Thriller in 1982, which became a smash hit that yielded seven top 10 singles. The album sold

21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million worldwide. The next year, he unveiled his signature “moonwalk” dance move, gliding across the stage and setting off an instant trend, while performing Billie Jean during an NBC special. But his personal life was troubled. In 1993, Jackson was accused of sexually abusing a 13year-old boy, but no charges were filed against him and the matter was settled out of court in 1994 with the boy’s family. The same year, he announced he had become addicted to painkillers and abruptly cancelled a world tour to promote his album, Dangerous. In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley’s only child, Lisa Marie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996. “I’m so very sad and confused with every emotion possible. ... This is such a massive loss on so many levels, words fail me,” Presley said in statement.

The star then married Debbie Rowe (above) the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999, and he later had another child with an unidentified surrogate mother. He is survived by three children named Michael Joseph Jr, Paris Michael Katherine and “Blanket” Prince Michael II, known for his brief public appearance when his father held him over the railing of a hotel balcony, causing widespread criticism. – Reuters

It on the Boogie, Shake Your Body Down) and looked as if they were having all the fun in the world. It wasn’t long, though, before Michael embarked on a second solo career. Off the Wall, produced by Quincy Jones (whom Jackson had met on The Wiz, Motown’s ill-fated Wizard of Oz remake) with considerable songwriting assistance from Heatwave’s Rod Temperton, is one of the great disco albums, ranging from the effortlessly sublime soul swing of Rock with You to the heartbreaking She’s Out of My Life. Its impossibly funky title track is an anthem to the social liberation of the disco movement, and Michael’s imperative to “leave your 9 to 5 upon the shelf and just enjoy yourself” sounds remarkably authentic coming from someone who had never done a normal day’s work in his life. But it’s the lead-off single that really stands out. Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough begins with the sound of Michael chatting away to himself, sotto voce, as though completely unaware of the listener’s intrusive attentions, about how the force ... has got a lot of power ... and it makes him feel like ... oooh!!! before the whole thing erupts into mirrorball euphoria, with Jackson’s trademark shrieks, whoops and chirrups imitated so annoyingly by the likes of Avid Merrion. “Don’t Stop...” is in with a serious shout (and a scream, and a handclap, and a pirouette) of being the greatest piece of pop music ever recorded. The Michael of Off the Wall sounds, and looks, like a healthy, carefree, playful young man, and is unavoidably poignant in the light of what we know would happen next. With the Thriller album of 1982, Michael Jackson didn’t only become the biggest pop star in the world. He redefined what bigness meant for a pop star. He achieved this, to a large extent, by being in the right place at the right time. The video for paternity-suit drama Billie Jean arrived just when MTV was making it possible for a star to cover the globe without the hard slog of touring, and at a time when globalisation of American capitalism made worldwide homogeneity of markets a desirable thing. Corporations such as Pepsi needed a face who could appeal across races and nations, and Michael Jackson fitted the bill. Thriller made him the best-known black man since Muhammad Ali, and arguably the most famous human on the planet. Which isn’t to say that it isn’t a fine record on its own merits. The percussive epic Wanna Be Startin’ Something exudes sheer exuberance, and Human Nature is a beautiful piece of sophisticated metropolitan