MICHAEL JACKSON STORIES

'...By the end of 1969, Michael Jackson, now eleven years old and

reunited with his mother, was a bubbly, energetic and happy

youngster. ‘All I want now is to see how far we can go as a

family,’ he told Soul magazine reporter Judy Spiegelman. ‘I like

show business, Hollywood, and all that stuff, the things people like

Berry Gordy do to make you look good. I'm real excited about

things.''

'By the time Michael Jackson turned nineteen in August 1977, he

was one of the best-known entertainers of recent years, the idol of

many young women. While his brothers often availed themselves

of the sexual opportunities presented to them on the road, Michael

never followed suit. Though much of Michael's music has had a

sensual edge over the years, and his dancing has often been

suggestive, he was not sexually adventurous as a young man.

‘I think it's fun that girls think I'm sexy,’ Michael told me in

1977. ‘But I don't think that about myself. It's all just fantasy,

really.'

'While Michael Jackson was on the road with the Victory tour, he

made further headlines – this time on the business pages – by

purchasing the ATV Music Publishing Company for an astounding

$47.5 million. The purchase, believed to be the biggest publishing

acquisition of its kind ever by an individual, was actually the

culmination of ten intense months of negotiation. The seed of this

venture had been planted a few years earlier when Michael was in

London to record the number one hit ‘ Say, Say, Say’ with Paul

McCartney at Abbey Road Studios.'

'On Tuesday, 28 February 1984, Grammy night, the scene at the

Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles was one of pure pandemonium.

Giant klieg lights cut dramatic white patterns in the dark sky

above. Fans in their roped-off areas were ready to scream and call

out the names of anyone they might recognize. When twenty-fiveyear-

old Michael Jackson arrived for his coronation as king of the

pop music world, he wore a spangled uniform with epaulets and

the rhinestoned glove on his right hand. With him was Brooke

Shields.'

'Michael Jackson survived the devastating child molestation

allegations of a decade ago, but it could be argued not without

considerable damage to his recording career. In fact, his record

sales have dipped dramatically since 1993.

In 1995, a double CD was issued, HIStory – Past, Present &

Future, Book 1. The package boasted fifteen of his greatest hits

(‘Beat It’, ‘Billie Jean’, and the rest) and fifteen new songs, such

as the thoughtful ‘Stranger in Moscow’, the elegant ‘Earth Song’

and ‘Scream’ (with Janet, the first single release from the

package). ‘You Are Not Alone’, also included, remains among Michael’s

best songs; it made chart history in America by becoming the first

song ever to go straight to number one on the Billboard charts in

its first week.'

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PRINCE STORIES

'...WHEN PRINCE DIED AT 57 on April 21, 2016, the world turned purple with grief.

The unexpected passing of one of the best-selling recording artists in music history

came as a shock to those who had, in Prince’s music, found a soundtrack to their

youths, an antidote to their loneliness and permission to simply be: if the world could

embrace a man whose every fiber defied easy categorization, then it should be able to

embrace any one of us.'

'In the 1986 film Under the Cherry Moon, an ode to

Hollywood glamour shot in plush, feathery black and white, Prince appears as a pianist

and hustler who falls for snooty rich girl Kristin Scott Thomas. At first, she’ll have

nothing to do with him, and Prince, wounded, decides to get the better of her.'

'That’s charisma. And the only star who had more than Elvis was Prince. His hotness

differed, of course; it came from somewhere else. Cardboard won’t cut it for him. If

Elvis was sex, Prince was a sexual orientation. His own. And it was oriented toward you.

And you. And you...'

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BOB MARLEY STORIES

'...Although he lived a short life, only 36 years, Bob penned an enormous

quantity of songs. And unlike some songwriters, Bob was involved in all

aspects of the creation of his music. He worked on each of the instrumental

parts, wrote the lyrics, and had his hand in the control room while the

initial tracks were being laid down, in addition to being involved in the

editing and overdubbing process that yielded the final product. Bob’s

sound was so characteristic of reggae that it virtually cornered the “roots

reggae” designation'

'The year 1975 was that during

November, Bob, Peter, and Bunny reunited for their last time on stage.

American popular musician Stevie Wonder was slated to play a benefit

concert at Jamaica’s National Stadium. The concert was staged to raise

money for the Jamaican Institute for the Blind and Stevie Wonder was

well aware of the Wailers’ material. The reconstituted Wailers performed

at Wonder’s benefit concert and he was blown away.'

'With this more specific diagnosis, Bob was informed that he likely had

between four and five weeks left to live and that he should put his affairs

in order. As a means of relieving the pressure caused by the tumor in his

skull, Bob began receiving radiation treatments to try to reduce the size

of the brain tumor. An unfortunate result of the Sloan-Kettering visit

was that Bob’s condition was leaked to the media. On October 8, 1980,

news of Bob’s cancer was announced on various radio stations in New

York. Station WLIB was the first to announce Bob’s health concerns over

the radio. The news spread quickly and soon Bob’s condition was known

internationally.'

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JOHNNY CASH STORIES

'My affair with pills had already begun. It quickly

became all-consuming, eating me up for the next decade

or so. Amazingly, it didn't completely ruin my career... I moved to Nashville, kicked my

habit, and married June. My career accelerated.'

'It got really strange in the bedroom. The gunman,

who was standing up on the bed with his muzzle an inch from John Carter's brains, started asking him friendly little questions: "What do you do down here? What do you

like to do in Jamaica? Do you snorkel?" John Carter answered calmly and pleasantly, and

when the truly weirdest thing happened, he handled himself beautifully.'

'The last time I saw him was a few months before he

died, and my favorite Roy Orbison story begins then.'

'It was a sad situation between Vivian and me, and it didn't get better. I wasn't going to give up the life that went with my music, and Vivian wasn't going to accept that.'

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NEIL YOUNG STORIES

'...Large man in jeans with the zipper broken and a muslin shirt, both garments white, wanders around a big white Caddy with the engine running. We’re in the wilds of Topanga Canyon outside some woebegone hippie house, past its prime and oozing that Manson vibe. He’s annoyed, motioning for me to hurry. It takes me a minute to realize that the man is Bruce Palmer, the extraordinary bass player best known for his membership in Buffalo Springfield.'

'Kelly didn’t know Neil Young all that well—few in Topanga did—but Louie was a part of the canyon spirit. His parties were infamous, and he remains a charter member of the Topanga All-Stars, a loose  congregation of fifteen or so roughnecks who functioned as Topanga’s answer to the James Gang.'

'The last song on Time out of Mind was “Highlands,” a rambling, sixteen-minute-plus piece of  psychobabble that became even more curious when Dylan threw Young’s name into the stew.'

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