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Prior to their European tour starting, on 30th October, Michael and his brothers appeared on the bill of the Royal Command Performance, staged at theon Palladium in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.
1984 - The Jacksons perform Victory tour at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia [USA] attending 30,000.
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was certified at 20 times Platinum by the RIAA.
1996 - Michael arrives in India to perform a concert on Nov. 01.
The King of Pop, arrived in Mumbai on October 30th. The svelte and sexy actress Sonali Bendre, clad in traditional Maharashtrian(Indian State – Maharashtra) nine yard saree, greeted Michael performing the aarti and applied tilak on his forehead at the airport and he was quite taken up with the entire ceremony.When he was being driven out of the air port in his 20-car cavalcade, he stopped his Toyota, got rid of his security guards and stepped out to meet the cluster of urchins lined up along the highway to catch a glimpse of him. He picked up several children and hugged and kissed them. He then spent a few minutes with them before he proceeded to the Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray’s residence, Matushree, in Bandra East. Here he was presented with a silver tabla and tanpura, which are musical instruments from India.
He stayed at the Oberoi Hotel, where he charmed staff and left a departing message, “I love you,” scrawled in lipstick on his room mirror. Later that evening, at the special bash organized in his honour by Bharat Shah (Organiser of the concert) at the Oberoi, he made a mere three minute appearance. Apparently, the singer had a late night before and wanted to retire to his room early. The crème de la crème of the Indian Entertainment Industry and Royal Families were there. Most of them of course, were left high and dry except for the actor Anupam Kher perhaps who to the initiative of jumping on the stage and grabbing Michael’s hand with a, ‘Yeah Michael, yeah!’. Shobha De (A Writer) was the next to gain inspiration and she even told the Press later, “Shaking hands with him was like an orgasm!” Bharat Shah presented Michael with a silver replica of the Taj Mahal at the same party.Michael Jackson watching a traditional Indian play an ethnic instrument. The Indian media myth about Michael being extremely reclusive, does not hold true anymore. During his stay at The Oberoi Hotel, he surprised the entire staff by mingling freely with his fans, who would drop in at the hotel to catch a glimpse of the King of Pop. He would smile and blow kisses to all his fans and shake hands with as many of them as possible.
According to Butler Manager, Sandeep Walia, who was attending to him with a team of three butlers, Michael loves sweet white wine. That is probably the only kind of alcohol that he consumed during his stay at the Oberoi. Apart from that, he loves orange drinks, Fanta being his favorite and a special German orange drink, Gatorade, which he carries with him. Michael drinks a lot of Diet Coke as well, prefers his drinks at room temperature. Jackson has a penchant for chocolates too, so The Oberoi made sure there were chocolates, of all shapes, sizes and flavours kept in every reachable corner of his room.Michael Jackson likes a lot of festivity around him. The Kohinoor Suite at the Oberoi was decorated with flowers, balloons, confetti and bowls of sweets and chocolates to give it a spirit of celebration. While in his room, Jackson does not like to use the air-conditioner. He also likes his space. His body-guards have been instructed not to come close to him to give him enough space to move around.
Okay this is something that will really please his fans in India. According to one of his security men, India is not his new love. Jackson has always wanted to visit the country and the last time his show got cancelled he was very disappointed and upset.
Guess what Michael had for breakfast? On his first morning here, he ate masala dosa and the day after that, he had spicy alu paranthas with butter. His other meals mainly comprised of butter naans, butter chicken, tandoori chicken and spicy vegetable curries. His personal chef is of Indian origin and she co-ordinated his meals with the other chefs at the hotel. Michael Jackson definitely has a predilection for Indian food but wait till you hear this. According to the hotel staff, he got naans (Enough for an army), tandoori chicken, dishes cooked in butter gravy and lots of paranthas packed, on the morning he was flying out of India.
Jackson asked The Oberoi for an LLD player and a television, as well as a CD player for his personal use. He travels with his own library of CDs and LDs and spends most of the time indoors, watching films.
The world knows he loves kids and there are many in our country who wish, they were kids, because Michael only seemed to have time for them while he was here. At his request, a high tea was organized at the pool side where kids from orphanages were invited to meet and play with him. He gave them gifts and chocolates that he had brought with him. There was a party for kids organized in his room as well, on the day of the show itself. About 50 children were invited and he ordered cakes and burgers for them. He made the kids sit on his lap and played with them. He had asked the hotel to provide him with a few saris which he wanted draped around the sofas during the photo session with the kids, to give his pictures the ethnic effect.He would pick up his own newspapers from outside the door, which was normally very late in the morning. Michael is a late riser. His meal timings were also odd. He never had his breakfast before 12 noon and dinner before 1.00 pm. When he returned to the hotel lobby after his mind blowing show, he folded his hands in a namaste and blew kisses to all his fans before he got into the elevator. According to the staff, he was as energetic after the show, as he was before it perhaps! The two-hour-15-minute long performance hadn’t fatigued him in the least.
Burkhas were arranged for Michael because he wanted to visit Aasha Daan, Mother Teresa’s ashram in Byculla. But due to an extremely tight schedule he wasn’t able to fulfill his desire.
Source: clubmj.com
2000 - Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was certified at 26 times Platinum by the RIAA.
Michael Jackson's "Blood On The Dance Floor: History in the Mix" was certified Platinum by the RIAA.
2001 - Michael Jackson's album "Invincible" was released in US and Canada.
Michael dedicates album "Invincible" (released October 30, 2001) to 15-year-old murdered African-Norwegian, Benjamin Hermansen, advising on the importance of not judging a person by race, but by character.
The album was the Michael’s first in 10 years that featured all new material. Invincible spent two years in production and cost approximately $30 million to make; reportedly the most expensive album ever made. The album featured 16 tracks, 14 of which Michael wrote or co-wrote; “Unbreakable”, “Heartbreaker”, “Invincible”, “Heaven Can Wait”, “You Rock My World”, “Speechless”, “2000 Watts”, “You Are My Life”, “Privacy”, “Don’t Walk Away”, “The Lost Children” and “Threatened”. R. Kelly contributed the anthem track “Cry” and UK duo Floetry contributed the beautiful “Butterflies”. Slash performed a guitar solo on “Privacy” and Santana contributed a guitar performance to “Whatever Happens”. The album featured two posthumous appearances; a rap performance by Notorious B.I.G on “Unbreakable” and samples of Rod Sterling’s voice on “Threatened”. Brandy contributed additional vocals to “Unbreakable”. Michael brought in Rodney Jerkins of Darkchild to produce and write on six of the tracks. Again, Michael produced the entire project himself and played many of the musical instruments. The album was initially released with cover art that came in five limited edition colours. Invincible went to number 1 in 13 countries including the US, UK and Australia. The album showed incredible first week sales in the US, selling over 300,000 copies. Invincible sold a massive 5.4 million copies in just two months of its release.2003 - Halloween Interview with Rick Dees.
Michael Jackson got up early (no easy job for Michael who readily admits to being nocturnal) to talk with Los Angeles disk jockey, Rick Dees. Michael talks about his plans for Halloween trick or treating with Prince, Paris, and Blanket and his favorite candy, among other things.
Michael Jackson: Still doing meetings and things. I’m not back in California yet, I’ll be there soon.
Rick Dees: Good, good deal. So you obviously don’t get up at seven twenty in the morning do you?
Michael Jackson: No [laughs] I usually work all night. I usually go to bed this time.
Rick Dees: Mike You’re a night person. Last time I saw you had stayed up all night and written about four different songs.
Michael Jackson: Yeah, I’m very nocturnal.
Rick Dees: Yeah, you’re a very nocturnal guy (laughter). This is your day coming up I mean If it’s not Halloween for Michael Jackson then it’s not for anybody.
Michael Jackson: [laughs] Right
Rick Dees: Are you going to go out and trick or treat?
Michael Jackson: Yes, I’m going trick or treating. Taking my children.
Rick Dees: Do they have costumes?
Michael Jackson: Yes.
Rick Dees: What are they? We’ve got Prince and Paris and Tito?
Michael Jackson: Prince, Paris, and Blanket. Prince wants to be the black panther. And Paris, who is the girl, she’s a tomboy. She wants to be spiderman. And the little one wants to be spiderman too. And I’m going to be a ghost.
Rick Dees: Oh yeah!
Michael Jackson: [laughs]
Rick Dees: This ghost. Listen if you get a chance, I mean you’re in the neighborhood, I have these huge beautiful candy apples and the long, huge, candy bars - the ones that no one gives out, the movie size candy bars like you serve at your place there, so come on in..I’d love to throw down a little something for Prince and Paris and the Ghost.
Michael Jackson: Oh, they would love it!
Rick Dees: Do you have a favorite chocolate, Michael?
Michael Jackson: I like.. uhm ... believe it or not, milk chocolate.
Rick Dees: You said milk chocolate?
Michael Jackson: Yes [laughs].
Rick Dees: I love milk chocolate
Michael Jackson: Me too [laughs].
Rick Dees: You know what I did this week Michael? I um, I have to confess - these kids came by here and sold 1,000 dollars worth of chocolate to the radio station.
Michael Jackson: Wow.
Rick Dees: I said I was donating it to charity. I did all except for 30 candy bars - I’ve been eating chocolate for thirty days. Every morning. I’ve got this thing about milk chocolate.
Michael Jackson: You ate the candy? [laughs]
Rick Dees: I ate the candy!
Michael Jackson: I’m sorry [still laughing...]
Rick Dees: Last time I was at your place I was got so hungry and this chef goes in here and I could smell this wonderful vegetarian pizza all afternoon and - there’s candy everywhere at Neverland. There’s candy everywhere in your home. I love that. I just love that. When you walk into Michael Jackson’s place it’s fresh candy and there’s the fragrance in his home - it's a cross between chocolate and vanilla and there’s a kind of buttery smell and fragrance - I could definitely hang out
Michael Jackson: Well you’re welcome anytime.
Rick Dees: Thanks! Thank you so much.
Michael Jackson: You’re always welcome.
Rick Dees: Did you have breakfast yet?
Michael Jackson: Pardon? [Laughter]
Rick Dees: What’s that? He doesn’t know what that is?
Listen Michael, we have this bet going on and you can certainly tell me 'No'. I’m going to end up playing 'Thriller' a tremendous number of times between now and this time tomorrow. And of course, your world premiere. People are calling for this song over over and over - ’What More Can I Give?'
Michael Jackson: Oh, God Bless them. It’s for the children. It’s so important.
Rick Dees: I’m trying to get something for the kids. Is there anyway you can say, "Hey what’s up. It’s Michael Jackson with Rick Dees as my Halloween gift to you. Here’s Thriller". Obviously, I’m going to warn you in advance, I’m going to tape it if you will say that.
Michael Jackson: Okay, I’ll do it for you.
Rick Dees: Okay, here we go. Use your own words if you want but with good energy like you’re on the Mike Douglas show for the first time.
Okay, 3 - 2 - 1
Michael Jackson: Hi, this is Michael Jackson with Rick Dees, Halloween. This is Thriller - enjoy it.
Rick Dees: Good, now just say 2003 Halloween.
Michael Jackson: Okay, 2003 Halloween with Rick Dees.
Rick Dees: Awwww! [claps] That’s like heaven. Okay. That one lost the bet. I was saying you probably might not do it.
Let’s go back to the song for just a second. It’s been some time putting together. And did it come to you at once or was it something you were working on with the tune and everything for a period of time?
Michael Jackson: No, it just came at once. Uhm, art of songwriting is a totally different art. It really is. It really is a gift from God. It really is. I feel guilty putting my name on it. It falls into my lap. It’s a gift from Heaven. It really is.
Rick Dees: It’s just a gift, isn’t it?
Michael Jackson: It really is.
Source: MJFC
2008 - Michael takes Prince, Paris & Blanket to Borders Bool bookstore in Westwood, Los Angeles, Ca.
Michael's spokesperson, Dr. Tohme, in response to recent rumors regarding Michael's participation in a Jackson 5 reunion, has issued the following statement from Michael Jackson:
"My brothers and sisters have my full love and support, and we've certainly shared many great experiences, but at this time I have no plans to record or tour with them. I am now in the studio developing new and exciting projects that I look forward to sharing with my fans in concert soon."
