Today in MJJ HIStory  

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1971 – The Jackson 5ive began a U.S. tour at the Coliseum in Charlotte, NC.

1973 – The Jackson 5ive Concert in Pittsburg ( Pennsylvania )

1974 - Jackson 5ive Concert in Trenton ( New Jersey )

1984 – Publicity of the Michael Jackson doll begins.

Thriller era saw the arrival of novelties like the Michael Jackson barbie doll: Thriller breaking all previous sales records & with the Victory tour playing to unprecedented crowds, a flood of MJ merchandise hit the market. Back in July of 1984, four MJ dolls authorized by Michael were marketed by LJN Toys inc. The 12″ vinyl Michael Jackson Superstar Doll appeared in stores in at a price of $12. The poseable doll had a molded jherri curl & came in 4 different, supposedly “authentic stage outfits”, from the videos of “Beat It” and “Thriller”, and red jacket from the AMA and the 3-musketeer’s inspired purple & gold sequin jacket from Grammys. The barbie sized dolls each came with a stand, a microphone, his famous glittering ‘Magic’ glove, glitter socks, and a tiny pair of mirror sunglasses.


1988 – Micheal visits sick children again at the Great Ormond Street Hospital.
He visits critically ill children and their parents at the “Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital”, where he spends longer time with the less critical patients, reserving words of comfort to them, reading them stories and delivering presents, including albums, signed photos and T-shirts. He associates himself with the “Wishing Well Fund” for sponsoring the contruction of a novel unit, as part of the “Hospital for Sick Children” in Great Ormond Street, London, England.


Notably, 9-year old Neil Clark, having undergone live-saving surgery to remove a brain tumour – and originally not scheduled to see the popstar – is visited by the singer, the boy’s father declaring with gratitude that the visit “cheered my son up”. 4-year-old Joanne Doeffer, having undergone a throat operation and breathing through a special tube, was visited by the star, the meet-and-greet prompting her to struggle and say “Thriller” to a delighted Jackson.

During his Bad Tour (as well as other tours of his), he was reported to be joined backstage prior to his concerts by children with illnesses from the respective local areas of his performances, with whom the entertainer would pose for pictures and sign autographs to, often, the singer spending time purchasing and assembling playthings he would personally deliver to them the following day, according to Seth Riggs, Jackson’s vocal coach.

1988 – Michael was presented with a Sword to commemorate the Bad Tour at the Guildhall party.

In the evening, a banquet is held to commemorate the imminent Bad shows at Wembley Stadium. King of Pop became the first ever commoner to enter the London’s historic Guildhall’s Royal Entrance, a unique privilege that required the Queen’s personal approval.

His arrival was heralded by the red-jacketed trumpeters of the Life Guard cavalry, usually seen marching along the Mall. There followed a pounds 75,000 banquet, during which the roast beef was paraded through the room by the Corps of Drums of the Honourable Artillery Company.

Dancers in Olde English costume scattered rose petals at Michael’s feet. Then he watched wide-eyed as first Henry VIII, then Elizabeth I, Lord Nelson, Nell Gwynn, Robin Hood, Maid Marion and Dick Whittington paid their respects.

Ballet dancers burst from a box.

Fire-eaters, jugglers, jesters and Elizabethan musicians visited his table. Then Michael was stunned as Merlin appeared in a puff of smoke, and glittering knights in armour bowed before him.

Michael took the salute as the Band of the Corps of Royal Engineers beat the retreat, walking up and down a line of liveried Life Guard troops as if he were a general inspecting them.

He bopped lightly on his heels as the band played and grinned wildly when they launched into a version of Billie Jean.

Then a knight in shining armour galloped across the courtyard, leapt from his saddle, pulled a sword from a stone and went down on one knee before handing the sword to Michael.

He was blissfully unaware of the historical significance, and handed the sword – the sword King Arthur pulled from the stone before he recruited the knights of the Round Table Knights of the Round Table – to a 7ft minder wearing a top hat, and made him the King of England.

1996 – Michael Jackson visited Nelson Mandela in Pretoria, South Africa. He also announced that he was working on a film about Mandela.

2004 – Michael Jackson’s publicist denied a report in US Weekly that Jackson was about to become a father to quadruplets via a surrogate mother. A spokesperson for US Weekly told Reuters that is stands by its story and cite unnamed sources close to Jackson as confirming the story.

Today in MJJ HIStory  

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1997 - "HIStory/Ghosts" second released from Michael's remix album "Blood On The Dancefloor", debuted at #5 in the UK, giving Michael his 8th consecutive Top 5 single.
Michael as Maestro in Ghosts
The music video for "Ghosts" was a 5 minute clip taken from a film entitled Ghosts. Michael unveiled the film at the Cannes Film Festival, as part of the album promotion. The film was written by Jackson and Stephen King and directed by Stan Winston – the multi-award winner behind the spectacular special effects. Ghosts was produced over an 8 week period, and cost Michael an est. $7-9 million. He played several roles, including a maestro, a fat, grey-haired town Mayor, and some monsters. The story was based loosely on the events and isolation Jackson felt after the false accusations. It features many special effects and dance moves choreographed to original music, which Jackson himself authored. The film includes several songs and music videos from the albums HIStory and Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix.

Ghosts ~ Are You Scared Yet?

A scary Maestro with supernatural powers, is targeted by angry parents & towns mayor determined to drive him from his haunted Normal Valley home cause they believe him to be a "freak".
"You’re weird," the Mayor sneers, "You’re strange, you’re scaring these kids." [Brave words to commit to film, considering the media's warped portrayal of Michael!]
Maestro challenges the Mayor: first one to get scared leaves town.
So begins a wonderfully ghoulish display of singing and dancing, with breath-taking special effects.
"Is this scary?" one of Michael’s characters asks, and the answer is yes – Ghosts is delightfully scary!


FILM FACTS
The film was written by Michael and Stephen King and directed by Oscar-winner Stan Winston – the world’s foremost creator of creatures in Jurassic Park, Aliens & Terminator 2.
The movie includes a series of dance routines performed by Michael and the “family” of ghouls, choreographed to original music, which Michael himself authored. Every song from the film was taken from Michael’s Blood on the Dance Floor album.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:
MAESTRO: Michael Jackson
MAYOR: Michael Jackson
GHOUL MAYOR: Michael Jackson
SUPER GHOUL: Michael Jackson
SKELETON: Michael Jackson
PAT: Pat Dade
AMY: Amy Smallman
EDWINA: Edwina Moore
DANTE: Dante Beze
SETH: Seth Smith
KENDALL: Kendall Cunningham
LOREN: Loren Randolph
HEATHER: Heather Ehlers

Accolades
  • The video for Ghosts is over 38 minutes long and holds the Guinness World Record as the world’s longest music video.
  • The music video won the Bob Fosse Award for Best Choreography in a Music Video.
  • Ghosts was issued as a standard home video in the UK in early February 1998 & made its debut at #1.

The original version of "HIStory" was the title track on his 1995 studio album HIStory, but was never released as a single; used the opening from "Great Gate of Kiev" as its introduction, followed by numerous historical quotes, including quotes from an interview with a young Michael Jackson from 1970. Musical compositions sampled include "Beethoven Lives Upstairs" and "Pictures at an Exhibition". Audio quotes sampled were the "Charles Lindbergh Report" by Lowell Thomas, a report on Hank Aaron, "Robert Kennedy Eulogy" by Edward Kennedy, "Farewell to Baseball" by Lou Gehrig, "Greetings to the Children of England" by Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, a quote from Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream".
HIStoryThe music video that accompanied the remix opens with the scene of a woman, relaxing on a futuristic sofa, watching the music video through metallic virtual reality goggles. The video is set in a nightclub, inside the club, televisions, monitors and walls display the history of Michael's filmography

The remix album become Michael’s 5th consecutive chart topping album (his 6th in total)

1998 - Michael Jackson attended Nelson Mandela's 80th birthday at the Gallagher Estate outside of Johannesburg.

2005 - Sony releases a new double CD Greatest Hits titled The Essential.

The Essential Michael Jackson is a 2005 greatest hits 2-disc compilation features 38 hit songs by Michael Jackson, from his days at Motown Records with The Jackson 5 in the late 1960s to his 2001 hit "You Rock My World".

As of 2009 the album was certified 2x platinum in the US, it's estimated that over 7 million copies have been sold worldwide, making it the highest selling edition in Sony's Essential line.

Today in MJJ HIStory  

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1971 - The Jackson 5ive began a U.S. tour at the Coliseum in Charlotte, NC.

1972 – The Jackson 5ive Concert in Chicago (Illinois)

1988 – Michael Jackson & Jimmy Jam visit Elstree Studios where Steven Spielberg is directing Indiana Jones and they both meet Harrison Ford.

1992 – Concerts his Dangerous World Tour in Stockholm, Sweden at the Olympic Stadium, attending 53,000.

1996 – Michael visits South Africa for a few days, arrives in Johannesburg, where he attends a private birthday for President Nelson Mandela. Mandela invited about 2000 children to the party.


Nelson Mandela poses with Michael Jackson before cutting a birthday cake for his 78th birthday at Hilton College in Kwazulu-Natal.


Michael took time off from touring, to visit South Africa where not only did he attend a private birthday party for the country’s President Nelson Mandela, he revealed he was writing a song about him. "I was working on it last night (19th July)," he said. "This is a wonderful, lovely man. I love Nelson Mandela very much."
Mandela, stepping out on to a patio to greet the media, turned to Michael and said,
"I can see who is the world leader. I have never seen so many journalists!"

During the press conference in Sun City, Michael announces that his upcoming HIStory World Tour would reach South Africa.

While in South Africa, Michael also took time to visits the black township of Soweto, where he laid a wreath of flowers at the memorial to honor the youngsters who were shot dead by South Africa’s security forces during the 1976 Apartheid riots; and renders a bouquet of white roses, carnations and lilies in remembrance of 11-year-old leukemia victim, Jaymee Bowen.

Michael Jackson with Mandela and other African leaders & Sheela Lee Jackson


Meanwhile, the highest bid for a Neverland visit on behalf of the star is obtained at the Cities in School celebrity auction and, with the aid of radio KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, 115,000 dollars are delivered to school pupils.

1998 – Michael Jackson and Don Barden go to Joannesburg.

The city of Warsaw, Poland, presented Michael Jackson with four potential locations for a planned theme park.

1999 – Michael Jackson attends Nelson Mandela’s birthday.



2004 - Michael Jackson's publicist denied a report in US Weekly that Jackson was about to become a father to quadruplets via a surrogate mother. A spokesperson for US Weekly told Reuters that is stands by its story and cite unnamed sources close to Jackson as confirming the story.

2007 – Michael Jackson takes Prince, Paris & Blanket to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space and American Indian museums in Washington, D. C.



Michael Jackson toured the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space and American Indian museums, arriving with his children before the buildings opened to the public.
"He wanted to show them the sights," Raymone Bain, a publicist for the 48-year-old pop star, told The Washington Post.

At the air and space museum, Jackson lingered over the 1903 Wright Flyer, the first heavier-than-air powered aircraft to make a sustained flight with a pilot aboard, during his visit Wednesday. His children enjoyed robots R2-D2 and C-3PO from the "Star Wars" movies.

Jackson will be in the Washington region for a few days. Bain said the singer has been looking for a vacation home.


Jackson’s fondness to stars wars films is evident with his life-sized replicas of Darth Vader, Yoga, D2 R2, C-3PO and a Han Solo model frozen in carbonite.

During the HIStory World Tour, Michael opens each show, wearing a dazzling silver & gold futuristic outfit, complete with space helmet. Reminiscing the Star Wars, he comes in a mini spaceship, crashing black door blew open to reveal himself.Great Gate of Kiev was used as the anthem

Life-size replica of Star Wars robot R2-D2 : The great panoramic of Michael Jackson’s game room/collection gallery includes several Star Wars pieces. A life-size replica of Star Wars robot R2-D2 from Lucasfilm Ltd., 1999. An electric light inside the figure illuminates it.


See more Star Wars pieces from the great panoramic of Michael Jackson’s game room collection gallery.

MJ Star Wars Collection

Today in MJJ HIStory  

Posted by Majical Child in , , , , , ,

1971 – The Jackson 5ive Concert in Hampton (Virginia)

1972 – The Jackson 5ive Concert in Chicago (Illinois)

1988 - Michael Jackson & Jimmy Jam visit Elstree Studios where Steven Spielberg is directing Indiana Jones and they both meet Harrison Ford.

1992 - Concerts his Dangerous World Tour in Stockholm, Sweden at the Olympic Stadium, attending 53,000.

1996 - Michael visits South Africa for a few days, arrives in Johannesburg, where he attends a private birthday for President Nelson Mandela. Mandela invited about 2000 children to the party.

Brothers in ArmsMichael took time off from touring, to visit South Africa where not only did he attend a private birthday party for the country’s President Nelson Mandela, he revealed he was writing a song about him. "I was working on it last night (19th July)," he said. "This is a wonderful, lovely man. I love Nelson Mandela very much."
Mandela, stepping out on to a patio to greet the media, turned to Michael and said,
"I can see who is the world leader. I have never seen so many journalists!"
During the press conference in Sun City, Michael announces that his upcoming HIStory World Tour would reach South Africa.


Michael Jackson & Nelson MandelaNelson Mandela poses with Michael Jackson before cutting a birthday cake for his 78th birthday at Hilton College in Kwazulu-Natal.

While in South Africa, Michael also took time to visits the black township of Soweto, where he laid a wreath of flowers at the memorial to honor the youngsters who were shot dead by South Africa’s security forces during the 1976 Apartheid riots; and renders a bouquet of white roses, carnations and lilies in remembrance of 11-year-old leukemia victim, Jaymee Bowen.




Meanwhile, the highest bid for a Neverland visit on behalf of the star is obtained at the "Cities in School" celebrity auction and, with the aid of radio "KIIS-FM" in Los Angeles, 115,000 dollars are delivered to school pupils.

1998 – Michael Jackson and Don Barden go to Joannesburg.

The city of Warsaw, Poland, presented Michael Jackson with four potential locations for a planned theme park.

1999 - Michael Jackson attends Nelson Mandela's birthday.

Michael Jackson with  Mandela
2007 - Michael Jackson takes Prince, Paris & Blanket to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space and American Indian museums in Washington, D. C.

C-3PO & R2-D2Michael Jackson toured the Smithsonian's National Air and Space and American Indian museums, arriving with his children before the buildings opened to the public.
"He wanted to show them the sights," Raymone Bain, a publicist for the 48-year-old pop star, told The Washington Post.

At the air and space museum, Jackson lingered over the 1903 Wright Flyer, the first heavier-than-air powered aircraft to make a sustained flight with a pilot aboard, during his visit Wednesday. His children enjoyed robots R2-D2 and C-3PO from the "Star Wars" movies.


Jackson will be in the Washington region for a few days. Bain said the singer has been looking for a vacation home.

Jackson’s fondness to stars wars films is evident with his life-sized replicas of Darth Vader, Yoga, D2 R2, C-3PO and a Han Solo model frozen in carbonite.

Michael0C-3PODuring the HIStory World Tour, Michael opens each show, wearing a dazzling silver & gold futuristic outfit, complete with space helmet. Reminiscing the Star Wars, he comes in a mini spaceship, crashing black door blew open to reveal himself.Great Gate of Kiev was used as the anthem.

Life-size replica of Star Wars robot R2-D2

Life-size replica of Star Wars robot R2-D2 : The great panoramic of Michael Jackson’s game room/collection gallery includes several Star Wars pieces. A life-size replica of Star Wars robot R2-D2 from Lucasfilm Ltd., 1999. An electric light inside the figure illuminates it.


See more Star Wars pieces from the great panoramic of Michael Jackson’s game room collection gallery.
MJ Star Wars Collection

MJStarWars

Today in MJJ HIStory  

Posted by Majical Child in , , , , ,

1980 - Michael films a special at Disneyland for Disney's 25th anniversary. Disneyland celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary with a 25 hour party starting at midnight and ending at 1 AM on the 20th.

1982 - Michael attends a gala in honor of Quincy Jones at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.


1985 - The charity single We Are The World by the super group USA for Africa, quickly became an anthem for the 80s, and along with the Band-Aid single, inspired a wave of musical charity events, from Live Aid on July 17, 1985 (which, ironically, Michael did not participate in, due to being tied up in filming Captain EO) to Hands Across America on May 25, 1986.
The music-charity movement grew to become far greater than the sum of its parts, but Michael’s crucial contribution guaranteed him a special place in a mass movement that came to define the 1980s pop culture almost as much as Thriller had two years earlier.

1990 - Michael attends the wedding of Grace Eaton to Berry Gordy in Santa Barbara. Among the other wedding guests were Smokey Robinson and Diana Ross.



1993 - Michael Jackson's single "Will You Be There" hit #9 in the U.K.

1997 - Michael Jackson's "Blood On The Dance Floor: History in the Mix" was certified gold by the RIAA.

Today in MJJ HIStory  

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1977 - The album "The Jacksons" hit #54 in the U.K.

1983 - Michael Jackson's single "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" hit #5 in the U.S.

1988 - Princess Diana of Wales attended Michael's third sold-out concert at Wembley Stadium, along with Prince Charles.

MJ & Princess Diana
Prior to taking the stage, Michael met with royal couple & presented a $450,000 cheque for the Princes' Trust, a charity for disadvantaged children; from the proceeds of the seven-sold-out Wembley concerts. He also gave Princess two custom made Bad World Tour jackets; one each for her young sons, Prince William & Prince Harry, and a framed set of cassettes & compact discs of Off The wall, Thriller & Bad. MJ is said to be Princess Diana's favorite pop star! Michael was equally happy to meet her. "I was so excited at meeting the royal couple. I'm very very happy that they came to watch me perform. I thought the Princess was just wonderful"

Michael meets Princess Diana & Prince Charles backstage
MJ & Di:

  • In 1997 Michael postponed his world tour concert in Belgium due to the emotional shock of Diana's death, attended an L.A. memorial service dedicated to her.
  • From September 3 concert onward, Michael's cover of Charlie Chaplin's song Smile was played back before each concert after Princess Diana's death showing pictures of the princess on the jumbotron for some parts of the concert.
  • In 1997 Michael granted his Gone Too Soon song to the Tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales album.
  • On September 12, 1997, Michael gave his memories his personal recollections on being friends with the Princess to Barbara Walters in an internationally televised interview.
    "Up until 13 days ago perhaps the two most photographed people in the world were Princess Diana, and Michael Jackson. Now only one remains to talk about what it means to live under that kind of scrutiny.
    When it comes to the paparazzi, Michael Jackson says he feels a bond with Princess Diana. Paparazzi have been a part of his life since he was a small child."
    Source: MJFC
  • In 2007, in pre-concert interview Prince William listed Michael Jackson as one of Diana's most favourite music acts.

Michael also made a donation of ₤100,000 to the Wishing Well Fund, established to help finance the construction of a new building for London's Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital for Sick Children. Michael toured the hospital & visited with some of the patients.

1996 - Michael Jackson performed in Brunei to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Sultan of Brunei - Sir Hassanai Bokiah - the world’s richest man.
Special Concert For The Royal Family Of BruneiMichael warmed up for his History World Tour with the one-off concert concert staged inside the Sultan’s Jerudong Park Garden, a Disney-style theme park where admission and all the rides are free. Admission to Michael’s concert was free, too, and around 60,000 fans packed into the park to attend his two hour show. Michael performed 18 songs, mostly from his previous Dangerous Tour set list. Apart from the black lace jacket he wore in the promo for You Are Not Alone, Michael re-used the stage outfits he had worn during the Dangerous World Tour.

Today in MJJ HIStory  

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1972 - Michael Jackson's single I Wanna Be Where You Are hit #16 in the U.S.
I Wanna Be Where You AreThe song was released from his debut album "Got To Be There" as a single, probably the most soulful early single he released. As usual, Michael's delivery is impeccable, written by Leon Ware & Arthur "T-Boy" Ross for Michael Jackson, who took the song to #16 & #2 on the U.S. pop & R&B singles charts in 1972. The single made his 3rd straight Top 40 pop hit during his early solo career in Motown, he would break this record with Off The Wall, but this was a very good start for the newly solo Michael Jackson.



1988 - Video for Another Part of Me was filmed using Michael's Bad Tour performance.
Once again, Michael chose to promote the single with a 'live' promo, his first ever filmed during an actual concert – the Wembley Stadium gig.

1995 - The maxi single for Michael Jackson's Scream was released.

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