The “King of Pop” is still scaring his way up the charts all these years later.
Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” returned to the Billboard charts — 40 years after it was officially released as a single. Each October, the Quincy Jones-produced, Rod Temperton-penned funk/R&B song — featuring lyrics made for its enduring movie-like music video — becomes an annual sensation during the Halloween season.
The late King of Pop Michael Jackson was back on stage -- as a hologram -- performing at the Billboard 2014 Music Award event Sunday in Las Vegas. Jackson, or rather his hologram, sang and moonwalked to "A Slave to the Rhythm" dressed in a gold jacket…
Self-styled King of Pop Michael Jackson is back from the grave again this week with a second posthumous album of songs recorded before his death in 2009.
"Xscape" went on sale in the United States on Tuesday, after being released in various European countries at the weekend and on Monday.
"This music has never been (previously) released," said L.A. Reid, the veteran American music mogul behind the project, on NBC television's "Today" breakfast program.
"Some of it has been leaked through the years.... but it wasn't widespread," said Reid, who sifted through a vault full of unreleased Jackson material to handpick the songs that appear on the album.
"I just listened to the songs that Michael sang completely from top to bottom, you know, multiple times," Reid said. "That was my guide -- and the ones that I thought had great melodies that would still stand up today."
Several critics have hailed "Xscape" as a clear improvement on 2010's "Michael," the first album released after Jackson died of a drug overdose at age 50, as part of a multi-record deal with Sony Music Entertainment.
"From the first, there was the voice .....Nearly five years after his death, that voice remains, and is at its most powerful on the new album," wrote the Los Angeles Times' reviewer.
The new album "feels shockingly vital, as though the producers charged with re-imagining this work had harnessed dance floor defibrillators," he wrote.
Ben Greenman of the New Yorker magazine called the album "a completely different beast from 'Michael'... Rather than rely on fragments or partial ideas, Reid focused on songs that were worked through by Michael from start to finish..."
Ironically, the songs on "Xscape" include one about child sex abuse, an issue that badly tarnished the King of Pop despite his acquittal of sexual molestation charges in 2005.
Jackson's executors have worked hard to pay off the enormous debts left by the fallen star, with key projects including the "This is It" film of rehearsals for the doomed world tour he was planning before he died in 2009.
"Michael" has sold a relatively modest 540,000 copies, according to Billboard magazine, which noted that Jackson's overall record sales were less than both Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash last year.
"Xscape" comprises eight songs chosen from the vast catalogue which Jackson worked on over four decades but which did not make it into any of his iconic albums like 1982's "Thriller" or 1987's "Bad."
The songs are based on original vocals by Jackson, who often made multiple recordings of tunes he was working on, but with music "contemporized" by a variety of producers for a modern audience.
While fans had to wait until this week to actually hear all the songs, the titles had been released in advance.
They included "Xscape," first produced 15 years ago, and "Do You Know Where Your Children Are." The latter is about "kids being raised in a broken family where the father comes home drunk and the mother is out prostituting and the kids run away from home and they become the victims," according to the liner notes.
US rapper Timbaland, executive producer on "Xscape," said they were keenly aware of the need for the new Jackson record to stand up against the best that current pop music has to offer.
"How would I hear this on the radio against Katy Perry? Would it sound old, would it sound new?" asked the producer, who works closely with Justin Timberlake and Beyonce.
He "had to make sure that it can compete with everything that is going on today in the pop world," Timbaland told Billboard.
Lawyers in the trial pitting Michael Jackson's family against his last tour promoter will begin making closing arguments Tuesday, after five months in court, officials said.
His mother Katherine is suing AEG Live for allegedly negligently hiring doctor Conrad Murray and failing to properly supervise him in the months before the pop icon's June 2009 death.
The 83-year-old family matriarch has listened attentively to proceedings from a front-row seat in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom, where the trial got under way in April.
For the closing arguments and verdict, proceedings will be held in a large special events room at the downtown LA courthouse, rather than in the cramped courtroom where the trial has been held until now, limiting the number of media and spectators who can attend.
Katherine Jackson is seeking billions of dollars in damages -- $1.5 billion in lost income and an unspecified amount for emotional loss and other damages -- on behalf of Jackson's children Prince Michael I, 16, Paris, 15 and 11-year-old Prince Michael II, known by his nickname "Blanket."
While it is tough to predict the jury's verdict, observers say her case appears difficult to prove. Earlier this month, the judge dismissed her claims against two AEG Live bosses, leaving only AEG Live itself in the line of fire.
The self-proclaimed King of Pop died on June 25, 2009 at his rented Holmby Hills mansion outside Los Angeles, from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol. He was 50 years old.
Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for giving the drug to the "Thriller" star -- who suffered from chronic insomnia -- to help him sleep. He was jailed for four years.
Pop legend Jackson was rehearsing for a planned "This is It" series of comeback concerts in London, which were expected to be followed by a world tour of the show.
Katherine Jackson alleges that AEG Live negligently hired an inappropriate and incompetent doctor for her son -- Murray is a cardiologist -- and missed a series of red flags about his failing health in the run-up to his death.
AEG Live counters that it did not sign a contract with Murray, and that a promised $150,000 a month for his services would come from an advance it was making to Jackson, meaning effectively that the star hired his own medic.
[Image via Agence France-Presse]
French fans of Michael Jackson are suing the late pop star's doctor for "emotional damage" they suffered over his death, their lawyer said Friday.
The case against Conrad Murray, who was jailed in November over the star's 2009 death, is due to be heard in the city of Orleans on April 11, lawyer Emmanuel Ludot said.
"It's similar to losing a childhood friend in a traffic accident. Because this death affects you, you have the possibility to file a suit and seek compensation," Ludot said.
The lawyer is acting for around 100 fans who are members of an association that calls itself the "Michael Jackson Community".
He said that while each fan could be awarded damages of up to 10,000 euros (13,000 dollars), they were seeking only a symbolic euro.
Jackson, aged 50 at the time of his death, had hired Murray at a salary of $150,000 a month to look after him as he rehearsed and embarked on a series of "This is It" planned comeback shows in London.
The star died on June 25, 2009 at his Los Angeles home of an overdose of anaesthetic propofol, taken to help him battle insomnia.
Murray was found guilty in November of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to the maximum four years in prison.
LOS ANGELES — A 40-year-old music executive critically injured when a gunman opened fire randomly on a Hollywood street has died, police said.
John Atterberry had worked on projects with artists including Christina Aguilera, Michael Jackson and the Spice Girls. He was hit in the jaw at close range when the gunman opened fire Friday on Sunset Boulevard, at a busy junction just blocks from Hollywood's crowded tourist area.
The gunman, who shot repeatedly at passing vehicles and pedestrians, was killed by an off-duty police officer working on a nearby movie set. The shooter was later named as Tyler Brehm, 26.
Amateur video of the shooting showed Brehm -- who had recently broken up with a long-time girlfriend -- shouting and walking in the middle of the road at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street.
At one point a nearby resident, filming the scene with a camera phone from a fourth-floor apartment, shouted down at the man, asking the gunman to shoot him, in a bid to distract his attention until police arrived.
"I tried to shout random things -- anything that came to mind to slow him down," Christopher Johns, who posted his own footage online, later told local KCBS-TV television.
Atterberry had just left a nearby bank and was returning to his silver Mercedes-Benz coupe when he was shot.
Shootings are a regular occurrence in Los Angeles, including in Hollywood, which centers on the busy tourist area but also has gritty and rundown parts of town, on the northern edge of the LA metropolis.
A judge jailed Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray for the maximum four years Tuesday, three weeks after he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the star's 2009 death.
He also said Murray should pay compensation to Jackson's family, although he made no ruling on a prosecution proposal for $100 million in restitution, putting off a decision on the amount until January.
"He has absolutely no sense of remorse," said judge Michael Pastor, after giving a scathing summary of the case against the 58-year-old doctor.
"There are those that feel that Dr Murray is a saint. There are those that feel that Dr Murray is the devil. He's neither. He's a human being. He stands convicted of the death of another human being," said Pastor.
But he said: "Michael Jackson died not because of an isolated one-off occurrence or incident. He died because of a totality of circumstances which are directly attributable to Dr Murray."
The judge said he agreed that Murray should have to pay restitution to Jackson's estate and children, but said the amount would be decided at a later hearing -- scheduled for January 23.
The prosecution had asked for Murray to pay $100 million to compensate Jackson's family for the lost earnings the singer would have made from a 50-show series of comeback concerts he was planning when he died.
Murray was found guilty on November 7 for giving Jackson an overdose of the anesthetic propofol on June 25, 2009 at the star's plush Holmby Hills mansion. The drug was purportedly to help the singer fight chronic insomnia.
The physician admitted he had given the drug to the star for up to two months before his death.
"Dr Murray engaged in a recurring, continuous pattern of deceit, of lies," said the judge, notably listing Murray's assurances before Jackson's death that he was healthy, and his failure to tell paramedics what drugs he had given.
He lashed the "longstanding failure of character of Dr Murray to serve his patient," saying the doctor had told "unconscionable lies" and practiced "horrible medicine" by repeatedly giving Jackson the anesthetic propofol.
In a statement read in court before sentence was passed, Jackson's family said it was not seeking revenge.
"As Michael's parents we could never have imagined that we would live to witness his passing. It is simply against the natural order of things," said the statement read out by lawyer Brian Panish.
"As his brothers and sisters we will never be able to hold, laugh or perform again with our brother Michael. And as his children we will grow up without a father, our best friend, our playmate and our dad."
Jackson, aged 50 at the time of his death, had hired Murray at a salary of $150,000 a month to look after him as he rehearsed and embarked on a series of "This is It" planned comeback shows in London.
During the trial, the court heard a two-hour police interview with Murray in which he recounted the star's final days and hours, and claimed he found Jackson lifeless after leaving his bedside for only two minutes.
But it also heard evidence that Murray was on the phone with a series of girlfriends at the crucial time Jackson was on his deathbed, and that he delayed calling 911 and failed to tell paramedics what he had given the star.
Perhaps you heard that Blanche Lincoln is only one of two Democrats who voted to filibuster even debating Don't Ask Don't Tell. Whatever her personal feelings about gay people may or may not be is irrelevant. For all intents and purposes, she is a straight up homophobe.
She's also going to lose in November, so I figured now was as good a time as any to excerpt a part of an extremely funny book that particularly made me squeal with laughter. The book is called Video Slut: How I Shoved Madonna Off an Olympic High Dive, Got Prince into a Pair of Tiny Purple Woolen Underpants, Ran Away from Michael Jackson's Dad, ... So I Could Bring Rock Videos to the Masses, and it's a memoir by video producer Sharon Oreck. In it, she relates this short tale:
It turns out to be a ribs-'n-chicken barbecue at Jerry Hall's London townhouse, which includes all of Mick's family and some of Mick's friends, who turn out to include most of the century's most famous rock stars and their dates. Mary has also brought her sister Blanche, who somehow managed to get through college in the mid-eighties without any exposure to illicit drugs, promiscuous sex, or any stupid pop songs besides "Hot Legs".
"Is that guy Rod Stewart?" Blanche kept whispering.
"No," we kept whispering back, "That's Eric Clapton."
"How 'bout that one? Or that one?" She tries again and again.
"Nope, Bill Wyman, Pete Townsend."
"Who?"
"Yes."
"What?"
Never mind.
Yes, this black hole of even mild amounts of culture awareness was Blanche Lincoln. Not that I'm arguing that there's a connection between being so unaware of rock music that you don't know who the Who is even in the 1980s makes you the sort of asshole who would vote to keep kicking gay people out of the military. But I do think the voters should be aware there's at least a correlation here that they should be aware of in the future.
Also: ha! I hope that Blanche's single Rod Stewart album keeps her occupied after the voters of Arkansas send her packing.
Wow. Just. Wow. You've got to be sh*tting me.
Do these Aussies in blackface not understand that "artform" in this day and age is, well, um, racist? Shane @ Queer Two Cents passed this unbelievable bit of business along from an Aussie TV show, Hey Hey It's Saturday, that actor and singer Harry Connick Jr. appeared on recently. He obviously couldn't believe this performance by the "Jackson Jive."
Connick gave the group a zero rating for their performance and was booed by the audience, later, he gives everyone a good talking to about why blackface is so wrong. Believe it or not the group says it was meant to be a tribute to Michael Jackson! It reeks with racism from start to finish. On air, Connick says, "If I knew that was going to be a part of the show, I definitely wouldn't have done it." This incident has created controversy in Australia, especially on talk radio, where listeners feel that Connick was over-reacting!
Good for Harry. We've got enough problems stateside with goons who think blackface is A-OK.
Well, you all watch the video and see for yourself.
The wall-to-wall ghoulish coverage has begun and it's not an understatement -- "After the private ceremony, Jackson’s body will be taken to the singer’s public memorial." What, is the body going to be on stage?!.
I had CNN on this AM and, while at least I had it on, all they covered was the Michael Jackson memorial service preparations from soup to nuts, with extra helpings of nuts.
Good luck if you were scheduled to be a talking head on the newschannels on stories other than the King of Pop's worshipfest. You can head back to bed. God help us if we have to watch Pat Buchanan give commentary on the "festivities."
My question is what will the cable channels do if there is some kind of breaking event of significant magnitude? They've invested in getting all the satellite trucks and big reporters out there in L.A. to report on the inch-by-inch caravan of the Jackson family to the Staples Center and to interview various fans standing out there waiting to get in.
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