The Andrae & Sandra Crouch Youth Choir, Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder and Usher led an emotional public memorial for Michael Jackson on Tuesday as the music world, the Jackson family and thousands of fans bade farewell to the "King of Pop." It’s clear Michael was worth more dead than alive. Photo/FILE
It’s clear Michael was worth more dead than alive.
I still find it hard to believe
that it is five years since Michael Jackson, the undisputed King of Pop,
was found dead upon the bed of his Ksh87 million($100,000)-a-month
rented mansion in Los Angeles.
At
just 50 years old, the haunted genius, whose music defined a generation,
was pronounced dead from an overdose of prescription drugs at the UCLA
Medical Centre on June 25, 2009.
As his millions of devastated fans mourned, the police investigation into his death unfolded slowly.
But
if the Jackson family and his worldwide followers hoped that the story
would end with the trial of Dr Conrad Murray, Michael’s personal
physician, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in November
2011, they were disappointed. Michael was not to be allowed to rest in
peace quite so quickly.
I had
publicly predicted on December 24, 2008, that Michael would probably die
within six months. Six months and one day later, the King of Pop was
indeed dead, leading the New York Post to describe me as a modern-day
Nostradamus.
I wasn’t proud of my
eerily accurate prediction. Originally, I intended it to serve as a
wake-up call in the hope that Michael could get the help he needed.
WORTH MORE DEAD
I
urged his minders to get him the proper medical treatment he deserved.
Instead, they booked him for 50 shows, a task that would be monumental
for even the healthiest 50-year-old rock star to complete, let alone
Michael, who was known to have suffered for years from multiple physical
ailments.
Now, as the fifth
anniversary of his death approaches, I wish I hadn’t made that
prediction. It has contributed to an ever-growing number of conspiracy
theories that mean he cannot rest in peace.
Indeed, such is the lure of these that many close to him refuse to accept the truth about his death.
Michael’s
closest confidante, Elizabeth Taylor, insisted privately that something
was amiss. She surmised that “Wacko Jacko”, as he was in my view
unfairly called, was always going to be worth more in a shroud than he
ever was moon-walking in a spangled jumpsuit.
Frank
Dileo, Michael’s cigar-chomping, larger-than-life manager, was also
taken in by the bizarre claims. The legendary music mogul – an affable
character who was Michael’s life-long companion – was blunt.
Michael,
he believed, was the “victim of foul play”. Dileo died in 2011,
following complications after heart surgery, but gave me his final
interview. Teary and emotional, he made a series of wild allegations
that have never before been published.
“It’s
clear Michael was worth more dead than alive,” he told me, choking back
tears. But he added: “I can assure you Conrad Murray is not the only
person who should stand trial.”
I dismissed Dileo’s allegations as an emotion-driven, somewhat maudlin conspiracy theory.
Another
of Michael’s long-time friends who bought into the conspiracy theory
was television personality Geraldo Rivera. And although I have written
off his wilder allegations, one remains intriguing.
Shortly
after Michael died, I appeared on Geraldo’s show. After the credits had
rolled, he ordered one of his staffers to hand me over a pile of
receipts for prescription drugs made out to the singer by doctors. I was
stunned. Prescriptions were made out to Michael for a range of
painkillers and sedatives, including Demerol and Lidocaine. Rivera told
me he was not surprised Michael was found dead.
“There
were a lot of enablers around him,” Rivera said. “Nobody stepped in to
get him the help he needed. His doctors enabled him, his friends enabled
him. Michael was addicted to drugs. He needed proper medical attention.
I call on the authorities to go after these guys. These are pimps for
pills.”
The simple truth is this: the
most extraordinary fact about Michael Jackson’s death is that it made
him the highest-earning corpse in the world. Before he died, he was $500
million (Sh43.5 billion) in debt. Now his estate’s vast fortune,
estimated at $1.5 billion (Sh131 bilion), eclipses the wealth spawned
even by Elvis Presley.
EXPLOITING MICHAEL'S LEGACY
Last
year, Forbes magazine revealed that he had regained his number-one spot
in the list of top-earning dead celebrities, raking in $160 million
between October 2012 and October 2013.
(This compares with $125 million for Madonna, who’s still with us, and easily exceeds Elvis Presley’s $55 million).
John
Branca, co-executor of the Michael Jackson estate, admitted to
journalist Robin Leach in June 2013 that Michael was now worth much more
than he was when alive.
“He’s made more money in the four years since his death than he made during his lifetime,” Branca said.
“Since he died, he has sold 50 million albums and is still the biggest-selling artist on iTunes.”
But the details of this vast wealth are tortuously complex and remain highly controversial.
When
his estate released a new album, Xscape, last month, featuring a duet
with Justin Timberlake and other material recorded in 2001, it topped
the charts both in the US and the UK.
It
was panned musically but, more tellingly, critics accused Xscape’s
producers of exploiting Michael’s legacy simply from greed.
One
headline, from the popular Daily Beast website, thundered: “Michael
Jackson’s posthumous album Xscape is a confused, shameless money-grab.”
The
11th album released since Michael’s death was a cash cow, critics
claimed. Quincy Jones, who produced Thriller, Bad and Off The Wall, went
further. In a hard-hitting interview with the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, he concluded: “They’re trying to make money and I
understand it. It’s about the money. The estate, the lawyers you know
... it’s about the money.”
Frank Dileo insisted that Michael never released certain songs because they were not up to his incredibly high standards.
“Michael
was a stickler,” he said. “Unless it was incredible, he would never
consider putting it out. I fear that the people who exploited Michael
while he was alive are now conspiring to make as much money [as they
can] off him in death. It’s not the way Michael would have wanted it.”
It was only weeks after
Michael’s death that the co-executors of his estate, John Branca and
John McClain, made headlines for beginning lucrative major merchandising
deals.
There was an extension of the
contract with Sony from 2015-2017 (allegedly worth $250 million); a
documentary, This Is It, which became the highest-grossing documentary
or concert movie of all time, with earnings of more than $260 million
worldwide, and two blockbuster shows with Cirque du Soleil which have
grossed $300 million since opening in 2012.
All
that set the wheels in motion to clear Michael’s huge debt. For years,
his finances had been under strain. Yet in the first 12 months after his
death, Michael sold more than 8.2 million albums in the US and a total
of 35 million worldwide. Posthumously, three of his albums sold more
than any new album.
The result was earnings of around $600 million – easily eclipsing the debt of $500 million he had when he died.
But
although the debt had been paid off, the gold rush triggered desperate
infighting among his family. In July 2012, his sister Janet Jackson and
four other siblings – Rebbie, Jermaine, Tito and Randy – sent a stern
letter to the estate accusing them of misappropriating finances and of
abusing the Jackson family matriarch, Katherine Jackson. The letter
didn’t mince words. “We know there is most certainly a conspiracy
surrounding our brother’s death and now coarse manipulation and fear are
being used to cover it up,” they wrote.
“Your
heartless pursuit of wealth, fame and power is at the expense of our
family, whose deepest desire is to give to the world a gift of hope,
love and unity through our music.”
Janet
and her siblings also questioned the authenticity of the July 7, 2002,
will that Michael signed in Los Angeles. The Jacksons alleged that
Michael was actually in New York City that day. In the letter, they
referred to the will, saying that “without question, it’s fake, flawed
and fraudulent”.
REAL VALUE
However,
it has never been proved that the will was fake, and executors Branca
and McClain have been quick to respond to the sensational allegations,
vehemently denying any wrongdoing.
(Branca
had filed Jackson’s will in Los Angeles on July 1, 2009, which was
initially contested by Michael’s mother Katherine, but she later
withdrew her objections.)
As well as
alleging that the 2002 will was not valid, the Jackson family said
Michael would not have wanted Branca and McClain to be the executors.
But estate spokesman Jim Bates said: “We are saddened that false and
defamatory accusations grounded in stale Internet conspiracy theories
are now being made by certain members of Michael’s family whom he chose
to leave out of his will.
“We are
especially disheartened that they come at a time when remarkable
progress has been made to secure the financial future of his children by
turning around the estate’s finances as well as during a time when so
many of Michael’s fans, old and new, are enjoying his artistry through
exciting new projects.”
In
fact, Katherine receives an annual allowance of $1.3 million and has
taken out a $6 million loan. Michael’s three children are paid a $3
million allowance annually. In 2012, the family rented another home for
$26,000 a month, while their main home was being renovated. Storage and
moving fees alone that year were a startling $806,872.52.
Then,
in April 2013, Michael’s family also sued the concert promoter AEG
Live, which had asked him to perform the 50 shows. They asked for $40
billion (£25.8 billion) in damages, claiming the group negligently hired
Dr Murray as his personal doctor and ignored signs that Michael was in
poor health before he died. A jury in Los Angeles exonerated AEG,
finding that they played no part in his death.
But
the battles over his value did not stop. As is so often the case when a
star dies, nobody really knows which stories about their often
enigmatic and mysterious lifestyle to believe.
And of no one has this been more true than Michael.
Eyebrows
were raised in February 2014 when the Internal Revenue Service accused
his estate of submitting a false tax return, valuing Michael at the time
of his death at just $7 million. His “likeness” was valued at just
$2,105 and his interest in his music at zero.
Yet through the agreement with Sony, he still owned rights to many of the songs in The Beatles’ back catalogue.
Not
surprisingly, the IRS had a completely different perspective, valuing
Michael’s likeness at $434 million and his percentage interest in the
music catalogues at $469 million. Once again, Michael’s family and his
fans were confused by the conflicting reports. How sad that after so
many tough financial years for Michael before he died, the money was
pouring in once he had left us.
The
intolerable pressure on Michael in the run-up to his death, from his
ailing health and his financial woes, is clear from his ramblings to his
manager.
Dileo said: “Just a few
weeks before Michael died, he told me he thought someone would kill him.
I thought he was being overly paranoid. He told me there were people
out there who wanted him dead. He said he didn’t think he would live too
long and that if anything happened to him he wanted me to know he loved
me.”
Yet who was looking out for
him? Here was a guy who was deeply paranoid, severely unwell and under
unimaginable financial pressure.
Kenny
Ortega, director of the documentary, This Is It, described Michael in
his final days as “incoherent”, saying: “My friend wasn’t right. There
was something going on that was deeply troubling me.”
Brian
Oxman, the longstanding attorney to the Jackson family, has admitted to
me: “All I heard during the final weeks of Michael’s life was that he
was missing rehearsal, he could not rehearse. What you saw in the movie
[This Is It] was not an accurate reflection of what was really taking
place.”
Michael Jackson was
undoubtedly a deeply troubled and tormented man. His final years were
riddled with debt and extensive drug abuse. What a desperate irony that
his financial managers have performed so much better after his death
than before.
In brief
• When he died on June 25, 2009, the singer was $500million in debt;
• But his estate turned its fortunes around, bringing him $1.5bn in the black;
• Success after death has brought with it a host of accusations from friends;
• His manager – as well as family members – have cried foul;
• Michael was born on August 29, 1958, to a family of musicians
Ian
Halperin is Michael Jackson’s authoritative biographer who predicted
the star’s death almost to the day. Courtesy of Daily Mail
No comments:
Post a Comment