Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (5 page)

Joe often flaunted his dates in front of his boys, sometimes bringing them
back to his sons' bedrooms where the young women could give "my boys
baby kisses and tuck them in for the night." Whenever that happened, Michael
would turn over and bury his head in the pillow so he wouldn't have to kiss
"one of Joe's whores." The other brothers were only too willing to be kissed
on their mouths.

When the brothers stopped playing the honky-tonks, they were booked
into black theaters as opening acts for performers who included James Brown,
The Temptations, and Gladys Knight and The Pips. The Jackson 5 appeared in
theaters from Boston to Kansas City, and from Washington, D.C., to Tucson.

Motown stardom wasn't forthcoming as month dragged into endless
months. Gordy just wasn't pleased with any sound The Jackson 5 recorded.
One song-a rip-off of The Temptations-was recorded forty times with no
satisfaction. The boys still lived in Gary, whose streets were giving way to the
violence of an increasingly powerful drug culture. One night two thieves cornered Joe staggering home in the early hours. Thugs hit him over the head,
removing the fifty dollars he carried in his wallet.

In Gordy's bank vault rested the contract that Joe had signed without reading it. Motown's chief honcho was now ready to start exercising the options
granted to him. He decided the time had come to order the Jackson brothers
to Los Angeles, where they would be directed to start recording at Motown's
new studio. Gordy told Ross, "If Jackson had read the fucking contract, he
would have found that I owned his gold teeth and the air the Jackson boys
breathe. The only one in the group that's got any talent is the midget." This
was an obvious reference to Michael. "That one's gonna set the world on fire.
Sooner than later."

In a large van-made in Detroit, of course-Joe drove to California carrying Johnny Jackson (no relation), the group's drummer, and Ronny Rancifer, the keyboardist. Michael, along with three of his brothers, were
given economy class air tickets to Los Angeles.

Along with eight-year-old Randy, the Jackson sisters as well as Katherine
were left behind in Gary until Joe "could get the lay of the land," in Gordy's
words. Later, a Motown executive in Los Angeles privately said, "California
wouldn't be the only lay that Joe was scoping out."

As the plane flew over America's heartland, Michael was only ten years
old with a birthday fast approaching.

On a smog-shrouded morning in Los Angeles-August 9, 1969 to be
exact-Michael and his brothers landed in Los Angeles. On the way into town
from the airport, Michael looked in awe at all the fast-moving cars, the palm
trees, the oranges, the grand mansions. His eyes widened as he told Jermaine:
"I have truly found Oz. No harm will ever come to me here."

One of Gordy's assistants delivered the boys not to a mansion but to a "hot
bed" hotel on Santa Monica Boulevard, which was teeming with hookers,
both male and female. Michael was given a room to share with Jermaine and
Marlon. On the way to the dump, he heard through the paper-thin walls one
woman telling someone: "That's twisted!"

In five weeks Gordy ordered that the boys be moved to another seedy
address, the Hollywood Motel, which stood across from the famous
Hollywood High, which so many children of stars had attended. By the late
1960s, the neighborhood had deteriorated. Drug pushers had moved in along
with pimps recruiting the best-looking boys and girls to work as prostitutes. In
a back alley, Michael spotted a blue-jeaned boy of sixteen or so standing
against a wall while a balding, late middle-aged man performed fellatio on
him.

It was while living at the Hollywood Motel that Michael began his famous
practice of wearing sunglasses, even at night. "It's best to keep shaded day and
night," he told Marlon. "That way no one can see the whites of your eyes.
What you're really thinking. With sunglasses, you can hide from the world."

The boys worked almost constantly in Motown recording studios,
although their songs still didn't please Gordy. On their first weekend off, Joe
drove his sons to Disneyland. Michael fell under the spell of The Magic
Kingdom. Joe laughed when Michael vowed that he was going to make so
much money one day that he'd create a Disneyland just for his own pleasure.

On a command from Gordy, Joe drove his boys to the home in the
Hollywood Hills where Diana Ross was living until Gordy could arrange for
more luxurious digs in Beverly Hills-"a residence that is more fitting for a
star of your magnitude."

As the boys sat in awe within Ross's living room, Gordy gave them the
good news. "I know I haven't really liked anything you've recorded so far. But hang in there. I'm gonna make you black brothers the greatest thing since shit
on a stick."

Gordy was a genius in sensing the gap in American culture that the
Jackson brothers could fill. As British critic Simon Frith put it: "What Gordy
realized was that out there was a generation of black kids with money to spend
and feet to dance and walls to hang pictures on. There had never been soul
idols for clean-living black teens before, only sports figures and Martin Luther
King Jr. Motown was going to give these kids idols and music and posters and
fan magazines and T-shirts and TV shows and everything else."

At her home in the Hollywood Hills, Ross made a more spectacular
appearance before Michael than she had at Gordy's Detroit mansion.

Michael would always remember her outfit, a black bolero jacket, a purple-colored lace blouse, and skin-tight toreador pants, along with towering
stiletto high heels still known at the time as "Joan Crawford fuck-me shoes."

He compared her to a "Black Venus," whereas Jermaine told his brothers,
"I got a hard-on that lasted for three days and nights."

Michael read that "the sensational eight-year-old Michael Jackson would
be featured." "Miss Ross," he said. "There's a mistake. My age is given wrong
here. On August 29, I'll be eleven years old."

As her surprise,
Ross told the Jackson
brothers that she was
going to present them
at the famous disco of
the moment, Daisy, on
North Rodeo Drive in
Beverly Hills, the
nighttime stamping
grounds of stars that
ranged from Mia
Farrow to Peter
Lawford. Ross handed
Michael an invitation
she'd sent out to tout
Hollywood to attend
the gala on the night
of August 11, 1969.

Michael, aged 16

"As an eight-yearold, you'll be even
more of a sensation,"
Gordy said. "This is show business, kid. It's all about image. The press will think you're a child
prodigy like Mozart."

"Darling," Ross told the impressionable boy, "a certain liberty must be
taken with the truth. It's not exactly a lie. It's just a mask to wear. Everybody
in Hollywood uses a mask to deceive the world. You'll get the hang of it. One
day you'll be deceiving the world like a pro."

In addition to being a great entertainer, Ross could have made a decent
living as a prophet.

"Speaking of images, kid," Gordy told Michael. "Forget all that crap
about you little studs being discovered by Gladys Knight. What a pip! Forget
Bobby Taylor. That dude's history. From now on, it was Diana Ross who discovered you. Chalk that one up for the history books."

By the official count, 312 "intimate" friends of Ross crowded into the chic
disco cum private club known as Daisy. The fire department had posted a
warning, allowing the club to hold only 250 patrons at one time. It was
rumored that Frank Sinatra even slipped in that night unnoticed, although
other reports placed him in New York.

Exactly at ten o'clock in their Sherwood Forest green suede boots with
forest green vests, the "Jackson brothers looked like dancing black faggots as
they zip-a-dee-do-dah-ed on stage," a stoned writer from Rolling Stone said
privately. The audience of show biz veterans went wild in their enthusiasm.

The most unlikely guest in the audience was Charlton Heston, who would
later become a friend of Michael in a case of "the odd couple." Heston, an
advocate of "a gun in every home," later claimed that, "I was awed by their
performance. The Jacksons project a squeaky clean image. They were making
their debut at a time that rock-and-roll reigned supreme. All the hippies were
taking drugs but the Jacksons proved there was hope for American youth yet.
In my opinion, The Jackson 5 can be an antidote to all the poisonous shit going
on."

As the chic crowd milled about after the show, Ross became a one-woman
public relations factory for the Jackson brothers, especially for Michael, who
was introduced as "the sweet one."

"Jermaine is the sexy one," she claimed.

In front of one woman from a Los Angeles magazine, Ross ran her hand
through Michael's Afro. "Don't you just adore it?" she asked.

The greatest accolade came from a Hollywood newspaper which proclaimed: "We predict The Jackson 5, especially pint-sized Michael, will dominate popular music in the 70s."

"Whatever it took to get the song done right, he was willing
to go the distance. And that was impressive, since he was still
just a little kid. "

--Hal Davis

"He spends a lot of time, too much by himself. I try to get him
out. I rented a boat and took my children and Michael out on
a cruise. Michael has a lot of people around him, but he's very
afraid. I don't know why. I think it came from his early days. "

--Diana Ross

"Just the other day, you were a 9-year-old kid auditioning for
me, and now here you are, the greatest entertainer in the
world. Here you are the greatest entertainer in the world, presenting me with an award. Michael, Michael, I believed in you
when you were nine. I believe in you now. And I will never
stop believing in you. "

--Berry Gordy at the Jackson Family Honors

"When I see him dance and sing, it touches me, like a spirit;
it moves me inside, sort of like the Holy Ghost. But it's more
than singing and dancing; he manages to touch your soul. "

--Isaiah Thomas

"Michael Jackson loves putting out the charity singles because
they support his no. 1 charity in the world-himself. "

--Richard Johnson

"If Michael Jackson came in this room right now, there would
be no one in this room who could not stop looking at him. As
long as you've got that power, you're never damaged. He has
that power over anybody. If people can't stop looking at you,
you're so interesting to people, there's no way you can be
damaged. "

--Jermaine Dupri

In just a few short weeks, as the first winds of autumn blew into Southern
California, The Jackson 5 would make their TV debut on ABC's Hollywood
Palace. When asked about her alleged "discovery" of the Jackson brothers,
Ross told the press, "I don't mind letting the boys ride to fame on my skirttails."

Wanting money and glory for his sons, Joe demanded twelve-hour daily
rehearsals. He controlled the group's every move, utterance, song number, and
first press conference. "You've heard of stage mothers," said Gordy. "Joe was
the granddad of all stage fathers. At times I got so mad at the fucker, I thought
he'd descended directly from Hell." Gordy also claimed that he felt Joe wanted to isolate his sons from the outside world.

Gordy wanted to launch the boys with a hit record, and Joe was determined to see that the Motown honcho got his wish.

Gladys Knight was not credited as the eagle eye who'd first spotted the
talent of the Jackson brothers. She also saw a potential hit song, "I Want to Be
Free," taken away from her by Gordy and reshaped for The Jackson 5. It was
later retitled, "I Want You Back."

"I was angry," Knight recalled. "Really angry. I felt I'd become chopped
liver at Motown. Ali, show business! It's all in the game."

Gladys Knight and The Pips had been added to the Motown "stable of
Soul" in 1966. From Atlanta, they scored many hits and stayed with Motown
for seven years. Ironically, their biggest hit, "Midnight Train to Georgia,"
would come after the group bolted from Motown and signed with Buddha.

Although he hadn't officially moved out of Detroit, Gordy had purchased
a home from Tommy Smothers, also in the Hollywood Hills. That way, he
could slip away for nights spent in the arms of Ross, who lived nearby.

One night as he was watching Michael rehearse with his brothers, Gordy
told Joe: "Michael's just a kid but he sings James Brown's `I Got the Feelin' with such feeling, inspiration, and pain.
It's like he's experienced everything he's
singing about, even though he's too
young to know about adult emotions.
Brown, on the other hand, knows all emotions."

That night, Gordy decided that
Michael needed a lot more polish. At dinner the producer had noticed Michael still
eating with his hands instead of using a
knife and fork. "The kid is going to be a
star," he told Joe. "To achieve that goal,
he's gotta learn to behave like a star. I'm
moving him in with Diana. He can watch
what she does. Her polish and refinement
will rub off on the boy. I just know it."