The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (364 page)

Perhaps owing to that oft-quoted ‘lost childhood’, Jackson began to befriend a series of young boys at the start of the nineties. Superficially, this was not perhaps the strangest of his actions, but revelations about ‘sleepovers’ and ‘shared beds’ exposed clearly inappropriate behaviour for a man in his thirties. Two particular friendships were, of course, to cost Jackson dearly – and not purely in financial terms. In 1993, a thirteen-year-old named Jordan Chandler accused the singer of sexual abuse in a highprofile case later believed driven by Chandler’s father. Details of this are readily available elsewhere; suffice it to say that although Jackson was never found guilty, the public humiliation had a hugely damaging effect on both his career and wellbeing. In addition, the decision to settle the matter with a $17 million pay-off to the boy’s family did the artist few favours. Possibly in an attempt to assuage the hovering bad karma (or maybe to signpost that he
could
sustain a more ‘traditional’ relationship), Jackson shocked his public again by marrying within a year, to Lisa Marie Presley. Perhaps the collision of two such monumental music dynasties was too much: the couple separated and divorced within two years, although remained close.

Jackson continued to release music, but it was never to be the same for the discredited King of Pop. The collection
HIStory: Past, Present & Future
(1995) was unexciting but again sold extremely well (and maintained the singer’s penchant for grand gestures), however
Invincible
(2001) was anything but, barely limping to platinum status in the US. In his private life, Michael appeared to be fighting hard to steady the ship: he married for a second time in 1996, to Deborah Rowe, a dermatologist (what else?) by whom he fathered at least two of his much-desired children. By all accounts, Jackson proved himself a fine and loyal father to his two sons and daughter, and even when the predictable split came with Rowe in 1999, the singer took full custody of his offspring.

You are not alone

The beginning of the end for Michael Jackson, however, likely came in 2003 with the second accusation of sexual abuse. More than foolishly – and in spite of repeated warnings from those who cared about him – Jackson had
not
arrested his questionable liaisons with minors, and another such friendship was, sadly, to bite back. The singer maintained his long-held insistence that all such friendships were ‘innocent’, however one might’ve expected him to have learned and taken
something
from the fallout of the Chandler case. In what appeared an even worse scenario, the court now heard day after day of distressing and lurid testimony against Jackson, stories of sexual misconduct at his infamous Neverland home that would’ve made squeamish the hardiest of souls. And yet, there was nothing to pin onto the star: Jackson was acquitted on all counts. He may have been naive, foolhardy – misguided, certainly – but the prosecution was perilously weak, Jackson’s lawyers exposing holes in which he could comfortably have parked his collection of cars. However, what seems apparent now is that the singer spent his entire adult life in a bubble from which he viewed others’ perceptions of his ‘unnatural’ behave iour as indicative of a failing within
mankinds
makeup. In his own eyes, Michael was an ‘innocent’ – the ‘guilty’ were those who coated his lifestyle with a veneer of the unseemly and unspeakable. As for the rest of us, we can only guess at the reality of Jackson’s world.

The singer may have escaped jail, but the purgatory in which Jackson spent those few weeks was to take a huge toll on his physicality. He’d become addicted to painkillers over the years and following this latest public assassination looked to be the frail phantom of a once-incendiary icon. In truth, Jackson was barely seen in the years following the trial, time sensibly spent with his children while the pot was allowed to simmer down once more. Then, at the start of 2009, Jackson made a sudden return to the spotlight and – amazingly – made an announcement of
fifty
London dates over a four-month period. Those who knew of his state of health found this almost impossible to conceive, his public appearances suggesting a man who’d do well to complete
one
show. However, any fears about sales were quickly dissolved: the
This Is It
tour was going to be a sellout.

But, of course, it never came to pass. If the announcement of his tour had turned heads, then the break-ing news of Michael Jackson’s death aged fifty effectively stopped the world on its axis. On 25 June 2009, media from across the planet descended upon Jackson’s rented mansion in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles and the Ronald Reagan UCLA Memorial Hospital, all the while hoping that this was the latest in a long history of the crazy rumour-mongering that had surrounded the star. Sadly, it was not so. At around midday, Jackson apparently stopped breathing while in his bed; his personal physician Dr Conrad Murray and paramedics failed to revive the singer at his home, and a further hour of resuscitation attempts also proved fruitless at the hospital. The ‘King of Pop’ was no more. The outpouring of grief that followed Jackson’s death was comparable to that after the passings of JFK, John Lennon (
December 1980
) or Princess Diana. For what seemed like months, television and print media speculated as to how this could possibly have happened, while the internet virtually melted through overactivity. Maintaining any kind of ‘human’ angle here was near impossible, but the singer’s widely watched memorial service showed just how greatly Jackson was loved, a number of major stars (including Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder) offering eulogies and performances. And through the touching contributions of his children, the world was at last shown a glimpse of the humble being behind the multiple masks.

But if his fans thought that the circus was over, they were to be mistaken. What had initially been attested as a cardiac arrest was, dramatically, now being viewed as a potential homicide. An autopsy showed that Jackson had ingested a cocktail of midazolam, diazepam, lidocaine and ephedrine – prescription drugs he was known to collect regularly (albeit under a number of aliases) – and, more disturbingly, the anti-anxiety preparation lorazepam, and the anaesthetic medication propofol. (The latter – known colloquially as ‘milk of amnesia’ – is deemed so dangerous as to be generally unavailable other than for professional, pre-surgery usage. It was thought Jackson was taking it to deal with insomnia, which now seems almost unthinkable.) Despite his defence’s insistence that Jackson himself had administered the drug – which still wouldn’t have explained his being in possession of it – Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in November 2011, for which he was sentenced to four years’ incarceration.

‘In the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson– and there is everybody else.’

The New York Times,
1984

In death, Michael Jackson continues to dominate the music scene. While his influence can be seen throughout pop, R & B and rap, the singer himself still sells records by the bucketload: in the year after his passing, Jackson is estimated to have sold some thirty-five million further records. And it should also be remembered that some of these were very good indeed: The Jackson 5’s catalogue stands up just as brightly and breezily more than forty years on; ‘One Day in Your Life’ – a relic from Motown days – is as achingly heartfelt as any ballad; ‘Don’t Stop (‘Til You Get Enough)’ seems to galvanise a dancefloor like no other dance track; and then, of course, there’s ‘Billie Jean’ – a testament to the creativity of the man, his pain, his yearning and the childhood he was denied.

Saturday 27

Fayette Pinkney

(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 10 January 1948)

The Three Degrees

Many will be surprised to learn that Philly pop/soul legends The Three Degrees were formed as long ago as 1963; it was during this golden era for girl groups that manager Richard Barrett put together the first incarnation of the trio. Fayette Pinkney had left high school to become one of three teenagers (with Shirley Porter and Linda Turner) plucked from obscurity to form The Three Degrees, and remained a member of the group for thirteen years.

Ex-Valentines singer Barrett had gained his svengali reputation on the success of ‘boy’ groups Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers and Little Anthony & The Imperials, so a lot was expected of The Three Degrees. In truth, it was a sluggish start for such a sprightly threesome: early singles ‘Gee Baby (I’m Sorry)’ (1965) and ‘Look Into My Eyes’ (1966) made token showings, while ‘Maybe’ and ‘I Do Take You’ (both 1970) took the group into the R & B Top Ten. It was to take several roster, label and production changes, however, before the ‘classic’ line-up of Pinkney, Sheila Ferguson and Valerie Holiday began reaping serious rewards. The trio’s best year was undoubtedly 1974, with Pinkney and her colleagues providing the vocals for the US chart-topper ‘TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)’ by studio amalgamation MFSB (Mother, Father, Sister, Brother). With the ‘Philly sound’ exploding the world over, The Three Degrees’ popularity peaked that summer with their own UK number one and US number two, ‘When Will I See You Again?’. This two-million-selling global smash turned The Three Degrees into a household name, particularly in Britain where they became the most successful girl group of the day. Further singalong hits bolstered this European profile, including ‘The Year of Decision’ (1974, UK Top Twenty) and ‘Take Good Care of Yourself’ (1975, UK Top Ten). (Strangely, ‘When Will I See You Again?’ was to prove something of a swansong in America, where The Three Degrees procured not one further Hot 100 hit.) Fayette Pinkney left after this wave of success, and entertained a short solo career before returning to full-time study. Helen Scott joined Ferguson and Holiday as the group enjoyed renewed British success, Pinkney meanwhile earning herself both bachelors’ and masters’ qualifications in psychology and human sciences. (In this case, two degrees proved enough … )

It is believed that Fayette Pinkney – who also taught and sang gospel in her later career – had been unwell for a short while before her passing from acute respiratory failure in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

Richard Barrett passed away in 2006.

JULY

Saturday 4

Drake Levin

(Chicago, Illinois, 17 August 1946)

Paul Revere & The Raiders