I have loved Michael Jackson’s music all my life. As a huge fan of anything Motown, I grew up on The Jackson 5, danced to one of my favorite albums of all time - Off the Wall, and of course watched MJ become a superstar during the unprecedented megahit Thriller years. Now that he has left us, it feels like the world will never be the same. For the past 10 days, I’ve watched continual coverage on MSNBC and CNN and bonded with my friends from high school on facebook. I have been trying to wrap my brain around the fact that he is gone and it’s been very difficult. So – I decided that it was time to blog.
In all the countless images that have been televised over and over since Michael’s death, one that I actually found on my own (BET On Demand) has affected me the most. It’s a clip of MJ surprising James Brown at the last BET Awards Brown performed at. http://www.bet.com/onblast/?chan=3&id=3261&itype=e Apparently it was a well kept secret because all Michael did was step on stage and the crowd went wild. There is something so captivating about this clip that I have watched it repeatedly. MJ’s grace & humility - not wanting to upstage the Godfather of Soul, his exceptional talent even doing just a few steps, and his love and respect for his mentor…. all communicated in a 90 second clip. This, my friends, is the power of image.
Michael Jackson reinvented himself over and over during his 40 year career, often to great scrutiny and ridicule. Regardless of what the reviews were, MJ made you take notice of him. He was THE first celebrity brand. And he was always in control, which cannot be said for many other celebrities who have not achieved half of what MJ did. Like him or not, he was a pro. There are many questions about Michael Jackson’s life and death that we may never really have answers to. But no matter what, he lived his life with the courage to be himself and the vulnerability to put it all out there. And the truth is that Michael’s personal life is none of our business. Michael Jackson’s job was to entertain and he never let us down as a consummate performer and innovator of his industry.
Goodbye Michael. We will miss you.
“If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.”
