Michael Jackson (117 page)

In July 1980, Joe Jackson celebrated his fifty-first birthday. Left to right: Joe’s mother, Chrystal; Gina Sprague, nineteen;
Marlon, twenty-three; Janet, fourteen; and Randy, seventeen. Michael did not show up. Katherine, who suspected that Gina and
Joe were having an affair, was seated at a nearby table when this picture was taken. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)

By the time this photo was taken, 7 February 1984, Michael Jackson was sitting on top of the world, thanks to his
Thriller
album. ‘You get one frame,’ Michael told photographer David McGough, who waited five hours to take this picture. ‘That’s
it. If I close my eyes, too bad.’ McGough took his ‘one frame’, and this was the result. Michael is wearing a hat because
his scalp was burned less than two weeks earlier while taping an ad for Pepsi. (David McGough/DMI)

On 7 February 1984, Michael was inducted into the
Guiness Book of World Records
for recording the most successful album in music industry history,
Thriller.
Right, Michael with his manager, Frank Dileo. (David McGough/DMI)

Michael Jackson set a new music industry record on 28 February 1984, when he walked off with an unprecedented eight Grammy
Awards, the most won by an artist in one year. Michael gives the thumbs up to photographers as he drops off his date, Brooke
Shields, at her Los Angeles hotel following the awards after-party. (John Paschal/DMI)

On 30 November 1983, a press conference was held at Tavern on the Green in New York to announce that the Jackson brothers
would be reuniting for a tour. Left to right: Marlon, twenty-six; Michael’s friend, Emmanuel Lewis, twelve; Michael, twenty-five;
Randy, twenty-one; Tito, thirty; Jackie, thirty-two; and Jermaine, twenty-nine. Promoter, Don King, with the ‘interesting’
hairdo, is posed flashing the peace sign. (David McGough/DMI)

Michael’s bizarre hyperbaric chamber hoax made worldwide headline news. To this day, many people believe that Michael slept
in such a contraption, when actually the whole thing was a publicity stunt concocted by Michael. (Transworld Feature, Synd.)

Twenty-nine-year-old Michael on stage in March 1988 during the
Bad
tour. (David McGough/DMI)

Michael receives the BMI Michael Jackson Award on 8 May 1990, in Beverly Hills. (Kevin Winter/DMI)

Michael and his friend Jordie Chandler (far right) and Jordie’s mother, Lily, in 1993 at the World Music Awards in Monaco.
It was during this trip, Jordie alleged, that the sexual misconduct began between him and Michael. (Rex)

On 22 December 1993, Michael gave a speech from his Neverland ranch about the allegations. ‘I ask all of you to wait and hear
the truth before you condemn me,’ he said, holding back tears. ‘Don’t treat me like a criminal.’ (Corbis)

Was he telling the truth? Though Michael denied that anything sexual happened between him and Jordie, pictured here in 1993,
he ended the ordeal with a huge cash settlement to the youngster and his family. ‘I had to go on with my life,’ Michael explained
to the author of this book. ‘Too many people had already been hurt.’ (Rex)