I was in New York and I got a call from Saudi Arabia that America was being attacked. I said no way. I turned on the news and saw the twin towers coming down and I said, “ Oh my God.” I screamed down the hallway to all our people. “Everybody get out, let’s leave now. Marlon Brando was on one end, our security was on the other end, we were all up there but Elizabeth was at another hotel. We all got out of there as quickly as we could. We didn’t know if our building was next. If it was domino effect. How they had girls that had been at the show the night before, prior to the explosion showed the loyalty of fans, were banging on the windows, running down the street screaming, we couldn’t get out of the garage. They are so loyal. It was unbelievable. I was scared to death.
What artists past and present inspire you?
Stevie Wonder is a musical prophet. All of the early Motown. All the Beatles, I’m crazy about Sammy Davis Jr., Charlie Chaplain, Fred Astair, Gene Kelly, Bill Bojangles Robinson, the real entertainers, the real thing, not just gimmicks, show stoppers. When James Brown was with the Famous Flames was unbelievable. There are so many wonderful singers. Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand, to Johnny Mathis, real stylists, you hear one line and know who it is. Nat King Cole, great stuff. Marvin Gaye, Sam Cook, they are all ridiculous.
What do you do for fun, for recreation?
I like water balloon fights. We have a water balloon forte here, there’s the red team and the blue team. We have slings and canons and you are drenched by the time the game is over. There is a timer and whoever gets the most points in is the winner. I don’t do anything like basketball or golf. If I’m going to do some kind of sport, if you want to call that a sport, you have to laugh. I want to laugh. Basketball you get very competitive and so is tennis, makes you angry. I’m not into that I like to laugh, have fun, laugh with it. That’s what it should be, fun, therapeutic. I love that. I also like to go to amusement parks, animals, things like that.
How involved were you in selecting the artists to perform in your 30th special?
I wasn’t involved at all.
How were you able to let go of something so big and so special?
Trust.
Is there still a fantasy that you maintain of something that you’d like to do in your career?
I’d like to see an international children’s holiday when we honor our children, because the family bond has been broken. There’s a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day but there’s no children’s day. I really would I would mean a lot. It really would. World peace, I hope that our next generation will get to see a peaceful world, not the way it’s going now.
At what point in your life did you realize that you were different, a visionary?
I never thought about, I just always accepted it from the heavens and said on my knees, “Thank you.” Whenever I write a song and I know that it is musically correct, there are no laws to music, but when it feels right, I get on my knees and I say, “ Thank you.” I really do, I mean it. Because it drops into your lap just easy and magical with no effort.
Did singing ever stop being fun and become work?
It’s always been fun, unless I get physically sick, it’s always fun. I still love it.
What is your financial status?
I’m taking care of fine.
Michael, don’t be embarrassed, when I think about Van Goug, Bach, Beethoven, Elvis, you are an innovator, your work as changed the face of music, changes the face of videos setting a standard that still stands, no one has come close to what you have accomplished, where does Michael Jackson go from here?
Thank you, thank you. I have deep love for film and to pioneer and innovate in the medium of film. To write and direct and produce movies. To bring incredible entertainment.
What kind of movies? Are you looking at scripts?
Yes, but nothing has been finalized yet.
Are you writing?
Uh huh.
Are you ever lonely?
Of course. If I’m on stage, I’m fine there. You can have a house full of people and still be lonely from within. I’m not complaining because I thin it’s a good thing, for my work.
Why do you think very young children today are as excited about you as if were here to witness your historical landmarks that took place before they were born?
They learn from there parents, they hear it. TV shows everything that I’ve done. They hear all the songs on TV, VH1 around the world, they are rediscovering it all over again. It’s not like they missed it, it’s always been there.
Tell me about the new CD Invincible. “ Speechless.”
You’ll be surprised. I had a big water balloon fight, I’m serious, in Germanym and what inspires me is fun. I was with these kids and we had big water balloon fight and I was so happy after the fight that I ran upstairs in their house and write “Speechless.” That’s what inspired the song. I hate to say that because it’s such a romantic song. But, it was the fight that did it. I’d had fun, I was happy, and I wrote it in it’s entirety right there. I felt it would be good enough for the album. Out of this bliss comes magic, comes wonderment, comes creativity. It’s about having fun, it really is.
“Break of Dawn.”
Freeze and myself wrote “Break of Dawn.” It’s just a beautiful, strolling in the park kind of song. There’s a good summer feel about it. It’s one of my favorites. It’s Denzel Washington’s favorite song. He blasts it all the time.
“You Are My Life.”
Thank you. We all wrote that one.
Tell me about how your creativity normally comes to you?
You don’t force it. Let nature take its course. I don’t at the piano and think, “I’m going to write the greatest song of all time.” It doesn’t happen. It has to be given to you. I believe it’s already up there before you are born and then it drops right into your lap, I it really does. It’s the most spiritual thing in the world. If people could witness what it feel like. When it comes it comes with all of the accompaniments, the strings, the bass, the drums, the lyrics and you’re just the source through which it comes, the channel, really, honestly. Sometimes I feel guilty putting my name on the songs written by Michael Jackson because it’s as if the heavens have done it already, I mean it. Like Michaelangelo would have this huge piece of marble from the quarries of Italy and he’d say, “Inside is a sleeping form. And he takes hammer and chisel and he’s just freeing it. It’s already in there. It’s already there.
What do you collect?
I like anything Shirley Temple, babies, children, Shirley Temple, Shirley Temple, lots of Shirley Temple. Little Rascals, Three Stooges, a lot of Three Stooges. I love Curly, he kills me. I my brothers we love Curly, we just love him. I love Curly so much that I did a book on Curly. I got his daughter and she and I wrote a book on him. Women have a hard time with all the slapping and poking and stuff, guys love that stuff. My mother loved Abbott and Costello, but we would say, “We want the Three Stooges.”
Tell me about your fashion selections.
It wasn’t conscious, it happens that way.
Is there anything that you would like to say to VIBE readers?
I love Quincy. I mean, I really do. I think he is wonderful soul and a beautiful person. And I think you should tell the readers, don’t judge a person by what they hear or even what they read unless they heard from the person. There is so much tabloid, sensationalism going on that’s totally false. Don’t fall prey to it, it’s ugly. I hate the tabloids. I’d like to take them all and burn them. I want you to print it, don’t believe tabloid press, tell them that. Don’t believe tabloid press. Some of them try to disguise themselves but they are still tabloid press.
