Read more: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140226/jsp/calcutta/story_18020766.jsp#.Uw37zaOx6M8
You knew Michael Jackson since he was a little boy…. Your fondest memories of him?
Well, Mayor Hatcher had just won. It was 1968. A lot of stars at this big event and there were these kids (Jackson Five) who were performing. People accepted them but they were not terribly enthralled. People tend to underestimate children and what their potentials are but Mayor Hatcher kept them involved and they had a little reputation around the city. It wasn’t hard to remember them at that time. Two years later we were having a big expo in Chicago with all the top artistes Nancy Wilson, Quincy Jones performing. The programme was pretty set. A friend of mine who used to work with Dr King came by and said “There are some kids performing across the street. They say they want to perform at the expo”. So I said, “We don’t have anymore room. The programme is full”, and he says, “The kids want to meet you. At least say hello and take a picture”. They were waiting in a station wagon car like this van attached to a cart with drums and guitars. I saw them and couldn’t say no. Now, how to include them? We were having these big shows every night, Thursday, Friday, Saturday but we didn’t have anyone on Saturday afternoon. So, Motown put them on their stage and once they (Jackson Five) performed they just stole the show. They just took it, you know.
I knew Michael from then and then he became a solo artiste. I knew his family. Amazingly, they were a family of about 12 people that lived in a four-room house. It was so small that they had to eat by rotation. But again, you never know where gifts of an artiste lie. He (MJ) was a world leader in that group, I had no idea. Every child matters. After he got to Motown and they heard him, his first song ABC was an instant hit. He had all of these dance moves and a very high- pitched voice. You could see that he had extraordinary talents. Of course, I spent a lot of time with him in the last two years of his life. At that time he had his trial on. I was standing with him and fighting for him.
He died so suddenly. I cried and cried, it hurt me so bad to see him leave. Such an impact on the world stage, from the four-room house on Jackson Street.
You also became his spiritual adviser and he would pray with you…
Early one morning he came by the neighbourhood, stopped by my house. No big entourage and suddenly word got out and people from four blocks were running down the street! (Laughs) There were throngs of people. He stopped by our office and I took him by the church. A friend of mine used to pray with him and his family from the time. He was religious, his mother was Jehovah’s Witness but he had an appreciation of God. He was a good person. He had a lot of pressures on him but he was a good person.
You were the only one he spoke to in a rare interview when he was being tried in 2005. Anything that you’d like to say about the Michael people misunderstood and you knew so closely…
He was so fully human, almost like a child. Practising, really practising. When he got to Motown he was performing while other kids were playing. He was so generous with his support to causes. He had a generous spirit. He did a song like Black and White which was his way of celebrating races coming together and that is a philosophy till today for a lot of people. But he lived a full life. We all feel that it ended much too suddenly but he was going through a lot of emotional challenges and he was praying to cope with a lot of that pain.
Has his family coped? Do you stay in touch with his children?
Sometimes. They’re in school now. I see his parents sometimes. They were in many fights and they’re tired.
You knew Michael Jackson since he was a little boy…. Your fondest memories of him?
Well, Mayor Hatcher had just won. It was 1968. A lot of stars at this big event and there were these kids (Jackson Five) who were performing. People accepted them but they were not terribly enthralled. People tend to underestimate children and what their potentials are but Mayor Hatcher kept them involved and they had a little reputation around the city. It wasn’t hard to remember them at that time. Two years later we were having a big expo in Chicago with all the top artistes Nancy Wilson, Quincy Jones performing. The programme was pretty set. A friend of mine who used to work with Dr King came by and said “There are some kids performing across the street. They say they want to perform at the expo”. So I said, “We don’t have anymore room. The programme is full”, and he says, “The kids want to meet you. At least say hello and take a picture”. They were waiting in a station wagon car like this van attached to a cart with drums and guitars. I saw them and couldn’t say no. Now, how to include them? We were having these big shows every night, Thursday, Friday, Saturday but we didn’t have anyone on Saturday afternoon. So, Motown put them on their stage and once they (Jackson Five) performed they just stole the show. They just took it, you know.
I knew Michael from then and then he became a solo artiste. I knew his family. Amazingly, they were a family of about 12 people that lived in a four-room house. It was so small that they had to eat by rotation. But again, you never know where gifts of an artiste lie. He (MJ) was a world leader in that group, I had no idea. Every child matters. After he got to Motown and they heard him, his first song ABC was an instant hit. He had all of these dance moves and a very high- pitched voice. You could see that he had extraordinary talents. Of course, I spent a lot of time with him in the last two years of his life. At that time he had his trial on. I was standing with him and fighting for him.
He died so suddenly. I cried and cried, it hurt me so bad to see him leave. Such an impact on the world stage, from the four-room house on Jackson Street.
You also became his spiritual adviser and he would pray with you…
Early one morning he came by the neighbourhood, stopped by my house. No big entourage and suddenly word got out and people from four blocks were running down the street! (Laughs) There were throngs of people. He stopped by our office and I took him by the church. A friend of mine used to pray with him and his family from the time. He was religious, his mother was Jehovah’s Witness but he had an appreciation of God. He was a good person. He had a lot of pressures on him but he was a good person.
You were the only one he spoke to in a rare interview when he was being tried in 2005. Anything that you’d like to say about the Michael people misunderstood and you knew so closely…
He was so fully human, almost like a child. Practising, really practising. When he got to Motown he was performing while other kids were playing. He was so generous with his support to causes. He had a generous spirit. He did a song like Black and White which was his way of celebrating races coming together and that is a philosophy till today for a lot of people. But he lived a full life. We all feel that it ended much too suddenly but he was going through a lot of emotional challenges and he was praying to cope with a lot of that pain.
Has his family coped? Do you stay in touch with his children?
Sometimes. They’re in school now. I see his parents sometimes. They were in many fights and they’re tired.
