Jackson Protégée Nisha Fondly Recalls King of PopBy SUNITA SOHRABJI
indiawest.comJuly 27, 2009 02:45:00 PM
Michael Jackson — known to the world as the King of Pop — was a very normal and humble person who worked hard to make sure everyone around him was happy, recalled singer Nisha Kataria, his young protégée.
Kataria, 24, was one of the last people to record with Jackson. The two recorded the never-released “Wonderful World of Candy” at Jackson’s private recording studio on the grounds of his palatial home, Neverland.
“I was a little girl with big dreams. And Michael decided he wanted to help me,” Kataria told India-West, adding that the pop singer’s mentoring helped shape her budding career.
Kataria and Jackson met cute, as the saying goes. She and her family went to the Arizona State Fair in 2003. As they were leaving, Kataria casually began singing a Celine Dion song, at the insistence of her parents.
A man chased Kataria down the street, saying he was impressed by her singing voice. The two exchanged contact information.
The man turned out to be Dieter Wiesner, Jackson’s manager. Wiesner took Kataria’s demo CD to the King of Pop himself. After hearing Kataria belt out the Whitney Houston classic “I Will Always Love You,” Jackson asked to meet the young singer.
The Kataria family trooped off from their Phoenix, Ariz., home to Jackson’s ranch in Santa Barbara. The 2,700 acre ranch boasts an amusement park with several rides, a 24-gauge train, a roller coaster and bumper cars. The site is also home to Jackson’s private zoo.
“I was in shock,” said Kataria. “I couldn’t believe I was going to meet Michael. I was so nervous.”
Kataria first met Jackson in his private library, surrounded by his two children and their nanny. He asked Kataria to sing for him. Kataria and her sister Selina had long discussed what she should sing, and she was about to launch into Celine Dion’s classic, “Because You Loved Me,” when Jackson stopped her and asked her to sing “I Will Always Love You.”
So Kataria sang the powerful song a capella. And when she finished, Jackson proclaimed, “You have the voice of an angel.”
Jackson asked Kataria to stay and peform at his 45th birthday party, where she sang “I Will Always Love You” for numerous fans at the ranch, as Jackson’s cake was being cut. The King of Pop was a gentleman – he waited until Kataria had finished the song before coming onstage, so that the attention would remain on her.
Jackson then asked Kataria to stay back at Neverland to record with him. So she and her mother stayed for the next two months, during which the duo worked every other day in the onsite recording studio and played a lot of arcade games in his game room.
The two were to tour together later that year, but Jackson was arrested for alleged child molestation. He was later acquitted of all charges, but never returned to the stage before his June 25 death.
Kataria — who is now managed by Wiesner — went to Germany the following year. Wiesner kept wanting the pair to perform together, “but it never happened,” Kataria told India-West, adding that negotiations were taking place for the young protégé to be the opening act at some of Jackson’s concerts slated for this summer, before his death.
The moment she will always remember of her mentor was when he told her, “If you take an average singer, and give her a wonderful song, you’re going to do okay. But you’re a wonderful singer, with an amazing song. You’ve got it made.”
“It was so amazing to hear him say that to me,” said Kataria, still sounding awestruck by the encounter.
Kataria will release her yet untitled third CD this month, featuring collaborations with hip hop artist Silk da Shocker and rapper Timbaland.
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