Michael Jackson (56 page)

Seth Riggs, his voice teacher who has travelled with Michael on tours, recalled, ‘Every night the kids would come in on stretchers,
so sick they could hardly hold their heads up. Michael would kneel down at the stretchers and put his face right down beside
theirs so that he could have his picture taken with them, and then give them a copy to remember the moment. I couldn't handle
it. I'd be in the bathroom crying. The kids would perk right up in his presence. If it gave them a couple days' more energy,
to Michael it was worth it.’

While working on ‘We Are the World’, Lionel Richie went to Hayvenhurst every night for a week where he and Michael sequestered
themselves in Michael's room to labour on lyrics and melodies. They knew that what they wanted was some sort of anthem, a
song both easy to sing and memorable. Though Michael and Lionel have never said as much publicly, LaToya – who watched the pair
work – claims that Lionel only wrote a couple of lines of the song. She contends that 99 per cent of the lyrics were written
by Michael, ‘but he's never felt it necessary to say that.’ The lyrics and the melody were finished on 21 January 1985, just
one night before the recording session.

While Michael and Lionel were composing, Ken Kragen went about the business of lining up the all-star cast: Bruce Springsteen,
Tina Turner, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, The Pointer Sisters, Stevie Wonder, Cyndi
Lauper, Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Bob Dylan and many others, forty-five in all. Another fifty artists had to be turned
down to keep the project from becoming too unwieldy. Michael asked LaToya to show up, and she did. (She got to stand next
to Bette Midler in the line-up.) Marlon, Jackie, Tito and Randy were also there.

Quincy Jones took time away from producing the film
The Colour Purple
to produce and arrange (with Tom Bahler) the Jackson – Richie collaboration at A&M Studios in Hollywood. Because the American
Music Awards had been held that same night, many of the artists came directly from those festivities. When the performers
showed up, the first thing they saw was a sign outside Studio A: ‘Please check your egos at the door.’ It was astonishing
that so many artists of diverse backgrounds and individual renown were able to do just that: there were no ego problems, at
all. Diana Ross could not conceal her excitement and asked the other stars for autographs. The Pointer Sisters took pictures
of Michael. ‘I've never before felt that strong sense of community,’ Kenny Loggins observed.

At around ten p.m., the proceedings turned solemn. Ken Kragen addressed the group to assure them that money generated from
the recording would, indeed, ‘go to the right places’. Bob Geldof, the leader of the Boomtown Rats and organizer of the British
Band Aid musical charity effort, which produced the single, ‘Do They Know It's Christmas?’ told of his visits to Ethiopia.
Two Ethiopian women, whose presence had been arranged by Stevie Wonder, reported on the horrible suffering there.

Finally, Michael addressed the assemblage of stars. Very quietly and somewhat awkwardly, he explained his and Lionel's composition
as ‘A love song to inspire concern about a faraway place close to home.’

The musical tracks had been recorded earlier in the day, so it was just a matter of fine-tuning the lyrics – ‘Should it be “
brighter
day” or “
better
day”?’ – and adding the voices. Michael taught the artists the melody and lyrics – most had already been sent taped demos of
the song with Michael performing – and worked with them on vocal arrangements.

As integral as Michael Jackson had become to the process, he was also very much separated from it. Whereas everyone else present
was filmed (by six cameras) as they performed for the ‘We Are the World’ video, Michael's solo was taped later, privately,
and spliced into the final version. He never took off his shades. Some people speculate that he chose not to record with the
rest because he was so awestruck by his fellow celebrities. The ultimate perfectionist, he would feel that he could not perform
to the best of his abilities in front of them. Others offer a more cynical explanation: Michael likes to feel he is different
from everybody and emphasizes this difference by erecting barriers between him and his fans, his peers and his family. Indeed,
in the video of ‘We Are the World’, the shot of Michael begins at his Bass Weejun shoes and trademark sequined socks, and
then pans upward to his carefully made-up face, all at Michael's direction. ‘People will know it's me as soon as they see
the socks,’ he said, proudly, and he was right about that. ‘Try taking footage of Bruce Springsteen's socks and see if anyone
knows who they belong to,’ he added with a grin.

The recording and taping session took all night. Who would sing what and with whom had been decided a couple of days earlier
by Lionel Richie, producer Quincy Jones, and arranger Tom Bahler. Some of the interesting vocal pairings included Tina Turner
with Billy Joel, Dionne Warwick with Willie Nelson, and, of course, Diana Ross with Michael Jackson. The only hint of things
not going as planned involved the pairing of Michael and Prince. Michael didn't like Prince, but for charity he would sing
with him. However, Prince didn't even show up. At six the next morning, he called the studio to ask if he might come in and
lay down a guitar part. Quincy told him it was too late.

By seven-thirty in the morning, the job was done and the artists began to leave. ‘Michael was as exhausted as anyone,’ Jeffrey
Osborne reported. ‘He didn't say much, maybe something about being very happy, but I could tell that he was delighted.’

‘I did expect to see more ego,’ Paul Simon reported. ‘You know, “The Gloved One” meets “The Boss” and things like that, but
it just didn't happen.’

‘I just don't want this night to end,’ Diana Ross said as she hugged Tina Turner.

It would seem that everyone who participated in the ‘We Are the World’ recording session shared Diana's sentiments. The gentle,
uplifting spirit of the song also touched the public's emotions when it was finally released on 7 March 1985. The initial
shipment of 800,000 records sold out within three days of its release. The song was number one in America for a month, and
also spent a couple of weeks at the top spot in Britain, as well as in other countries. The ‘We Are the World’ video lent
itself well to the benevolent spirit of the celebration and helped to sell four million records in all, earning about eight
million dollars for the USA for Africa fund.

The 1986 Grammys set the stage for one of Michael's more bizarre pranks – but one that didn't pan out as he had expected.

Frank Dileo, John Branca, Norman Winter and Michael Jackson had often discussed the careers of show-business icons like Frank
Sinatra and The Beatles, and how their representatives were known to sometimes hire teenagers to scream and weep at the sight
of them at public appearances. Hysteria does photograph well. Michael always believed that hiring youngsters to holler, faint
and sob was a masterful public relations stroke.

One evening Michael and Frank telephoned Norman to tell him of an idea. Michael wanted to cause a commotion during the televised
Grammy Awards presentation in February. It had been decided that Quincy and Michael would accept the award if ‘We Are the
World’ won for Record of the Year, accompanied by some of the other participants on the record. It's not known whether it
was his intention to do so, but it would seem that Michael wanted to steal a little of Quincy's thunder during the acceptance.
He and Quincy always had a strange relationship, symbiotic but also competitive.

Michael's plan was to have a female teenager run out on to the stage from the wings and jump him as he stood next to Quincy.
Bill Bray's security staff would be ready and waiting to pull the girl off Michael, who would then act surprised and frazzled.
Since the Grammys are televised internationally, the whole world would witness this mad scene. The next day, Michael's popularity,
and the hysteria it had caused at the Grammys, would be the subject of worldwide news. The scene caused by Jackson's ‘overwrought
fan’ would probably even overshadow the fact that ‘We Are the World’ had won the coveted Grammy for Record of the Year. Certainly,
Quincy's acceptance speech would be overlooked in favour of Michael's manic adoration.

Frank and Norman were against Michael's idea. If word ever got out to the press that the girl who had attacked Michael had
actually been hired by him to do so, it would be embarrassing to everyone involved. ‘But it'll never get out,’ Michael said,
enthused. ‘So, who do we get? Who can we hire to do this thing?’

Frank and Norman didn't have a clue. Finally, a female publicist who worked in Norman's office found a teenager who she felt
was savvy enough to pull off the hoax. She was hired for the job.

The night of the awards, those involved in the trickery held their breath as ‘We Are the World’ was announced by presenters
Sting and Phil Collins as Record of the Year. Michael, who was wearing a black military jacket, red shirt and red brooch,
rose from his seat. Frank, seated behind Michael, smiled broadly, a cigar hanging from his mouth. Michael then walked up on
to the stage with Lionel Richie.

Before long, Quincy Jones, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers and Stevie Wonder were also on stage. As Quincy gave his speech, Michael
nervously rocked from side to side. He kept looking off into the wings, as if he was wondering when the girl was going to
make her move.

Unbeknownst to Michael, the teenager, who had full backstage credentials, was having a difficult time trying to break through
the crowd of people – technicians, production people, members of the press – who had gathered in the wings to gawk at the celebrities
on stage. Before the hapless ‘attacker’ knew what was happening, the speeches were over and she had missed her moment. The
scheme didn't work.

‘What happened? What happened?’ Michael wanted to know later. ‘I'm standing there waiting and waiting, and nothing?’

When Frank Dileo explained, Michael cracked up into laughter. ‘The joke's on me, I guess,’ he said. ‘I couldn't even concentrate
on what was going on because I'm waiting for this girl to come out and jump me… and she never did it. Quincy said I was squirming
so much, he thought I had to go to the bathroom! Next time, we'll have to plan it better,’ Michael concluded, with a wink.

In June 1986, Michael Jackson underwent another operation to have his nose made slimmer, his fourth rhinoplasty. He also wanted
Steven Hoefflin to create a cleft in his chin. Years later, he would tell one associate that the ‘greatest joy I ever had
was in knowing I had a choice about my face.’ This same associate asked Michael for advice about rhinoplasty surgery, and
Michael recommended that Steven Hoefflin operate on him. ‘There's nothing to it, man,’ Michael said. ‘After the first one,
it doesn't even hurt that much. Once you have it done, you'll never stop looking in the mirror. That's how great you'll feel
about yourself. Do it. You'll love it.’

When Michael told Katherine he was going to have a cleft put into his chin, she thought he was going, as she put it, ‘overboard’.

‘Why?’ she wanted to know. ‘I just don't understand.’

As Katherine told a friend of hers, Michael explained, ‘I can afford it, I want it, so I'm going to have it.’ It was as if
he were buying a new car instead of undergoing painful, appearance-changing plastic surgery. Whereas most people can only
fantasize – ‘Wouldn't a new nose be nice, and maybe a new chin too?’ – Michael could afford to make those whims a reality. ‘And
I think if more people could afford it, they would do it too,’ his sister Janet has reasoned. ‘I see nothing wrong with it.’

One psychologist has speculated that it was Michael's narcissistic side that dictated he have a cleft carved into his chin.
‘Michael Jackson was obviously becoming more and more enchanted by his own image,’ Dr Raymond Johnson said. ‘He is apparently
continuing his quest for the perfect face.’