Michael Jackson (72 page)

Michael had suffered such attacks when he was a teenager; he still has them from time to time, today. After his hospital stay
generated such worldwide publicity, he was apparently embarrassed to say that he’d had a panic attack, had his representatives
come up with a disease no one on the planet had ever heard of, and the public had to accept it.

Michael’s spokesman, Bob Jones, did admit that Michael had been ‘under some stress, lately.’ He said that Michael was particularly
saddened by the AIDS-related death of his friend, eighteen-year-old Ryan White, who won a long court battle to attend public
school and overcame prejudice against himself and other AIDS victims. Bob also said Michael was still upset over the deaths
of his maternal grandmother, Martha Bridges, who died in May, and Sammy Davis, Jr., who also died that month. Moreover, Michael
was agitated because work on his album was not progressing quickly. He didn’t mention the real problem: whether Michael should
be loyal to Universal or to Disney – not to mention what he’d been through recently with his family members and business associates.

After Michael was released from the hospital, he went about the business of reorganizing his affairs. He had said privately
that when he returned from the Bad tour, he would fire everyone on his staff. ‘I don’t trust anybody,’ he said to one associate.
‘Except Katherine.’

Frank Dileo had been dismissed after the tour was over, and Michael apparently felt no regret over the decision. He still
communicated with Frank, but only through middlemen, and only when he was agitated about something. For instance, when Michael
heard that someone was again spreading rumours that he was a homosexual, he had an associate telephone Frank demanding to
know if it had been he who was the source of the story. Frank was hurt. He later said he wondered how a person he once considered
to be a son could be so mistrusting of him. However, he’d always known Michael was a suspicious person. Two months before
Michael fired Frank, he purchased from a New York-based security firm a briefcase featuring a hidden tape recorder for himself
and six Voice Safe telephone scramblers for his home. The briefcase could be used to tape meetings secretly, and the scramblers
made it impossible to tape the user’s conversation off a telephone line.

After the Bad tour, Marshall Gelfand, Michael’s accountant of seven years, was given his walking papers by John Branca. Michael
felt he was too conservative in his investment strategies and had John hire a new accountant, Richard Sherman, who also worked
for David Geffen.

By the summer of 1990, Michael had also begun to have doubts about John Branca. In recent months, despite John’s many professional
strengths, Michael allowed his insecurities – and it was said by his associates, David Geffen’s personal feelings about John – colour
his perception of the high-powered attorney. For instance, Michael suddenly became overly concerned about the identities of
John’s other clients. Frank Dileo was not permitted by Michael to even have other clients, but John was an attorney who had
been practising law before that day in early 1980 when Michael came into his office. By 1990, he had twenty-five clients in
addition to Michael.

Earlier, in 1988, John Branca had represented The Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels international tour. When Michael telephoned
him one day about a business matter, John mentioned that he would be in Barbados for a week. Michael wanted to know the reason
for the trip. When John told him it was for business purposes, Michael became suspicious. He wanted to know what kind of business
John had in Barbados. Rather than lie, he told him that he was meeting with Mick. ‘Mick? You mean
Mick Jagger?
‘ Michael wanted to know. He was upset.

John finally admitted that he was representing The Rolling Stones tour. ‘Well, is it a big tour?’ Michael asked. ‘It’s not
going to be as big as mine, is it? It’s not going to be
bigger
than mine, is it?’

There was probably no way to calm Michael down at that point. Next, he wanted to know where the Stones would be playing. When
John reluctantly told him they were thinking about the Los Angeles Coliseum, Michael became even more anxious. ‘The Coliseum!’
he exclaimed. ‘The Coliseum! Why, that’s bigger than the [Los Angeles] Sports Arena, where I played. How many dates? They’re
not playing as many dates as me and my brothers played at Dodger Stadium, are they?’ He was frantic. The only way to end it
with him was for John to beg off the line, saying he had another call.

When John Branca took on Terrence Trent D’Arby as a client, Michael was again upset. He considered D’Arby competition, just
as he did Prince. Michael asked John to drop D’Arby. John said he would do it if Michael absolutely insisted upon it. However,
Michael then telephoned D’Arby, with whom he had never spoken, to let him know that he (Michael) had no control over John
Branca, and that if the attorney should ever drop him as a client, it would be entirely his decision because, as Michael told
D’Arby, ‘I have no problem with Branca representing you.’ Actually, Michael was trying to maintain friendly relations with
D’Arby in case the two should ever decide to record a duet sometime in the future.

When John Branca found out what Michael had done (Terrence Trent D’Arby’s manager telephoned John immediately after D’Arby
had hung up with Michael), he was as disappointed in Michael as he was angry. In the end, John decided
not
to drop D’Arby as a client; Michael just had to live with it.

Most observers felt that representing Michael had become more taxing and demanding than ever for John Branca. In the spring
of 1990, John and Michael had a meeting during which John said he felt the time had come for him to share in the equity in
Jackson’s publishing company. He explained that he wanted to devote as much time to developing Michael’s publishing holdings
as possible, and in return he wanted five per cent of those profits. John must have known that it would be risky to make such
a proposition because Michael is known to be thrifty when it comes to compensating his repre-sentation. He feels that the
occasional Rolls-Royce or expensive watch is a fair demonstration of his appreciation to his advisers; he doesn’t favour giving
them extra percentages. Up until this time, John had worked for Michael on a monthly retainer. On certain extraordinary deals,
a percentage would be worked into the deal for him. For instance, he did receive five per cent of the profit on the Victory
and Bad tours. (In contrast, though, Mickey Rudin, Frank Sinatra’s attorney for years, received ten per cent of Sinatra’s
tours.) At this time, Michael was feeling psychologically poor as a result of the
Moonwalker
debacle. He told John he would consider his proposal. Then, he decided to talk the matter over with David Geffen.

At this same time, David Geffen was trying to convince Michael that he should break his CBS Records deal by utilizing a contract
loophole. Michael’s contract with CBS had been signed in 1983, and then amended after
Thriller
in 1985. David felt that the seven years that had lapsed since the original agreement gave Michael an edge in renegotiating
the entire deal because California state law forbids personal service contracts of a longer duration. Industry observers felt
that David was trying to lure Michael away from CBS so that he could sign him to his own label.

Though Michael’s contract with CBS had expired, he still owed four more albums to the label. Yes, after the seven-year duration,
Michael could probably have left CBS Records. The company could not enjoin him from recording for another label. However,
it
could
sue him for damages, the amount of which would be based on the estimated loss of profits from the albums he did not deliver.
This dollar amount would be derived from the combined sales figures of
Off the Wall, Thriller
and
Bad
. CBS Records could have mounted a huge lawsuit against Michael. David was willing to overlook the possible litigation (‘It’ll
all work itself out,’ he said), however John Branca was not willing to do so, and
he
was the one representing Michael, not David.

When John and David engaged in a heated argument over the logic of trying to extricate Michael from his recording contract
with CBS Records, John told him to mind his own business. David hung up on him.

David then telephoned Michael and, apparently, tried to sour him on John Branca by saying that John had been uncooperative,
and that the reason Michael didn’t have ‘a good deal at CBS’ was because of John’s close relationship with the company president,
Walter Yetnikoff. Michael allowed himself to be swayed by David, never stopping to consider that he truly did have the best
deal in the record industry and that John Branca was the man who had secured it for him.

John Branca’s work with Michael Jackson can only be compared to Colonel Tom Parker’s representation of Elvis Presley. Even
though John was not Michael’s manager, he certainly had the kind of impact on his career that Colonel Tom had on Elvis’s.
In 1980, when John began representing him, Michael’s net worth was barely a million dollars. Ten years later, in great part
due to John’s negotiating skills, the net worth was close to $300 million, including the publishing holdings, which were valued
at close to $200 million. That leap in holdings was a tribute to Michael’s artistry, no doubt; but it also spoke well of John’s
negotiating skills. Despite all they had been through together, Michael now doubted John.

A couple of days after John’s difficult conversation with David Geffen, John met with Michael. Something had changed in Michael,
and it became clear as the two of them spoke; Michael barely listened to what John said and he seemed hostile towards him.
The two engaged in a heated discussion about CBS and whether or not Michael was obligated to record for them. The meeting
did not go well.

When it ended, John went back to his office in Century City. The next day, he received a letter by special messenger from
Michael’s new accountant, Richard Sherman, whom John had recently hired: John’s ‘services were no longer required by Michael
Jackson.’

Michael was sorry to lose John Branca, but he didn’t get sentimental about the loss. The way he looked at it, John made a
fortune doing what he loved to do, representing Michael in major show-business deals. When it was over, it was over. Michael
swiftly replaced him with three seasoned law veterans: Bertram Fields (for litigation), Alan Grubman (for negotiations with
CBS), and Lee Phillips (for music publishing) – all closely associated with David Geffen.

In March 1991, Michael Jackson finally came to terms with CBS Records, now known as Sony Corp. The deal was structured on
groundwork laid by John Branca – including a 25 per cent royalty rate and Jackson’s own label (then called Nation Records).
Michael’s spokespeople claimed that the contract guaranteed a return of hundreds of millions. Press reports implied that Sony
actually handed over a
billion
dollars to Michael. In fact, Michael could receive $120 million per album for the next six
if
sales matched the forty-million-plus level of
Thriller
. If they didn’t, he wouldn’t. With advances and financial perks, the deal was worth about fifty million dollars to Michael,
nicely eclipsing Janet Jackson’s thirty-two-million-dollar contract at Virgin Records.

Where Michael Jackson’s career was concerned, the future seemed to rest on the commercial success or failure of his next album.
That was the case in 1991, and remains so, to this day.

May 1992. Imagine Michael Jackson standing on the side of Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, his jeep steaming at the side
of the road while other cars whisk by in two busy lanes in both directions. With so little knowledge about automobiles, Michael
had always wondered what he would do if he was ever alone when his car broke down. He reached for his mobile phone and called
911. He was told that a disabled automobile did not qualify as an emergency situation, and that he should call Directory Assistance
to locate a tow-shop. ‘But I’m Michael Jackson,’ he protested. ‘Can’t you help me?’ The answer was, ‘No.’

As he stood next to the car fretting about his next step, Michael was spotted by the wife of Mel Green, an employee of a nearby
car-rental business, called Rent-A-Wreck. She telephoned her husband and said, ‘You will not believe who I just spotted on
Wilshire Boulevard kicking the tyre of his broken-down car. Michael Jackson! You should go there and see what’s up.’

Mel Green raced to the scene and, sure enough, there he was: Michael Jackson wringing his hands, pacing back and forth and
kicking the tyres of his vehicle. ‘I got him,’ Mel said, calling Dave Schwartz, owner of Rent-A-Wreck.

‘What? You gotta be kidding me?’ said Dave. ‘Is it really Michael Jackson? Are you sure? Maybe he’s one of those wacky impersonators.
It can’t be
the
Michael Jackson.’

‘It sure is,’ Mel said. ‘I’m bringing him in, now.’

‘Then I gotta call June,’ Dave said, now excited. Dave and his wife, June, had been having marital difficulties and, more
often than not, he was not staying at their home, although they were still on friendly terms. He called June and told her
to bring her son Jordie to ‘the shop’ for ‘a big surprise’.

June and Jordie arrived on the scene before Michael. When Michael finally showed, he presented quite a sight wearing a black
turban with a veil over his face and dark, over-sized sunglasses. He also wore a long-sleeve black silk shirt, jeans and tennis
shoes. The only parts of his body visible were his hands, which seemed pale.

Whenever June Chandler-Schwartz walked into a room, heads turned. A striking woman of Asian extraction, she wore her dark
hair to her shoulders with bangs cut straight above her eye line. Her smile incandescent, her manner outgoing, she moved with
elegance and grace. Michael was quickly taken by her as she excitedly introduced herself and then Jordie.