The Years 1999 to 2001
In order to share in the charitable intentions of this concert, the site M.C.W. donated financial aid to UNESCO organizations, the Red Cross, and Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Support Fund, [the organizations involved in this charity concert].
On 9 October 1999, Howard Rubenstein, Michael Jackson’s spokesperson, announced that Michael and Debbie had separated from each other.
Rubenstein: “Michael and Debbie continue their friendship and ask the public to respect their request that there be no further comments or stirring up of rumors about the reason behind this decision.”
Michael Jackson and Debbie were married on 14 November 1996 in Sydney — Australia. And the result of this marriage was a son named Prince Michael Junior and a daughter named Paris Michael Katherine.
In the late 20th century, MTV and TV Guide, the most important television music network and the best-selling magazine in the United States, selected Michael Jackson’s «Thriller» as the greatest music video of all time from among one hundred top clips broadcast on MTV over eighteen years.
The criteria for choosing this video were creativity and innovation, the length of time it spent among the top ten songs on the charts, performance, music, and cultural impact.
Lisa Bernhard, editor-in-chief of TV Guide, who had also interviewed Michael, listed the reason for choosing «Thriller» as follows: that this video “was innovative and ambitious for its time.”
“You could see many images in Michael’s videos that you couldn’t imagine having any meaning for them. He took music videos to a new stage. He changed the course of making the videos, and the result of his work—from film B to scary stories and dancing—ultimately returned to the traditional style. He opened the doors for music videos.”
[TV Guide magazine]
Michael agreed to have an interview with TV Guide and MTV about the important news of «Thriller» being chosen as the greatest music video of all time. In addition, he appeared in this interview with a new face. MTV broadcast this exclusive interview as part of a segment announcing the top video from among one hundred top videos of all time.
[MTV’s American TV network interview with Michael]
And for Michael, this was an excellent way to wrap up 1999 and begin the new century.
The big news on 4 January 2000 was:
MTV Asia celebrated the end of the 20th century in a grand way by selecting two thousand of the best music videos and choosing «Thriller» as the top music video. All these two thousand videos, whose number one was «Thriller», were shown on this network.
On 10 February 2000, it was reported that Michael had chosen “Firm” as his new management company.
The Firm, led by Jeff Yentins and Michael Green, while it had been operating for two years, was considered one of the most popular music management teams in the world.
John McClain, a longtime family ally and a former high-ranking executive member of EMI, remained on Michael Jackson’s management team.
On 10 May 2000, at the International Music Awards ceremony in Monaco, Michael was awarded the prize for “the best-selling artist of the century.” This award is unique because it is given solely based on the sales amount of music recordings.
And now this news has been officially confirmed. To date, no artist [whether female or male] has sold more music recordings than Michael Jackson, the King of Pop.
[WMA\'s \'00]
Michael, in the remarks he made when receiving this award, thanked Prince Albert of Monaco, and especially his fans, and promised the people of the world: “You haven’t seen anything yet!”