Long Live the King of Pop

An article by Jon Bream, writer for the Star Tribune

After his death, Michael Jackson was reborn. His tour is now number one in America.

We saw his funeral. We saw the film This Is It, released after his death. We saw his murder trial.

The King of Pop may be gone, but he lives close to you. “Michael Jackson: Immortal” has become the top-selling tour in America. It earns more than $1 million in a single night and has been more successful than Kanye West’s, Jay-Z’s, Bob Seger’s, and Brad Paisley’s tours. This tour is Michael Jackson’s tour—but without him—and its success means that Jackson is still popular three years after his death.*

Filmmaker and critic Nelson George, who has written two books about Jackson, says: “In some strange way, he came back to life after death.”

He is the highest-earning person among deceased artists. Last year he earned $170 million on his own, and Elvis came second with $55 million.

Since his death in 2009, the Michael Jackson Foundation has collected more than half a billion dollars. Including $60 million for the film This Is It and $250 million for a 10-project contract with Sony.

George says: “In the American cult of idols, Michael Jackson becomes Elvis’s successor in many different areas.”

For example, in Las Vegas he beat Presley—Read more—where the King of Rock ’n’ Roll had ruled for decades. Jackson hadn’t toured in the United States since 1988, and Immortal is, in a way, considered Michael Jackson’s tour.

Jackie Jackson, Michael’s older brother, says: “You can never replace someone like Michael on stage.” But he still believes his brother was always eager to work with Cirque du Soleil. The Jackson brothers on the Immortal tour—which uses Michael’s voice on stage—work with Cirque du Soleil.

Immortal, written and directed by Jamie King—Madonna’s longtime collaborator—uses, instead of a story, Michael’s dances, his jewel-studded gloves, various images of him, and even Bubbles, his chimpanzee.

Success across the ocean

The 1990s weren’t a good period for Michael, especially in the United States. He released successful songs like You Are Not Alone and Scream, but negative headlines and allegations of child abuse followed him.

At the same time, in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, South America, and Mexico, he put Dangerous and History tours on stage. But his only stop in the United States was Hawaii. Every ticket sold out to the very last piece.

Travis Payne, a dancer and choreographer who worked with Michael from 1992 to 2009 and also has a hand in the Immortal tour, says: “He’s truly a global idol. In every corner of the world, in a different way than others, he’s accepted and stands there—you can definitely feel it.”

After experiencing fame as a teenager with the Jackson 5 in the 1970s, Jackson began his solo career in the 1980s and reached its peak with the trailer—history’s best-selling album. At the time, the album sold 29 million copies in the United States on its own and won 7** Grammy Awards.

Joe Vogel, author of “Man in Music: The Creative Life and Career of Michael Jackson,” writes: “As he became more artistically mature, he found the opportunity to express his art through mass media... We don’t just hear the songs—we see them. He made music videos. He choreographed the dances. He created symbols. He offered his clothes. The connection between us and Michael Jackson takes shape through many different channels. People look at him through each of these channels. A multi-sensory relationship with him is in motion.”

The subject isn’t only the expensive music videos that drive fans wild. If Elvis got the world moving and the Beatles had us singing, Michael made us dance. He may have recorded dance tracks more than any other pop artist.

Emil Campbell, who previously performed as a Jackson look-alike in Las Vegas and has a 40-year background in singing Michael’s songs, still chooses his music to perform on stage.

“His music makes you want to dance.”

But Michael’s work wasn’t only that.

Vogel says: “His songs are both rich and diverse. He sings romantically, he protests, his songs include hymns as well as dance and church singing. He uses R&B, pop, and hip hop styles in his work. This isn’t just a pop archive where the subject of all his songs revolves only around love and relationships.”

In terms of rhythm and phonetics, his music is very original and creative. It reaches a wide range of audiences and has appeal for the general public.

Campbell says: “His music is clean and healthy; his songs don’t have corrupting or dirty themes. You don’t have to worry about people who are listening to his music in the same room as you. Even your grandmother can enjoy it next to you.”

But the biggest appeal of Michael was the feeling he inspired in people on stage.

Emilie Clifford, a 24-year-old fan who often wears Michael Jackson’s “Thriller and Bad” jackets, says: “He was the ultimate showman. He had the ability to be sexually appealing to both women and men—an appeal that was both innocent and addictive.”

He became everyone’s dream. The first pop star whose charisma took off beyond racial, gender, generational, and geographic borders.

The dark half fades away

Death erased the dark half of Jackson’s life—accusations, unfortunate events, failed marriages—and people focused on the question of why we truly appreciate him.

This Is It—the highest-grossing music documentary in history with $261 million—released four months after his death, played a key role in restoring his fame. After years of isolation, this documentary showed the world something that only a few people had seen before: Michael Jackson as a human being. His humanity and creativity were captured entirely through the camera lens. He taught dance to the dancers, shared his ideas with the tour director, and used his mouth and fingers to produce sounds to guide the music team in their work.

Travis Payne says: “He kept going until we understood it well. We always had to come up with better ideas—something different and surprising. He wanted the choreography to be so entertaining that the audience’s eyes wouldn’t wander. But at the same time, he said the moves had to be simple enough that people could stand in place and dance.”

The film describes the preparation for This Is It, the tour that was supposed to take place for 50 nights starting in July 2009 in London. That tour never happened, and for younger people who have never seen Jackson on stage, Immortal is the right opportunity.

Matt Webster, a 28-year-old fan, had planned three years ago to see Michael’s live performance in London.

“He was the coolest man in the world.”

Webster started dancing when he was 5 or 6 years old after watching a Jackson Bad album. He was ready to spend $800 to buy This Is It tickets on the black market.

“Now that you can’t have Michael, you can sit and watch the biggest live show celebrating him. Cirque du Soleil can handle that.”

The king against the king

According to Forbes figures, last year the ratio of the Michael Jackson Foundation’s income to Elvis’s was 3 to 1. The magazine ranked the highest-earning deceased artists like this:

1. Michael Jackson with $170 million2. Elvis Presley with $55 million3. John Lennon with $12 million4. Jimi Hendrix with $7 million5. George Harrison with $6 million

*The author lists the cause of death as an overdose of drugs (overdose). We know that Michael used propofol to treat his insomnia, and the drug was injected into him by Dr. Murray. Murray caused Michael’s death by injecting a large amount of this drug. He is currently serving his four-year prison sentence.

**Another award was also given to Michael for the audio book ET, bringing the total number of his awards in one night to 8. This record hasn’t been broken yet.

Source: eMJey.com / Star Tribune