83 Minutes

Fan voting was employed in each country to determine the tracks on the album, ensuring each country had a different version on sale. ‘Billie Jean’ was the only song to appear on all versions of the album. In total, the album sold over 2 million copies but was, curiously, never released in the USA.
Curiously, in the contract AEG Live are referred to in the first line of the contract as ‘AEG Live, LLC dba Concerts West’. ‘dba’ can mean ‘doing business as’, so, in this instance, AEG Live LLC dba can work under any other name than its legal name.
This $15 million would be used as a down payment on the Sultan of Brunei’s property in Durango which was valued at $55 million and which Michael had set his sights on for some time. The lure of using this as a down payment was another tool Tohme Tohme used to persuade Jackson to sign the contract.
The Michael Jackson Company, LLC.
Agreement between AEG Live, LLC dba Concerts West and The Michael Jackson Company, LLC, 26 January 2009.
Randall Sullivan, ‘The Billion Dollar Shopping Spree That Killed Michael Jackson’, Daily Mail, 17 November 2012.
Bill Werde, ‘Michael Jackson May Play 25 London Shows’, Billboard, 5 March 2009.
Leonard Rowe, What Really Happened To Michael Jackson – The Evil Side of the Entertainment Industry (Linell-Diamond Enterprises, 2010).
Aka Randy Phillips.
Agreement between AEG Live, LLC dba Concerts West and The Michael Jackson Company, LLC, 26 January 2009.
Agreement between AEG Live, LLC dba Concerts West and The Michael Jackson Company, LLC, 26 January 2009.
Legally, facsimile or photocopied documents are not considered legal or binding, thereby meaning any documents signed in such a way are invalid and void.
Agreement between AEG Live, LLC dba Concerts West and The Michael Jackson Company, LLC, 26 January 2009.
Clause 13.1 Cancellation Insurance, agreement between AEG Live, LLC dba Concerts West and The Michael Jackson Company LLC, 26 January 2009.
Agreement between AEG Live, LLC dba Concerts West and The Michael Jackson Company, LLC, 26 January 2009.
Ian Halperin, Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson (Pocket Books, 2009).
Daphne Barak, ‘I Love My Babies And I Miss Them … When Michael Jackson Was Around They Froze’, Daily Mail, 28 June 2009.
A huge auction of Jackson memorabilia had been planned in Los Angeles in April 2009. The auctioneer, Darren Julien, had signed an agreement with Tohme Tohme and removed hundreds of items from Neverland for the sale, which it was hoped would fetch around $10 million. Despite Julien spending roughly $2 million preparing the sale and exhibit (which included Jackson’s red, gilded throne, sequined costumes and his Rolls-Royce stretch limo), Jackson’s production company filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles on 4 March demanding the return of specific items. (Reuters, ‘Michael Jackson Auction Cancelled’ by Jill Serjeant, 14 April 2009.) The lawsuit claimed the singer had never signed the auction contract. The Los Angeles Times tried to contact Tohme Tohme for a comment but he could not be reached. An agreement was apparently reached between Michael Jackson and Julien’s Auctions. (Los Angeles Times, ‘Michael Jackson Auction Cancelled’ by Yvonne Villarreal, 15 April 2009.)
Phillips later stated in an email to his boss, Tim Leiweke, that Jackson ‘… is an emotionally paralysed mess riddled with self-loathing and doubt now that it is show time.’
Alan Duke, ‘‘Miracle’ of Michael Jackson’s Concert Announcement Described’, CNN, 13 June 2013
Official court transcript: Jackson v. AEG: deposition of Randy Phillips.
Alan Duke, ‘Promoter: I Slapped “Despondent” Michael Jackson’, CNN, 10 June 2013.
A story appeared in the Plymouth Herald on 29 May 2015 under the headline, ‘Famous 1999 Michael Jackson Concert Was “Performed By A Lookalike” in Stunt Orchestrated by Plymouth Man’. In the article, professional dancer Anthony King from Plymouth, claimed that the whole concert was a stunt arranged by one-time Jackson bodyguard, Matt Fiddes. King claimed that his brother played Michael Jackson on that day. ‘We, my brother and the team went down to Devon and we performed the show. Now, nobody said that Michael Jackson was performing. What happened was that we turned up to the theatre in a very extravagant way,’ said King. He continued, ‘The next day the media went crazy, Michael Jackson had performed in Devon. I thought it was fun, I thought my brother looked amazing … The dancers, Frazier, Solomon, Ron and myself. I thought that it was okay but I did not think that it would convince people but it obviously did and the word really did get out across the whole world and even when Michael Jackson’s record company put out a statement saying that it wasn’t Michael Jackson, people STILL didn’t believe it.’
Mark Lester, now an osteopath in Gloucester, was eight years old when he starred in the Oscar-winning film Oliver! in 1968. Receiving £180,000 for the film from a trust fund that matured when he was 18, Lester squandered the money on cars and cocaine. Retiring from acting aged 22, Jackson contacted Lester in 1980 who had loved his performance as Oliver. They formed a close and bizarre friendship, which resulted in Lester donating sperm at a Harley Street clinic in 1996 at the request of Jackson. One year later, Prince Michael was born. Lester also suggests that Paris bears a striking resemblance to his own daughter, Olivia. (Alison Boshoff, ‘Is My Ex-Husband Mark Lester the Father of Jacko’s Children? No, He’s Completely Nuts’, Daily Mail, 16 August 2009.)
Randall Sullivan, Untouchable: The Strange Life & Tragic Death of Michael Jackson (Grove/Atlantic, 2012).
Randall Sullivan, Untouchable: The Strange Life & Tragic Death of Michael Jackson (Grove/Atlantic, 2012).
Jackson never went on record as disliking Prince, but the two were considerable rivals in the 1980s. Prince wrote a lyric for his 2004 album Musicology that went, ‘My voice is getting higher/And I ain’t never had my nose done/That’s the other guy’.
Randall Sullivan, Untouchable: The Strange Life & Tragic Death of Michael Jackson (Grove/Atlantic, 2012).
Jeff Gottlieb, ‘Michael Jackson Could Have Earned $1.5 Billion, Accountant Says’, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2013. In this same article, it reports that Erk’s projections were that ‘… the often-extravagant Jackson would have probably spent $134 million in the [15] years leading up to his sixty-fifth birthday.’
United States District Court Southern District of New York: AllGood Entertainment Inc. et al. v. Jackson et al., No 1:2009cv05377 – Document 86, signed Judge Harold Baer, 19 August 2010.)
Interview with Patrick Allocco conducted by MJJCommunity, 5 December 2009, www.mjjcommunity.com.
Randall Sullivan, Untouchable: The Strange Life & Tragic Death of Michael Jackson (Grove/Atlantic, 2012).
There was considerable confusion towards the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, as to who Michael Jackson’s manager actually was. In Remember The Time by Bill Whitfield, Javon Beard and Tanner Colby, they refer to the confusion: ‘By the end of March [2009], Tohme Tohme, Frank Dileo and Leonard Rowe were all moving independently about Los Angeles, each claiming to be Michael Jackson’s manager. Underlining the confusion, on April 2nd [2009], an industry news site published an article entitled, “Will Michael Jackson’s Real Manager Please Stand Up?”’
In the 2010 court case relating to the AllGood Entertainment Inc. agreement it was recorded that, ‘Dileo Defendants dispute the characterization of Frank Dileo’s relationship with Lamicka, and contend that they were never business partners or associated in any relevant way.’ (United States District Court Southern District of New York: AllGood Entertainment Inc. et al. v. Jackson et al., No 1:2009cv05377 – Document 86, signed Judge Harold Baer, 19 August 2010.)
The agreement was signed by Allocco, Dileo and other associates of the two men: Terry Harvey, Mark Lamicka, Ladd Biro and James McGale. (United States District Court Southern District of New York: AllGood Entertainment Inc. et al. v. Jackson et al., No 1:2009cv05377 – Document 86, signed Judge Harold Baer, 19 August 2010.)
Daily Mail, ‘Michael Jackson’s Comeback Gigs in London Could Face Legal Challenge’, 12 May 2009.
Interview with Patrick Allocco conducted by MJJCommunity, 5 December 2009, www.mjjcommunity.com.
Natalie Finn, ‘Michael Kills Jackson 5 Reunion Rumour’, Eonline.com News, 30 October 2008, www.eonline.com.
Interview with Patrick Allocco conducted by MJJCommunity, 5 December 2009, www.mjjcommunity.com.
Randall Sullivan, Untouchable: The Strange Life & Tragic Death of Michael Jackson (Grove/Atlantic, 2012).
Randall Sullivan, Untouchable: The Strange Life & Tragic Death of Michael Jackson (Grove/Atlantic, 2012).
Roger Friedman, ‘Joe Jackson’s Partner: Jail Sentences and Lawsuits on Resume’, Roger Friedman’s Showbiz411.com, 22 July 2009, www.showbiz411.com.
BBC News, ‘Singer R. Kelly Seeks Unpaid Fees’, 7 October 2008.
Leonard Rowe, What Really Happened To Michael Jackson – The Evil Side of the Entertainment Industry (Linell-Diamond Enterprises, 2010).
Leonard Rowe, What Really Happened To Michael Jackson – The Evil Side of the Entertainment Industry (Linell-Diamond Enterprises, 2010).
Leonard Rowe, What Really Happened To Michael Jackson – The Evil Side of the Entertainment Industry (Linell-Diamond Enterprises, 2010).
Leonard Rowe, What Really Happened To Michael Jackson – The Evil Side of the Entertainment Industry (Linell-Diamond Enterprises, 2010).
Leonard Rowe, What Really Happened To Michael Jackson – The Evil Side of the Entertainment Industry (Linell-Diamond Enterprises, 2010).
Leonard Rowe, What Really Happened To Michael Jackson – The Evil Side of the Entertainment Industry (Linell-Diamond Enterprises, 2010).
Interview with Patrick Allocco conducted by MJJCommunity, 5 December 2009, www.mjjcommunity.com.
Randall Sullivan, Untouchable: The Strange Life & Tragic death of Michael Jackson (Grove/Atlantic, 2012).
Interview with Patrick Allocco conducted by MJJCommunity, 5 December 2009, www.mjjcommunity.com.
Interview with Patrick Allocco conducted by MUZIKfactorytwo in 2010, 24 May 2011, http://muzikfactorytwo.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/interview-with-patrick-allocco.html
By this point, Jackson had already signed the document with AEG Live.
The plan was for a one-off concert on 3 July 2010 at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas. (Alex Dobuzinskis, ‘Michael Jackson Concerts May Face Legal Challenge’, Reuters, 11 May 2009.)
Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard with Tanner Colby, Remember The Time (Scribe, 2014).
Remember The Time.
Leonard Rowe, What Really Happened To Michael Jackson – The Evil Side of the Entertainment Industry (Linell-Diamond Enterprises, 2010).
Leonard Rowe, What Really Happened To Michael Jackson – The Evil Side of the Entertainment Industry (Linell-Diamond Enterprises, 2010).
Randall Sullivan, Untouchable: The Strange Life & Tragic Death of Michael Jackson (Grove/Atlantic, 2012).
CNN, ‘Larry King Live’: interview between Larry King, Joe Jackson & Leonard Rowe, 20 July 2009.
Randall Sullivan, Untouchable: The Strange Life & Tragic Death of Michael Jackson (Grove/Atlantic, 2012).
Official press release issued by Champion Management, www.MUZIKfactory2.com
Remember The Time.
25 March 2009.
Leonard Rowe, What Really Happened To Michael Jackson – The Evil Side of the Entertainment Industry (Linell-Diamond Enterprises, 2010).
Remember The Time.
Remember The Time.
Remember The Time.
BBC News, ‘Jackson Sued Over Reunion Concert’, 11 June 2009.
In the book, Remember The Time, co-author Bill Whitfield writes, ‘Even after Tohme Tohme was fired, he was still going around, claiming to be Michael Jackson’s manager. Somehow this Frank Dileo character had leveraged his way in and gotten himself hired by AEG in some capacity, and now he was claiming to represent Mr. Jackson too. It was chaos. Total confusion. These people were all out signing deals, saying they were Michael Jackson’s manager. And because Mr. Jackson would sign whatever was put in front of him, there were all these conflicting contracts and letters of agreement going around, and everyone was threatening to sue everybody else for violating this deal or that deal.’
Official medical records from Brotman Medical Center, 27 January 1984.
Andrew Zajac, ‘Painkillers Darvon, Darvocet Withdrawn at FDA Request’, Los Angeles Times, 20 November 2010.
The medical records state that Jackson is single, a Jehovah’s Witness and a vegetarian. They also state he was known to be a well-developed, well-nourished male with no allergies.
Percocet is a narcotic pain medication that is also habit-forming and should never be given to anyone with a history of drug addiction.
Jackson had known Dr Klein since 1983 when David Geffen introduced the two of them to each other. Dr Klein immediately noticed a ‘butterfly rash’ on Jackson’s face and crusting of the scalp, and diagnosed Lupus.
Mark Seal, ‘The Doctor Will Sue You Now’, Vanity Fair, March 2012.
Mark Seal, ‘The Doctor Will Sue You Now’, Vanity Fair, March 2012.
Susan Donaldson James, ‘Friend Says Michael Jackson Battled Demerol Addiction’ ABC News, 26 June 2009.
Mark Seal, ‘The Doctor Will Sue You Now’, Vanity Fair, March 2012.
On 11 April 2014, ABC News reported that Marc Shaffel and Debbie Rowe, the mother of Michael Jackson’s two oldest children, were engaged and set to marry.
Susan Donaldson James, ‘Friend Says Michael Jackson Battled Demerol Addiction’ ABC News, 26 June 2009.
Jeff Gottlieb and Matt Hamilton, ‘Debbie Rowe: Michael Jackson Used Propofol to Sleep in the 1990s’, Los Angeles Times, 15 August 2013.
In his book My Friend Michael, author Frank Cascio recalls that the journey to the hospital wasn’t in an ambulance but instead in the black van they’d arrived at the stadium in. Despite having a German driver, Cascio recalls how they kept getting lost on the way to the hospital and it took them 45 minutes to find a clinic.
Frank Cascio, My Friend Michael, (HarperCollins, 2011).
Frank Cascio, My Friend Michael, (HarperCollins, 2011).
Debbie Rowe testified this to the Jackson trial on 13 August 2013.
Ann Pride, ‘New Book Reveals Prankster Michael Jackson’s Playful Side and Love of Nerdy Women’, Daily Mail, 20 November 2011.
Frank Cascio, My Friend Michael, (HarperCollins, 2011).
Debbie Rowe, Jackson’s second wife, was also an employee of Dr Klein.
Alan Duke, ‘Michael Jackson’s Drug Use Explored In Trial’, CNN, 26 July 2013.
Dr Klein recalled, in an interview with Harvey Levin of TMZ, going to Jackson’s house and finding Dilaudid he had got from his other plastic surgeon. Dilaudid is 10 times stronger than Morphine and Klein flushed it down the toilet. (Interview with Dr Arnold Klein by Harvey Levin of TMZ on 5 November 2009.)
Dr Klein had professed that he had twice intervened to get Jackson off his drug addiction. (Interview with Dr Arnold Klein by Harvey Levin of TMZ on 5 November 2009.)
Tylenol is a pain reliever and fever reducer used to treat many conditions such as headache, muscle aches, arthritis, colds and fevers.
In Dr Metzger’s entry regarding this call, he notes the name Omar Arnold into his log as well as Michael Jackson. They discuss Jackson (or Arnold) taking Tylenol for sleep but, during the trial, Metzger said he couldn’t recall if Jackson had phoned to ask for a prescription.
Official court records, Katherine Jackson v. AEG, testimony of Dr Allan Metzger.
The usual dosage of Demerol in adults is 50mg to 150mg for relief of pain.
Traces of Prednisone were found in Jackson’s autopsy and a bottle of the pills, prescribed by Klein on 25 April, were found amongst Jackson’s belongings.
Alan Duke, ‘Nurse Details Michael Jackson’s Fatal Search for Sleep’, CNN, 29 August 2013.