We always like to see associates of MJ hang together
Click to see Chris Tucker & read a few pearls of wisdom
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From the category archives:
MJ Duet Partners
The great Stephen King wrote GHOSTS with Michael. MJ only worked with the best
Michael Jackson’s Ghosts is a short film starring Michael Jackson and directed by film director and special effects guru Stan Winston which could also be classified as a long-form music video. It was filmed and first screened in 1996 and released along with select prints of the film Stephen King’s THINNER. It was released a year later internationally on VHS.
The film tells the story of a scary Maestro with supernatural powers, who is being forced out of a small town by its mayor. The movie includes a series of dance routines performed by Michael Jackson and his “family” of ghouls. Every song from the film was taken from Michael Jackson’s HIStory and Blood on the Dance Floor albums. The film is also notable for an early film appearance of rapper Mos Def.
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In this May 8, 1997 photo below Michael Jackson sits next to Stan Winston before the screening of his latest music video “Ghost” at the Festival Palace in Cannes during the 50th International Cannes Film Festival. Hollywood special-effects maestro Stan Winston has died at age 62. The Oscar-winning visual effects artist died at his home Sunday, June 15, 2008, surrounded by family after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma, according to a representative from Stan Winston Studio.
Stanley Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008) was an American visual effects supervisor, make-up artist, and film director. He was best known for his work in the Terminator series, the Jurassic Park series, Aliens, the Predator series, Iron Man and Edward Scissorhands. He won four Academy Awards for his work.
Winston, a frequent collaborator with director James Cameron, owned more than one effects studio, including Stan Winston Digital. The established areas of expertise for Winston were in makeup, puppets and practical effects, but he had recently expanded his studio to encompass digital effects as well.
In 1996, Winston directed and co-produced the longest and the most expensive music video of all time, Ghosts, which was based on an original concept of Michael Jackson and Stephen King. The long-form music video presented a number of never before seen visual effects, and promoted music from two consecutive Jackson albums, HIStory and Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, which went on to become the biggest selling double-album and remix album of all time (20 million and 11 million).
Winston moved to Hollywood to pursue a career as an actor. Struggling to find an acting job, he began a makeup apprenticeship at Walt Disney Studios.
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Belle received his first break in the late 1980s. His sister Regina Belle, a Grammy Award winning background vocal singer with R&B group The Manhattans, recommended him to play guitar for the group.
Bernard Belle is notable for his partnership with producer Teddy Riley and his collaborations with Michael Jackson. He is credited with writing and co-writing Remember the Time, Privacy and Why You Wanna Trip On Me.
He began working with Teddy Riley in 1986. Together, they became the pioneers of the New Jack Swing era of music, paving the way for new and existing artists. He has written and produced for artists such as Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Patti LaBelle, Aaron Hall, Keith Sweat, Al B. Sure! and Today.
After dedicating his life to Christ in 1994, Belle remains one of the most sought after producer/musicians in the Gospel music industry while continuing to be an icon in the R&B sector. He plays for such artists as Donnie McClurkin, Shirley Caesar, Richard Smallwood, Marvin Sapp, Fred Hammond, Yolanda Adams, Tye Tribbett, Mary Mary, Kirk Franklin, Donald Lawrence, Smokie Norful, Hezekiah Walker and BeBe & CeCe Winans.
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Rockwell (born Kennedy William Gordy on March 15, 1964 in Detroit, Michigan) is a former R&B performer who was signed to the Motown label.
Rockwell is the son of Motown founder and CEO Berry Gordy and Margaret Norton. To avoid seeming nepotistic, Rockwell secured his record deal without his father’s knowledge. Motown came up with the name Rockwell.
In 1984, Rockwell released his biggest hit single, “Somebody’s Watching Me”, featuring childhood friends Michael Jackson on guest vocals (notably in the chorus lyrics), and Jermaine Jackson singing back-up.
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MODERN MUSIC HISTORY:
The term “new jack swing” describes the sound produced and engineered by producer Teddy Riley. Riley is an American R&B and hip hop singer-songwriter, musician and record producer.
He led the band Guy in the 1980s and Blackstreet in the 1990s. Riley said, “I define the term [new jack swing] as a new kid on the block who’s swinging it”.
Music website VH1.com notes that while in the 2000s, “hip-hop and R&B are kissing cousins”, in the early 1980s, “the two genres were seldom mentioned in the same breath.”
However, during the late 1980s, “during the era of high-top fades, and parachute pants, producer Teddy Riley and label boss Andre Harrell successfully fused and marketed the two sounds in a sexy, exclamatory music that critics termed new jack swing. It sparked a revolution.” Riley stated that before new jack swing, “Rappers and singers didn’t want anything to do with one another,” because “Singers were soft, rappers were street.” Riley’s new style blended “sweet melody and big beats”.
According to the 2004 New Rolling Stone Album Guide, when Michael Jackson recorded his album Dangerous in 1991, he wanted to “update” his sound, so he replaced his previous producer Quincy Jones with Teddy Riley.
This video shows the New Jack Swing Movement that Michael would later adapt in his music.
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In 1970, Giraldi became creative director of the advertising agency DellaFemina & Partners, and three years later formed his production company Giraldi Productions, which has to-date produced and directed close to 3000 commercials, music videos and short films.
Giraldi’s advertising campaigns include the Pepsi-Cola campaign with Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, memorable for an incident in which Jackson’s hair caught on fire in an accident involving pyrotechnics on the set, and commercials for the Miller Brewing Company commercials that featured such celebrities as Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Uecker, Billy Martin, John Madden, Bubba Smith, Tommy Heinsohn, Mickey Spillane, Dick Butkus and Joe Piscopo.
He was also responsible for commercials for the Broadway shows A Chorus Line, Evita, Dream Girls, Sophisticated Ladies, Sunset Boulevard, Phantom of the Opera and The Full Monty.
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In 2006, Garrett contributed her songwriting services to Bill Condon’s film adaptation of Dreamgirls, providing lyrics for two of the four new songs added to the score. One of her compositions, the Jennifer Hudson solo “Love You I Do”, earned Garrett a nomination for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song. At the 50th Grammy Awards Garrett along with Henry Krieger won the Grammy for Best Song-Motion Picture TV, Visual Media for “Love You I Do”.
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Abdul was born with in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, the daughter of Lorraine (née Rykiss), a concert pianist and Harry Abdul, a former livestock trader and owner of a sand and gravel business.
Her father, a Syrian Jew, was born in Syria, raised in Brazil, and subsequently emigrated to the United States; Abdul’s mother, also Jewish, is originally from Saint Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba, Canada, and Abdul derives Canadian citizenship through her.
An avid dancer, Abdul was inspired towards a show business career by Gene Kelly in the classic film Singin’ in the Rain as well as Debbie Allen, Fred Astaire, and Bob Fosse.
Abdul began taking dance lessons at the age of eight and showed a natural talent. She did classes of tap,jazz,and ballet while she was growing up. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was a cheerleader and an honor student. At 15, she received a scholarship to a dance camp near Palm Springs, and in 1978 appeared in a low-budget Independent musical film, Junior High School.
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REMOVE THAT SCARF! YOUR HANDSOME!
Awww…
