Janet Jackson on Tupac
‘Pac was just silly,’ Jackson says of the late rapper, who was shot dead in Las Vegas three years after the film’s release. ‘He was completely different from what people knew.
‘Not that it was an act, the person that the world knew, because that was him, too. I adored him; he liked to play and laugh.
‘I remember when he said he was going back into LA to get a tattoo. And, I said, “Why are you going to LA? We’re not supposed to leave, we have to shoot tomorrow.”
‘He looked at me and said, “Square!’ she says, laughing. ‘When he came back he showed me the tattoo he got on his stomach. He was sweet. Granted, there was another side, but he wouldn’t just snap or go crazy out of nowhere.
There had to be something that triggered that. I miss him,’ she says softly.
Janet Jackson on Gaga
She met Lady Gaga recently backstage at one of the flamboyant star’s concerts.
‘We had a good conversation,’ Jackson says. ‘She asked a lot of questions and I felt she really listened to what I had to say. I love how she puts melody in music and I think that has been lost in a lot of music.
It’s a little reminiscent of Grace Jones, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s a little left and over the top, but still good and fun. It’s exciting to see what she is going to do next.’
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I believe this is Stephen Davis Rock Author & MJ Ghostwriter
In 1987, Stephen Davis — the noted rock and roll biographer, and author of arguably the most notorious non-fiction rock tome of all time, the Led Zeppelin screamer Hammer of the Gods — was living with his family in Malibu and working on a book about Fleetwood Mac when his agent called and offered him a plum gig: ghostwriting Michael Jackson’s autobiography. That book, Moon Walk, became a #1 NY Times Bestseller, and broke the news of Michael’s accusations that he’d been abused by his father.
Earlier this evening, about 45 minutes after the networks confirmed Jackson’s death from a heart attack, we phoned Davis at his home in Milton, MA, as he watched his subject’s demise unfold on CNN. We talked about the odd circumstances surrounding the book, his memories of what Jackson was like at the time, and how Michael saved Davis’s seven year old daughter from the clutches of Bubbles the monkey.
How surprised were you at Michael’s death?
Oh, totally shocked. I was going to go to London and go to one of those shows. And I figured as his biographer — as his autobiographer — it would be a cool thing to do. I mean, I thought maybe I’d do my own book someday. I’ve just been trying to figure out if my confidentiality agreement with him from 1987 is still in force. I guess I’ll have to get legal advice.
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We found this article on nymag.com – Dated July 2008
Michael Jackson, who asked Ne-Yo to write songs for his comeback album. “Yeah, Michael’s putting together a new album, and I’m helping him out with it,” he confirmed. According to Ne-Yo, Jackson himself called to get him onboard. “I actually hung up on him because I thought someone was playin’,” he said. “‘Who’s this?’ [high voice] ‘This is Michael Jackson.’ Click. Then his representative called back. ‘This is Peter Lopez. I have Michael Jackson on the phone.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God. Are you serious?’ And then I apologized for the next ten minutes. Any comedian who has ever made fun of Michael Jackson was right on. Sad but true. He does have a very high, not very manly voice.”
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Age 42 - 50 2000-2009,
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NE-YO
ESSENCE.COM: You lived every 80s baby’s dream—to work with Michael Jackson. How did you end up in that famous 1983 Pepsi commercial?
RIBEIRO: It was like a dream come true for a young performer. As a 12-year-old kid, I was a huge fan of Michael. Michael’s choreographer was directing a commercial I was in and saw me playing around on the set doing the dance and they gave me that opportunity. I met Michael in rehearsal. It was really cool to work with him. My dad and I hung out with him many times after that, but that was the first time I met him.
ESSENCE.COM: Wow! Handpicked to dance with Michael Jackson…
RIBEIRO: I’m certainly not a professional. I’m one of those people who, if I look at someone doing it, I can mimic it really well, which is what I did with Michael. I actually couldn’t do “Dancing with the Stars” because they said I have so much experience, which I really don’t because I never trained professionally. It’s just very interesting to me that I’m almost known for being a dancer and I was never a real dancer.
To read the full interview in Essence Click Here
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1984,
Alfonso Ribeiro,
Dance,
Interviews,
Mag: Essence Magazine,
Pepsi
An MTV REPORT:
Akon and Quincy Jones love to crack jokes on each other. On the set of the video for the remake of “Strawberry Letter 23,” Kon started the jesting by claiming he’d introduced Jones to a plethora of pretty women.
“You know that’s not true,” the legendary producer said, prompting a chuckle from Akon. Then, when Kon called the legendary producer “Uncle Q,” Jones insisted that the two men were the same age.
Akon is one of many stars to have contributed to the LP Q: Soul Bossa Nostra, which is due sometime this spring or summer. The collection of performers and producers will deliver renditions of some of Jones’ greatest hits.
“Timbaland brought the idea,” Jones told MTV News of the project. “Three or four years ago, we talked about [it]. Then he said everybody should be involved in this. And one by one, in various ways, it started to be what God wanted it to be. I ran into this brother [Akon] and he picked the song I wanted him to do anyway.”
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A thedailybeast.com interview…
Ron Galella, patron saint of paparazzi, released a new book of Michael Jackson photos. He spoke to The Daily Beast about stalking Jackie O. and Marlon Brando. Plus, rare images of Jackson.
After his death, the world was blanketed with images of Michael Jackson: wide-eyed and wide-lapelled in the Jackson 5; cocksure under the brim of a white fedora in “Smooth Criminal;” hollow in a bejeweled jacket and aviator sunglasses during his final press conference. The pictures were on T-shirts, on mugs, and most people, frankly, got sick of them.
But into this saturated marketplace comes fresh images of Jackson: Ron Galella’s rarely seen paparazzi photographs of the star in his salad days. In Man in the Mirror, Galella has captured the singer at his most candid: dripping after a swim while a young Janet towels him down; laughing with Muhammed Ali; gently kissing Brooke Shields inside a limo. They’re a dramatic departure from the over-saturated pictures with which we’ve become so familiar—but are especially surprising for another reason: Ron Galella and Michael Jackson met exactly once. After Jackson nabbed eight Grammys in 1984, he emerged from the Shrine Auditorium with Shields—where Galella was waiting. The photographer trailed the pair to parties that night, and eventually Shields introduced the men. “That was the only time I shook his hand,” Galella says. “He was very nice to me.”
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REMOVE THAT SCARF! YOUR HANDSOME!
Awww…
