New songs Michael Jackson recorded before he died set to be massive hits

By Sean Hamilton 28/06/2009
michael jackson

Michael recorded five new songs while rehearsing for his O2 gigs - now they are tipped to become the top-selling records of all time.

A record company source revealed he had thrown himself into writing and recording new material in his final months, visiting a studio in Los Angeles between rehearsals for his upcoming series of 50 gigs in London, hoping to get a new album ready for release.

"Between rehearsals, when he was feeling well enough, Michael was spending time working on a new album," a close associate said. "He laid down some brand new tracks. Talks are already in the works about re-mixing them in a way so they can be released."

The tracks, many of which were at an "advanced stage" of production, have now been played to record company executives. The source said: "A lot of the material is good enough to release as it is. Those who've heard it say it is the best stuff Michael has ever done."

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Sony is said to be keen to release at least one track within weeks. The source said: "There is a plan to get his brothers and sisters, including Janet, La Toya and Jermaine, involved to finish off the other fragments.

"If other people wanted to come forward and get involved they would be considered."

Other singers - including Justin Timberlake and Will.I.Am from Black Eyed Peas, who has worked closely with Michael - might also be invited to complete the songs as a tribute.

Once completed, the album would be the first new material from Michael since his Invincible album was released in 2001. Fans all over the world would send any new release straight to No1 around the globe and it could easily become the biggest-selling album of the century.

Quelle: New songs Michael Jackson recorded before he died set to be massive hits - mirror.co.uk



yeah i know the mirror , anyway perhaps its nice for us fans

will.i.am and michael worked on a 'secret album


http://entertainment.uk.m...>1=61501

Copycat said:

Oh lordy! I am going to be busy tomorrow.

Arnotts said:

Jackson Jackson, ain't that how Jackie got his name?

Jackson Had Long History of Confirmed Health Problems
June 30
Link

In 1984, Jackson was burned while singing for a Pepsi-Cola commercial in Los Angeles, when a special-effects smoke bomb misfired. He had to have major surgery on his scalp and said that because of the intense pain, he developed an addiction to painkillers.

He also was reported to have a form of lupus in the 1980s, but it was later said to have gone into remission.

Jackson also had had numerous plastic surgeries, including rhinoplasty and a chin implant.

In 1993, Jackson's dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, released a statement saying that Jackson had a skin disease called vitiligo. The condition causes a person to lose melanin, the pigment that determines the color of skin, hair and eyes, in patches or all over the body. Vitiligo affects 1 million to 2 million people in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health, and no one knows what causes it. Learn about the difference between heart attack and stroke

He was also hospitalized with chest pains in 1990 and postponed a concert because of dehydration in August 1993. A concert tour was cut short in November 1993 because of an addiction to prescription painkillers amid allegations of child molestation.

During a rehearsal at the Beacon Theater in New York in December 1995, the entertainer collapsed onstage from apparent dehydration and low blood pressure and was hospitalized.


In June 2005, Jackson went to a hospital for treatment of what his spokeswoman said was recurring back pain. He had complained of back problems before.

Rumors circulated in December that Jackson was ill and in need of a lung transplant because of Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a rare genetic condition.

More rumors emerged in May that Jackson had skin cancer. But Randy Phillips, president and CEO of AEG Live, told CNN at the time, "He's as healthy as he can be -- no health problems whatsoever."

Jackson apparently collapsed in his home in Los Angeles on Thursday and was taken by ambulance to UCLA Medical Center. Watch CNN's Sanjay Gupta talk with Anderson Cooper about Jackson's death »

Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman told CNN on Thursday that Jackson's use of medications had gotten in the way of doing rehearsals.

"His injuries, which he had sustained performing, where he had broken a vertebra and he had broken his leg from a fall on the stage, were getting in the way. I do not know the extent of the medications that he was taking," he said.


Cardiac arrest, distinct from heart attack, affects about 300,000 Americans every year, Dr. Clyde Yancy of the American Heart Association told CNN. Without immediate efforts to resuscitate a person, the survival rate is usually 5 percent to 15 percent, he said.

If resuscitation takes longer than three to five minutes, a person could experience profound impairments, particularly neurologically, he said. Beyond five minutes, the likelihood of success falls quickly, especially in older people. Younger people can tolerate cardiac arrest somewhat better, he said.

Janet's website has been updated. It includes a simple photograph of Michael and Janet's speech (in text) from the BET Awards.

I don't mean to be mean, but Miko Brando can go somewhere already. He's been less than insightful on Larry King, yet there he sits night after night. He hasn't seen this, don't know that, hasn't heard this either...Not helpful at all.

And this dangerous drug found in his home, per TMZ...if this is true, it would corroborate the nurse that has been all over CNN today. It also makes me wonder about his "personal doctor". I mean, he reportedly asked the nurse to stay with him and supervise him on this drug so he can get some sleep. That would explain why the doctor stayed nights....I don't know. I don't want to cast blame just yet, but something about that doctor doesn't feel right.

I noticed that some of the people that sound the most insightful and speak with wisdom seem to be on periphery, while those who had the inside track during his last days all say "he looked great!!!" "I knew nothing about a drug addiction!!" "he was so healthy!!" etc. He must have kept the truth tellers at bay.

I like seeing all this old footage of MJ, I must say. What was the media fixated on before this? Jon & Kate? I just hope the family can get organized and plan a fitting memorial for him.

Who's a sexy M.F???

bboy87 said:

no no Bboy .. Michael might have been under extreme stress these past years not recovering from the trial etc, and maybe he did take medicine in the past I just don't believe it was his time. The doctor did not act with a sense of urgency ! 30 minutes to get find a phone- no address ! if your patient the night before says he doesn't feel well then one should monitor him, and have a phone ready to go in case the patient gets worse.It was a very bad mistake in the turn of events.

TheBlackCat said:[quote]Who's a sexy M.F???

EmeraldSkies said:

I ordered the USA tribute issue online as I didn't see it at the local newsstand. I bought the Time Commemorative Edition on Mon.

VoicesCarry said:

Here it is:

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

Terry George has told this story on TV at least two times.

Watch "When Louis Met Michael" 2003, BBC2

and "Michael Jackson's Boys" 2005, Channel 4

He is very supportive of Michael, but did confirm the story was true after a former friend of his leaked it to the tabloids.

utopia7 said:

You're right... but I do feel.....



utopia, I don't know what to feel...
[Edited 6/30/09 23:32pm]

Copycat said:

I have to ask, cause its the same footage Larry King was showing, is that really Sheryl Crow in the background on the guitar? I know she toured with him but that doesn't look like her.

motownlover said:

i'm sitting here waiting for this link to open, so i'll just ask... is this the "secret album" we've been talking about on the org for like 3 years now? and the one that Michael and Will.I.Am were playing tracks from on Entertainment Tonight a few years ago?

because that's a terribly kept "secret".


update: link wouldn't open. found the story on contactmusic.com, though. sounds like Will.I.Am is trying to hype up the public to get this stuff released. I seem to remember him being a little miffed when asked about it awhile back, like he was pissed that it was never coming out.

also, what's with his quote ""It was going to be out of this world. It's something Michael has never done before - a dance music album. I was very proud of it."


what fucking planet is Will.I.Am on?

lazycrockett said:

nah, Sheryl was a background singer for him. isn't that Lita Ford?

errant said:

See neither me or my friend who was watching it thought that was Sheryl, but she was on the phone talking bout it like she also was viewing it.

lazycrockett said:

The guitarist is Jennifer Batten

No Wonder Joe Jackson Keeps Pushing His New Record Label So Hard
because according to the Wall Street Journal Michael's will, which was signed in 2002, didn't leave Joe shit. Everything goes to his mom and the kids.

JackieBlue said:

I was thinking perhaps various stadiums around the country would set up jumbo trons to show the public service this upcoming Friday.

Chic35 said:

Well then maybe MJ wasn't as detached from reality as most think. I wouldn't have left that self promoting snake a hole in the ground. Now its in Debbie's corner. Cause whoever gets those kids, gets the potential fortune.

Despite lazycrocketts sig

http://edition.cnn.com/20...index.html

(CNN) -- Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the Orthodox Jewish rabbi who is known for his secular outreach and TLC show "Shalom in the Home," was friends with Michael Jackson for several years.


Rabbi Shmuley Boteach worked with Michael Jackson on the "Heal the Kids" charitable initiative.

The two worked together on the "Heal the Kids" charitable initiative and stayed in touch until the middle of the decade, when they drifted apart, Boteach has said.

He talked with CNN's Campbell Brown about his impressions of the late entertainer, including his abilities as a father and Boteach's concerns about his emotional state. The following is an edited version of that interview.

Campbell Brown: Rabbi Shmuley, welcome to you.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, family and relationship counselor: Nice to see you, Campbell. Nice to be with you on the set. Thank you for having me.

Brown: Thank you for being here. I want to ask, you were so concerned by what you saw of Michael Jackson's drug use that all the way back in 2004, you told CNN you thought he'd die young.

I mean, what did you see that made you feel that way?

Boteach: Well, there was no one around to stop him. ... People ... are not going to interfere with what Michael was trying to do. And what he was trying to do was curb pain.

Michael always thought that he had ailments of the body. He always had a neck that hurt, a foot that was twisted. Really, he had an affliction of his soul. He was extremely lonely, he was extremely unhappy. He felt purposeless, he felt lethargic. And the way he dealt with that pain -- and he was especially afraid of evasion, of that perhaps his best years are behind him.

And instead of reinventing himself and entering a new phase, he decided to medicate away his pain. And no human body was going to -- would be able to sustain that kind of assault. This was inevitable, it was shocking, it's tragic. But it could have easily been averted.

Brown: You -- we've heard people talk about his use of Demerol, of OxyContin.

Did you talk to him about his drug use? Did you ever tell him you were worried?

Boteach: Are you kidding me?

Here's an example. You know, we went to give a lecture together at Oxford University. One of the main remedies I had for Michael's existence was to get serious. I said very few people in the history of the world, Michael, have achieved your level of notoriety. Do you realize what you could consecrate that to?

So, we gave a lecture together at Oxford University on a children's bill of rights. And Michael brings -- Michael -- he goes into these rooms with doctors, comes out light-headed, very woozy and it was always before a performance.

Michael -- you know, we think that he wasn't afraid of crowds but as I said, I think because he gave the public a key to his own self esteem, because he substituted love for attention, he was. This was always an issue before he went in front of crowds.

And I would say to him, "This is poison. This is killing you. You need to be razor sharp, Michael." And he knew that it was bad for him. But the next night we had dinner together and he stood up during dinner and I said, "Why don't you sit down." He said, "Because I took your advice. My back hurts but I'm not medicating it."

Brown: So, that's amazing to me. That he would get high and then he would be medicated before he would perform, essentially, in front of a crowd. Was he under the influence of drugs around his kids, also?

Boteach: Well, let me make something absolutely clear: I never saw Michael before a concert. I never saw him in a concert.

I'm speaking specifically as the years went on, I think Michael lived with a profound fear of rejection. And Michael told me once -- and this is a heartbreaking conversation between us -- "Shmuley, I promise I'm not lying to you," he said. "I'm not lying to you." He said that twice. "But everything I've done in pursuing fame, in honing my craft" to quote his words, "was an effort to be loved because I never felt loved." And he used to say that to me all the time.

And you can imagine if you're trying to get love from the crowd and you're not sure how they're going to react to you because time is going on, they [call you] "wacko-jacko," -- you've become a tabloid caricature. You live in phenomenal fear. And I think that a lot of this -- the prescription drugs -- was used to address and alleviate the anxiety. And it was just tragic to watch.

And a lot of questions need to be asked about who facilitated this. Because there are three kids who are orphaned right now and we need to know why this happened.

Brown: Did he separate that part of his life from his children? Were they aware of what was going on with him?

Boteach: Look, I am not someone who whitewashes Michael's sins. Michael was not a saint. He had great virtue and there was a part of him that unfortunately grew corrupt over time.

So, I have no agenda in saying this -- Michael was an extremely responsible father. I know there was that outrageous incident of the baby dangling from that patio but that actually was so out of character because if anything, he was overprotective of his children.

So, he was a very responsible father. He did not travel anywhere without the kids. The kids adored him, he adored them. In fact, in the last years of his life, that was probably the only inspiration he still received. He lived for these children and that's why I'm so concerned about their welfare because there's no mother in their life and now there's no father either.

Brown: You talk about the people around him and that that needs to be followed up on. Who were the good guys? I mean, was his family trying to get him help? I mean, obviously you talked to him but what could have been done?

Boteach: Well, let's be honest. If we in America want to have an honest conversation about Michael Jackson -- who the good guys are.

Look, Michael brought out some of the worst qualities in all of us -- in the media, in good people.

Very few people are around that level of attention. And to be around it ... [it]made you feel special. And you could see a lot of good people who started with Michael and little by little the corruption just grew. So even people who were good guys didn't necessarily remain that way.

If you look at the media circus, we're not even mourning the death of man anymore. We're just sort of thinking about an icon. So all of us are conflicted in this if you want to be honest about it.

So, but the good guys? I tried to be one of the good guys. Being a good guy meant if you had to risk your relationship with Michael, that you had to put your relationship on the line -- you had to look him in the eye and say, "Michael, you are killing yourself," or "Michael, you have -- there's no normality in your life," or "Michael, you have lost spiritual anchor."

I mean, Campbell, Michael was a very spiritual, religious man. He was not only a Jehovah's Witness, he was a missionary. ... He used to knock on people's doors selling wash towels. Then suddenly he fell out with the church. So you had this mega attention and nothing to balance and nothing to correct it. Little by little he became more egotistical.

Brown: So what did he say -- when you confronted him, when you said these things to him, how did he react to you?

Boteach: Well, for a year he listened to me and used to tell me how much he loved me and cared about me and we were very close.

I mean, I cannot begin to describe the degree of friendship that existed between us. I tried to be a Rabbi to him. But after a year -- and I believed there was a lot of progress in that year. You know, Michael came with me to synagogue. He was never going to become Jewish but he needed some sort of spiritual base. He used to come for regular Sabbath dinners at our home.

But after a year he really began to see me almost as a nuisance. I would speak to him and I could see a complete different in body posture. He would begin to cringe. He would almost curl up, evolve into an embryonic position. He was unaccustomed to hearing any kind of criticism.

And -- but then he would get his managers to sort of try to stop me and it came to a head one day in his hotel room. We went to give out books to parents of low-income families in Newark, New Jersey.

And on the way back I could see Michael was angry at me, although he never had a temper so he wouldn't show it, but he was withdrawn. So, I said, "What's wrong?" So, his manager says to me, in front of him, "Shmuley, you want to make Michael accessible and normal. Don't you understand he's famous because he's not normal. And then I understood the full tragedy of his existence. Michael was terrified that the moment he became average that the public would forget him.

And that was the end of our relationship. I knew I could not help him and I -- there was no choice but to sever the relationship.

But at that stage -- you asked who the good guys are -- you have a choice. You can either hang on as a hang-along, or you can move on. Because the orbit of a superstar is just too great to be in there partially. It's an all or nothing sum game.

Brown: Rabbi Shmuley, I mean, there have been so many rumors with regard to this story. What's the one thing that you've heard that you want to clear up about Michael Jackson? What should the public know?

Boteach: More than anything else, I want people to understand as they read all of these very unfortunate stories about Michael. And let's face it, Michael may have -- I don't know -- but may have been guilty of very serious, serious crimes.

I want people to understand that even if it were true and I have no idea if it is or it isn't, that this was a tortured, tortured soul, who from the earliest age did not know love because he felt that he had to perform to earn love. He lived in permanent insecurity. He was one of the most tortured souls I ever came across.

After all the fame and fortune there was a part of him that we almost could not reach and I would hope that the public, in judging and assessing Michael Jackson, would do so ... knowing that that child star suffered these terrible, terrible things.

That's why all you parents out there, when you're sitting with your kids and they show you their report card and it's not an A, please don't say to them immediately, you could have done better. That's what happened with Michael. And so he always had to perform and that's what ultimately killed him.

Campbell, honestly, when they announced these concerts I thought the end was near. He was in no state to do 50-odd concerts. Not a psychological state, emotional state. Michael was burned out. He was just going to get more medication to deal with his inability to live up to his former glory of self and the outcome was going to have to be tragic.

Brown: I do want to ask you, you talk about the accusations against him, criminal accusations. Did he ever talk to you about that?

Boteach: Absolutely. He said that they were absolutely not true. He promised me that he would never be alone with a child again. So I said to him, even if they're not true, Michael, after 1993, you can never be alone with a child. And he said he understood that.

I also told him, you're not the children's messiah. Like it was his 44th birthday and he invited me and my family to spend it with him at Neverland. And I could see that he was a bit depressed. I said, what's wrong. He said, I want to help kids but I can't because of all -- everything that happened.

I said, well, the best way to help kids, Michael, is not to help them directly -- you're not a messiah -- it's to inspire their parents to prioritize them. And that's when we started working together to get parents to read to their children, have regular family meals.

So he always said to me, it wasn't true, he could never harm a child, it was all lies, et cetera. I mean, you know, I knew the child who was the second accuser. And the second accusation to be honest, I never believed. I sort of knew the family, I knew the child. I was all around in the first one and he had no business getting so close to other people's children -- that's for certain. And whether he was guilty of a crime or not, he had no right at all -- whatsoever -- to share a bed with a child that wasn't his own.

But Michael crossed lines all the time. And this is part of the problem of being a superstar when no one wants to say no to you and when you simply withdraw from anyone who does say no to you.

And Campbell, I have to make a plea to the Jackson family. I met Katherine who's a very pious, very religious woman, very devout Jehovah's Witness. And I met Joe Jackson. Michael really wanted his father's approval. And he loved his father very deeply. I know that in many interviews he spoke about anger towards his father. But when he was with me he said that he lived for his father's approval and he told this to his father on the phone when I was in the car with him.

And I really think this is the time for the family to really be at the forefront of Michael's legacy and not to cross lines of saying, God forbid, his death as an opportunity for anything aside from that mourning. Because Michael wanted his father's love more than anything else. His father meant the world to him. And I think that one of the things he lived with more than anything else -- the pain he lived with -- was this constant feeling that he never quite earned his father's affection.

Brown: And just finally, for at least now, temporarily, his children are going to be with his mother. Do you think that's the right thing? Is that what he would want? That his family would be involved in taking care of these children?

Boteach: Michael adored, adored his mother. He would always call her the saint. That was the expression he used for her. He introduced me to her on two occasions. Both times she was reading the Bible when I walked in. Michael thought the world of his mother. He wanted his children to be very close to his mother.

From what I witnessed, yes, it would seem to me that that would be his wish. That he trusted his mother implicitly, he trusted her values, he trusted her character, he was inspired of her and he spoke of her with the highest devotion and love. He never uttered even a hint of criticism against his mother.

Brown: Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, so appreciate your time.

Boteach: Thank you, Campbell. And I hope that people will remember Michael in the most charitable light.
[Edited 7/1/09 0:03am]

Timmy84 said:

What they should do is keep Michael where he is and have a empty closed casket so the fans with thinks he's in there. I also doubt the man would want to be seen in public like that fans or not. Also imagine the sneaks of cell phone pics, disgraceful yes but people and press will do it.I don't agree with the public viewing.And I hope hes not buried there in Never land because they destroyed that as a home for him years ago

utopia7 said:

That's what they did with Diana. I really doubt she was in that procession.

utopia7 said:

I'm surprised to see that most fans on the boards are ok with an open casket. As much as fans complain about the media, they don't seem to be that concerned about what the press is going to do once they get that shot of MJ dead.

mookie said:

Well IF n that's a big IF that corpse is going to be so made up that it will look like some wax creation from Madame Tussaud's. Hopefully they will keep it closed.

2elijah said:

good post

utopia7 said:

My mom told me that after Elvis' private service someone had a camera ring and snapped a pic of him in the coffin and sold it for $$$$$. So really either way someone has pics. Specially with today's technology.

mookie said:

So am I. I detest the notion. I feel anxiety just thinking about it.