Michael Jackson 1958 – 2009
It’s been said that celebrity deaths come in threes, and today it seemed true. As I was driving and listening to the radio, I heard Farrah Fawcett had passed away. Hours later a friend called me with the news that Michael Jackson had also passed away.
Just two days ago, Ed McMahon had also lost his battle with cancer, as did Farrah Fawcett, but a heart attack had claimed the life of Michael Jackson. Such a shame too, since he was getting ready to launch a world tour to get his career back on track, and put his bizarre past behind him.
Before I got the news, I had stopped at a gas station, and as I was filling up my tank, a car at another pump was blasting the Jackson 5. When I got home, almost every news station was broadcasting a story about Michael Jackson. Local radio stations were getting tons of fans calling in, giving a community voice to the grief that people were feeling.
As I’m posting this, CNN is reporting live from a candlelight vigil for Michael Jackson and getting comments from the many fans who have gathered together to bond in their grief, but more in their love for the “King of Pop.”
It’s the same feeling of fans coming together in loving adoration that I felt when Elvis, John Lennon and George Harrison passed away. A huge outpouring of emotion from around the world, in shared moments of tears in candlelight or their music blasting from car speakers.
Michael Jackson is one of the very few artists who have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, plus he has collected a amazing number of awards including 13 Grammy Awards. He has also had 13 Number One hit singles during his solo career, with sales of over 750 million albums worldwide.
His death also raises a question in classic rock circles. Now who gets control of that large share of Beatle songs that Jackson bought? Paul McCartney had tried to get back those copyrights years ago, but Jackson still had the money and the business smarts to purchase such a fantastic piece of rock and roll history.
We’ve always wondered how the surviving Beatles could have lost the rights to their own songs, but that’s just one of the strange twists in the world of rock and roll. So beat it.
Friday, June 26th, 2009
Written by: Mike Withrow
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