MTV has been airing lots of MJ specials, and they very quickly put together a one-hour programme hosted by MTV VJ Sway, and it was aired earlier this afternoon. It's a great show, where Sway had some guests in studio and a host of other celebrities calling in to share their thoughts on MJ.
He's laughing here and you almost feel like you never knew he was capable of being so laidback. It's a gem, and I would really love to see more rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage.
As more and more celebrities and musicians express their grief and pay tribute to the King Of Pop, I thought it would be nice to capture what they said on their official websites. Here are some that I managed to find.
I thought it is extremely gracious of Paul to pay tribute to MJ, especially since Paul himself is a legend in his own right, being part of the biggest band in history that changed the world on a scale comparable to MJ.
But also because Paul and MJ were supposed to be feuding over MJ's possesion of the publishing rights of The Beatles catalog, where Paul would have to pay MJ royalties each time he performed his own Beatles songs in public.
After all, they had great success with
Say Say Say and
The Girl Is Mine in the early 80s, where the former reached #1 while the latter peaked at #2. So thank you Paul, this kind gesture has changed my impression of you.
Madonna
To be honest, I didn't really expect this note from Madonna. She's the Queen Of Pop herself and she hasn't exactly been very vocal about her admiration of MJ in public, not for a long time at least.
They did have an iconic moment together though, as Madonna was MJ's date at the 1991 Academy Awards (that's the picture in her note). Imagine the headlines that generated - the King and Queen of Pop together at the Oscars!
Kanye West
Kanye has long made his admiration of MJ very clear to anyone and everyone who would listen. Before being the megastar he is today, he was only a producer. And he started fulfilling his MJ dream by writing and producing a few tracks on Janet Jackson's
Damita Jo album in 2004.
Since then, he has released 4 solo albums and sampled MJ's P.Y.T. on his hit Good Life. He also produced a remix of Billie Jean on last year's Thriller 25th Anniversary album.
He also frequently name drops MJ in his songs. Here's a sample:
On American Boy (Estelle featuring Kanye West):
And I'm feeling like Mike at his baddest
On Knock You Down (Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo):
This is bad, real bad, Michael Jackson
On Golddigger:
She walkin' around lookin' like Michael with ya money
Kanye has always stated he aims to be as successful as MJ in terms of being innovative in music and fashion, and I think he's in the right track. Time will tell if he will succeed.
Justin Timberlake
Justin shared a lot of common with MJ. He started out his career as a member of a 5-man group, *NSYNC. He was the lead singer and focal point of the group. He released his first solo album and it was a success, but it was his second album that propelled him to superstardom. His trajectory to fame is very similar to MJ, just that he started his career later.
When he made his debut performance as a solo artist at the 2000 MTV VMA's with Like I Love You, he wore a black fedora hat not unlike MJ's. And he got quite a lot of comparisons that he was emulating MJ. After a while, he began to distance himself slightly from MJ and tried to establish himself as an artist in his own right.
Then there was also the Superbowl incident that led to the souring relationship with Janet, so perhaps that has made Justin stay away from MJ for a while. So it was nice to see this note of his too. After all, he was inspired a lot by MJ.
Whitney Houston
MJ and Whitney were two of the biggest solo artists in the 80's, they were both African-Americans, they had their fair share of problems in recent years, and they were on the cusp of a major comeback this year (Whitney will be releasing a new album later this year). As such, Whitney felt a close connection to MJ and I sincerely wish her all the best for her comeback.
Mariah Carey
Mariah took on in the 90's where Whitney left off, scoring strings of #1 singles and albums. Besides being on the same label, Mariah also had a close connection with MJ because one of her trademark and early hits that established her was a cover of the Jackson 5's
I'll Be There. It was so successful that some people didn't even know it was a cover of the J5 hit!
MJ later roped Mariah in for the all-star recording of the 9/11 tribute song What More Can I Give, that ultimately didn't get released (until much later) due to MJ's many legal tangles with the song. Maybe they should release it properly now, as a tribute to MJ.
Here's a performance from the United We Stand benefit concert:
Celine Dion
Celine Dion was also label mates with MJ, and it's nice to see how she has remained humble despite all her success. Her mammoth Las Vegas residency was perhaps the standard that MJ was going for when he agreed to do the 50-date O2 Arena shows.
Coldplay
Coldplay are the biggest band in the world right now. They have released four commercially and critically successful albums and they show no signs of stopping. It's nice to know that they respect MJ this much too, even though their music is not that similar.
Britney Spears
Britney and MJ have a lot in common for sure. She is perhaps the female equivalent of MJ in terms of papparazi attention and badgering. Her public breakdown led many to wonder if she will surpass MJ in the "weirdo" stakes. But thankfully she managed to regain control of her life and put her career back on track with her latest
Circus album.
Britney was perhaps somewhat responsible for one of the times where MJ became the butt of jokes. This was at the 2002 MTV VMAs, where she introduced him as her Artist of the Millennium, but he misinterpreted that MTV was bestowing the honour on him, and there was no such award.
But till this day, I still believe MTV played a part in the prank, or why would MJ have a speech prepared, written out on a piece of paper that he brought onstage with him?
Britney also sang a duet with MJ the year before, as part of his 30th Anniversary celebrations concert in New York, just one day before the 9/11 attacks.
Quincy Jones is perhaps the most important person that affected MJ's career. If MJ had never worked with Q, he might never been as successful or famous.
While some might argue that with MJ's talent, it wouldn't matter which producer he worked with and he would still deliver the goods. But a good producer brings more to the table than just twiddling the knobs, and I strongly believe that Q brought out the best in MJ.
A.R. Rahman
Ever since the success of
Jai Ho and the
Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, Jai Ho has been thrust in the spotlight and described by the media as the "Michael Jackson of India". It is a fair comparison, where Rahman is huge in his homeland. It's great to see MJ crossing boundaries and influencing musicians and artists from all over the world.
Hanson
Hanson started off their career like the Jackson 5, scoring a #1 hit with their debut single,
MMMbop. They are a family of brothers too and the youngest of them, Zachary, was the same age as when MJ hit #1 with his brothers with
I Want You Back.
Sadly, their careers never took off the same way the Jacksons did, and they're still making music now but enjoying the same level of success as before. But no doubt, MJ played a big part in their lives and influenced them a lot too.
Wyclef Jean
We haven't heard much from Wyclef since
Hips Don't Lie with Shakira, but more than 10 years ago, Wyclef was still with The Fugees and they were huge. Wyclef was also a producer and he remixed some of MJ's songs, including
2Bad from the
HIStory album.
Lisa Marie Presley
This isn't so much a tribute as a revelation from Lisa Marie Presley, who once married MJ before divorcing him 20 months later. It was a huge event when they got married in 1994, as the King Of Pop entered a union with the only daughter of the King Of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley.
The timing of the marriage also raised eyebrows, as MJ has just settled out of court the first child molestation accusations in 1993, and was due to release a new album in 1995. Many saw it as a marriage of convenience, a PR stunt.
Whatever it was, it didn't last, but in this note LMP reveals that she really loved MJ, and the marriage wasn't a sham. It's also startling to read that MJ predicted he would go the way Elvis did. It's very tragic indeed.
Well, to brighten things up, there are some good news and it's actually nothing new because it's MJ being MJ again - returning to #1.
MJ is expected to top the UK charts this Sunday and US charts next week. Read the news here:
This is really proof that MJ's legacy lives on...
