Michael Jackson_ The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story, 1958-2009 Part 20

'Done.'

Someone ran into the Reception Room. 'Okay, out!' he said. 'Everybody out. Out, out, out! out!'

Senior staff and cabinet members cleared that room so quickly, an observer might have thought there had been a bomb threat.

'What's happening?'

'Where's Michael Jackson?'

'Has he left?'

Everyone spoke at once as they were ushered from the room.

The aide then ran back to the bathroom door, where a cl.u.s.ter of men with worried looks had congregated. He conferred with one of Michael's people. 'Okay. You can come out now, Michael,' Norman Winter said, finally. 'Everything is okay.'

'Are you sure?' came back the soft voice.

Frank Dileo knocked on the door with his fist, one loud thud. 'Okay, Mike, outta there. I mean it.'

The bathroom door opened slowly. Michael appeared. He looked around, slightly embarra.s.sed. Frank put his arm around him. 'I'm sorry,' Michael told him, 'but I was told there wouldn't be so many people.'

Michael was then ushered back into the Reception Room, where awaiting him were just a few officials and their children. Elizabeth Dole was the first to approach Michael. She handed him a copy of Thriller Thriller and asked him to sign the record jacket. and asked him to sign the record jacket.

Then Ronald and Nancy Reagan arrived and led Michael into the Roosevelt Room to meet some other aides and their families.

Nancy Reagan whispered to one of Michael's staff. 'I've heard that he wants to look like that singer Diana Ross, but really, looking at him up close, he's so much prettier than she is. Don't you agree? I mean, I just don't think she's she's that attractive, but that attractive, but he he certainly is.' certainly is.'

The First Lady waited for a response. There was none.

'I just wish he would take off his sungla.s.ses,' she said. 'Tell me, has he had any surgery on his eyes?'

The aide shrugged. He knew better than to discuss Michael's private life, even with the President's wife.

She studied Michael closely as he spoke to her husband on the other side of the room. 'Certainly his nose has been done,' she observed, her tone hushed. 'More than once, I'd say. I wonder about his cheekbones, though. Is that makeup, or has he had them done too?'

By this time, the First Lady didn't act as if she actually expected an answer, but the aide shrugged again anyway.

'It's all so peculiar, really,' Nancy observed as Ronald Reagan shook Michael's hand. 'A boy who looks just like a girl, who whispers when he speaks, wears a glove on one hand and sungla.s.ses all the time. I just don't know what to make of it.' She shook her head in dismay, as if at a loss for words.

Finally, the Jackson employee broke his silence. 'Listen, you don't know the half of it,' he said, rolling his eyes. He looked at her with a conspiratorial smile, expecting her to laugh. She didn't. Instead, she stared at him for a cold moment. 'Well, he is is talented,' she said as she walked away, 'and I would think that's all that talented,' she said as she walked away, 'and I would think that's all that you you should be concerned about.' should be concerned about.'

'Their last shot'

Michael may have been treated like an American hero in May 1984, but the tide would turn in June when the plan for distribution of tickets for the Victory tour now scheduled to begin in Kansas City on 6 July was announced. Joseph Jackson, Don King and Chuck Sullivan came up with a unique concept: tickets would be thirty dollars each and sold in lots of four only. only. Ordering tickets did not guarantee getting them. The names of those who ordered would be selected at random by a computer drawing coupons that had to be cut out of advertis.e.m.e.nts published in local newspapers. Therefore, the Jacksons fan had to send a $120 postal money order Ordering tickets did not guarantee getting them. The names of those who ordered would be selected at random by a computer drawing coupons that had to be cut out of advertis.e.m.e.nts published in local newspapers. Therefore, the Jacksons fan had to send a $120 postal money order * * plus plus a two-dollar service charge for each ticket a two-dollar service charge for each ticket and and the coupon, all in 'a standard Number Ten envelope', to the ticket address printed in the advertis.e.m.e.nt. the coupon, all in 'a standard Number Ten envelope', to the ticket address printed in the advertis.e.m.e.nt.

Promoters predicted that as many as twelve million fans would mail in $1.5 billion in money orders for the twelve-city, forty-two-concert Victory tour, but only about one in ten applicants would actually receive tickets. In order even to be considered, the money orders were to be postmarked at least two weeks before the concert. With the delay in returning money to the unlucky ones four to six weeks the promoters and the Jacksons would have use of it for six to eight weeks. a.s.suming the tour sold $144 million in tickets, as the promoters estimated, $1.4 billion in excess payments would have to be returned. In a common money-market deposit account in a bank, which paid about 7 per cent interest, that money would earn eight million dollars a month for the promoters and Jackson family. The Jacksons' spokesman, Howard Bloom, said that whatever interest that would accrue on each $120 order would go toward costs of handling and postage for unfilled orders.

If you were a lucky winner and allowed to see the Victory show, you wouldn't know if you were going to go or which show you would attend until two days before the concert. If the mail was delayed, the tickets could easily arrive after after the concert. the concert.

The tickets were obviously priced too high for even white middle-cla.s.s kids if they had to buy them in lots of four. It's almost impossible to imagine that many of Michael's most loyal followers, kids from the ghetto, would be able to afford the luxury of seeing the concert.

Making matters more distasteful, The Jacksons and their promoters said that they would like to not have to pay for the advertis.e.m.e.nts from which the coupons were to be clipped, saying that those ads should be run free of cost as 'public service advertis.e.m.e.nts'. Of course, most newspapers didn't see it that way. 'It's just a way to make more millions for the Jacksons,' said Bob Haring, executive editor of the Tulsa World. Tulsa World.

Before the outrageous plan was announced, Michael and John Branca met with the brothers to try to talk them out of it.

'We got to get as much as possible for the tickets,' one of the brothers said. 'The sky's the limit.'

'No,' Michael argued. 'That's not the way to do it. There's going to be a backlash. The tickets shouldn't be more than twenty bucks each. And the mail order idea is terrible.' In fact, the tickets for concerts by the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen at this time were sixteen dollars each. Michael had wanted a simple twenty dollar ticket price, no lots of four, no money orders, no coupons.

The brothers voted against Michael, five to one.

'Okay, that's it,' Michael decided later in a meeting with John Branca and Frank Dileo. 'This is going to be my last tour with the guys. I'm very serious. So I don't want you to try to run anything. Let them do it all their way. I'm just one vote out of six. Let them do their thing. This is their last shot. I'm out of it.'

'But why, Mike?' Frank wanted to know. 'They're gonna f.u.c.k it up.'

'Because if anything goes wrong I don't want to hear about it,' Michael explained. 'I don't want to hear about it from my mother, my father or my brothers. Let them do it their way and I'm out of it. Maybe the money they make from this will set them up comfortably. Then, I'm out of it.'

When the plan was made public, fans from coast to coast were outraged. The Los Angeles Herald Examiner Los Angeles Herald Examiner ran a telephone poll with the question: Are Michael Jackson's fans being taken advantage of? Of the 2,795 people who responded, 90 per cent said yes. ran a telephone poll with the question: Are Michael Jackson's fans being taken advantage of? Of the 2,795 people who responded, 90 per cent said yes.

The newspaper published an editorial chastising the Jacksons: 'It's hard not to conclude that the Jacksons' promoters, if not the young stars themselves, are taking advantage of their fans. It's been said that all the Jackson brothers, including Michael, helped plan the tour. If so, they should have shown a little more consideration for the fans who have made them so rich and famous.'

Other newspapers across the country followed suit, lambasting the Jacksons and, because he was the most famous one, Michael, in particular. 'The Jackson tour has not been about music. It's been about greed and arrogance,' wrote the Was.h.i.+ngton columnists Maxwell Glen and Cody Shearer. 'What good does a drug-free, liquor-free, I-brake-for-animals image do when the overriding message is "Give Me Your Piggy Bank."'

As a youthful role model, the press was terrible publicity for Michael. 'I didn't even want to do this tour,' he complained, exasperated. 'Now look what's happened.'

Despite the furor, when the first coupons were printed in the Kansas City Times, Kansas City Times, scores of fans waited in the dark for the early morning papers to hit the streets. The scores of fans waited in the dark for the early morning papers to hit the streets. The Times Times published an extra 20,000 copies to meet the demand. Postal employees were ready with 140,000 money order forms for the expected avalanche. The tickets sold out rapidly. published an extra 20,000 copies to meet the demand. Postal employees were ready with 140,000 money order forms for the expected avalanche. The tickets sold out rapidly.

Still, it looked bad for Michael. Frank Dileo advised him that if he didn't take a position against the brothers' and the promoters' apparent greediness, his reputation could be damaged. 'They don't care about your future,' Frank told him. 'Their only concern is their present, to make as much as they can, while they can. You have a career that's gonna be longer than this tour. They probably don't.'

Michael wasn't sure how to handle the matter. 'What I really want is for all of it to just go away,' he said, which wasn't much of a problem-solving strategy. Finally, an open letter appeared in the Dallas Morning News Dallas Morning News that impacted Michael. Eleven-year-old Ladonna Jones wrote that she'd been saving her pennies to see The Jacksons but that she couldn't possibly save enough to buy four tickets. She very pointedly asked Michael, 'How could you, of all people, be so selfish?' that impacted Michael. Eleven-year-old Ladonna Jones wrote that she'd been saving her pennies to see The Jacksons but that she couldn't possibly save enough to buy four tickets. She very pointedly asked Michael, 'How could you, of all people, be so selfish?'

When an aide showed Michael the letter, he was upset by it. Greed and selfishness really had been at the heart of the tour plans; he knew it. But hadn't his family already made more money than most people would ever make in their lifetimes? Of course they had. It took a child's sadness, however, to force him into action.

Though he hadn't wanted to make any major decisions about the tour in order to be distanced from the drama of it, he now realized he had to take action. He called a meeting with Joseph, Don King and Chuck Sullivan. 'Change the ticket policy,' he told them. 'It's a rip-off. You know it. I know it. Now, change it. Or I won't tour.'

'But, Mike,'

Michael wouldn't discuss the matter. If the situation wasn't changed, he said, the brothers would have to tour without him.

The next day, plans were made to change the system.

The Misery of the Victory Tour.

Michael, who had dropped to 105 pounds from his normal weight of 125 pounds the skinniest he had ever been looked as if he was under a great deal of stress when he and his brothers arrived at the Hyatt Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama, on 26 June for a week of meetings about the tour. As Michael checked in, he had become so dizzy he had to lean on one of his bodyguards for support. When a hotel cook approached to say h.e.l.lo to him, the guard released his grip and the star nearly crumpled to the floor. It seemed to some observers that Michael barely had the strength to walk. How was he going to perform?

Perhaps the problem with fatigue had to do with Michael's eating habits. At Michael's orders, his Sikh cook, Mani Singh Khalsa, fed him a diet of cashews, pecans, seeds, herbs and spices. 'He's a health nut,' said his cousin Tim Whitehead, a roadie on the tour. 'People don't know that the reason he's a vegetarian is not so much because of what meat does to a person, but because he can't stand the idea of having an animal killed so he can have dinner. I've often wondered how he gets by on the little food he does eat.'

'If I didn't have to eat to live, I'd never eat at all,' Michael once told his mother.

Later that day, a difficult meeting with the brothers, attorneys and managers on telephone conference calls took place. By the time it was over, Michael was fed up. When he got into the freight elevator (he always travels in freight elevators rather than public ones), he leaned back against the wall and just slowly slipped down until he was sitting on the floor. Someone tried to help him to his feet, but he was too exhausted to stand. 'Just leave me alone. Let me rest here for a second,' he said as he went up to the sixteenth floor. Witnesses to these kinds of scenes began whispering that Michael was suffering from anorexia nervosa, which wasn't true but certainly seemed plausible from the way he looked and acted.

It was time to announce the new ticket-buying arrangement. Michael held a midday press conference on 5 July, the day before the first concert was to take place. He wore a white sequined jacket and a red-and-white striped sash. Marlon, Randy and t.i.to accompanied him. To counteract the charge that he was greedy and doing the show only for profit, Michael announced that he intended to donate all of the money he made from this controversial tour to a favourite charity. Moreover, close to two thousand tickets in each city would be donated to disadvantaged youths who would not otherwise be able to attend the concerts.

Michael added, 'We've worked a long time to make this show the best it can be. But we know a lot of kids are having trouble getting tickets. The other day I got a letter from a girl in Texas named Ladonna Jones. She'd been saving her money from odd jobs to buy a ticket, but with the current tour system she'd have to buy four tickets and she couldn't afford that. So I've asked our promoter to work out a new way of distributing tickets a way that no longer requests a one-hundred-twenty-dollar money order. There has been a lot of talk about the promoter holding money for tickets that didn't sell. I've asked our promoter to end the mail-order ticket system as soon as possible so that no one will pay money unless they get a ticket.' Michael said that details of the new over-the-counter system for buying tickets would be announced shortly. (It was implemented by the tour's third stop in Jacksonville.) Michael took no questions. Suddenly he and his brothers were surrounded by security men. And then they were gone.

'Why did he decide to donate all his money to charity?' one reporter asked Frank Dileo, who stayed behind.

'Because he's a nice guy,' Frank said.

Michael's estimated worth at the time came to seventy-five million dollars, so donating to charity the approximately three to five million dollars he would make on the tour would be a generous gesture but not one that would cause him to change his lifestyle. His brothers, however, couldn't possibly have afforded such a gift. Also, Michael did not perhaps could not address any of the other problem issues. According to Cliff Wallace, who managed the Louisiana Superdome, Joseph and Katherine Jackson, Don King, Chuck Sullivan and The Jacksons had asked for free stadium rent; a waiver of city, state, and federal taxes; a share in the profits of the food, beverage and parking concessions; and free advertising to boot. Meeting their demands would have cost city taxpayers $300,000. And gross five million dollars for the Jacksons.

Michael arranged for Ladonna Jones to receive a set of four complimentary tickets to the show, to which she would be chauffeured by limousine. Michael met with her after the show. 'He asked me if I had good seats,' she recalled. 'They didn't turn out to be very good, but it was fun anyway.'

At this time, CBS released the Victory Victory alb.u.m. Not counting 1981's live alb.u.m, it was the first Jacksons alb.u.m in four years, so it was widely antic.i.p.ated. The alb.u.m featured Michael's duet with Mick Jagger on 'State of Shock', which wasn't so much a song as it was a glorified Rolling Stones riff. The best cut on the alb.u.m was written by Jackie and ent.i.tled 'Torture', a high-tech rocker of a song on which Michael wails up a storm. The alb.u.m featured songs written by all of the brothers and leads were split among them as well so it was the kind of group effort that was the perfect vinyl kick-off for the tour. alb.u.m. Not counting 1981's live alb.u.m, it was the first Jacksons alb.u.m in four years, so it was widely antic.i.p.ated. The alb.u.m featured Michael's duet with Mick Jagger on 'State of Shock', which wasn't so much a song as it was a glorified Rolling Stones riff. The best cut on the alb.u.m was written by Jackie and ent.i.tled 'Torture', a high-tech rocker of a song on which Michael wails up a storm. The alb.u.m featured songs written by all of the brothers and leads were split among them as well so it was the kind of group effort that was the perfect vinyl kick-off for the tour.

The long-antic.i.p.ated and controversial Victory tour finally began on Friday 6 July 1984, in Kansas City, Missouri. 'Anybody who sees this show will be a better person for years to come,' Don King told the press that day. 'Michael Jackson has transcended all earthly bounds. Every race, colour, and creed is waiting for this tour. The way he shall lift the despairing and the despondent enthralls me. Only in America could this happen, only in America. Oh, I am so thankful thankful to be an American...' to be an American...'

'Can't someone shut that man up?' Michael asked one of his a.s.sociates. 'Isn't there enough pressure?' To complicate matters, Jackie injured his leg and would not be able to join his brothers until a later date; Jermaine, Marlon, Randy, t.i.to and Michael would have to appear without him.

Jackson vs. Jackson on the Road.

On the day of the first show, fans began to a.s.semble outside Arrowhead Stadium hours before sunrise. Inside the auditorium, a five-hundred person security force and one thousand other stage workers geared up for the ma.s.s event. Two giant tapestries of a forest scene bordered each side of the stage, and a wooden barrier was erected fifteen feet in front of it to keep fans from rus.h.i.+ng the Jackson brothers.

'Arise, all the world, and behold the kingdom,' a voice boomed as the show began for the 43,000 fans. Elaborate George Lucas-style computerized stage and lighting systems were the hallmark of the concert, including a hidden hydraulic stage that presented the group Michael in zebra-print, vertical-striped pants; spangled s.h.i.+rt; white socks; 1950s-type penny loafers; and the white glove as if they were appearing from under the earth on a waffle grid of two hundred blinding lights. Seen in silhouette, the brothers marched slowly down a staircase, approached the microphones, removed their sungla.s.ses, and broke into the first song, Michael's 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin''. There were red and green lasers, crimson strobe lights and purple smoke bombs magic, illusion and fireworks. Eighteen songs boomed from a hundred outdoor speakers. Everything from 'I Want You Back' to 'Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)'. (Oddly, the brothers performed no numbers from their new Victory Victory alb.u.m. It was later explained by Marlon that Michael refused to rehea.r.s.e them or perform them before a live audience.) alb.u.m. It was later explained by Marlon that Michael refused to rehea.r.s.e them or perform them before a live audience.) Jermaine performed three of his own songs. Michael's solo hits 'Billie Jean' and 'Beat It' were saved for the end of the concert. He was in excellent voice, more of a real singer singer now than ever before. By the time the group finished their performance, the audience had been whipped into a frenzy even though most of the audience members had to settle for the distorted images of the brothers that appeared on huge overhanging television screens throughout the gargantuan football stadium. It was clear, though, they had paid the high ticket prices to see only one person, Michael Jackson. now than ever before. By the time the group finished their performance, the audience had been whipped into a frenzy even though most of the audience members had to settle for the distorted images of the brothers that appeared on huge overhanging television screens throughout the gargantuan football stadium. It was clear, though, they had paid the high ticket prices to see only one person, Michael Jackson.

Thanks to his music not to mention the advent of the video age Michael's stardom had reached such mythic proportions by this time, no one could share a stage with him. As Jim Miller wrote for Newsweek, Newsweek, 'He dances with the breathtaking verve of his predecessor James Brown, the beguiling wispiness of Diana Ross, the ungainly pathos of Charlie Chaplin, the edgy joy of a man startled to be alive. The crowd gasps and screams...' 'He dances with the breathtaking verve of his predecessor James Brown, the beguiling wispiness of Diana Ross, the ungainly pathos of Charlie Chaplin, the edgy joy of a man startled to be alive. The crowd gasps and screams...'

After the first of three shows in Kansas City, the truth was painfully clear: Michael should never have agreed to do the tour, but for more reasons than the problems with ticket prices and promotion. He was a front man for an act he no longer felt a part of, and the brothers weren't comfortable in their roles as his supporting players, either. Or as one critic put it, 'Marlon, Jermaine, Randy and t.i.to seemed mostly ill-at-ease extras at their own celebration.'

Jermaine's odd comments to reporter Simon Kinnersley at this time brought to light the dissension and fraternal jealousy running rampant within the group. He said, 'Even though Michael is very talented, a lot of his success has been due to timing and a little bit of luck. It could have been him, or it could just as easily have been me. But now I'm doing a lot of things. I'm the hottest brother. It'll be the same when my brothers do their thing.'

To Michael's audience, though, none of the controversy they kept hearing and reading about mattered when he, he, the undisputed star, appeared on stage. All that mattered was his talent, his pa.s.sion for his work, his charisma, his voice and the way he could execute one of those impossible, backward glides across the stage. The audience roared its appreciation for him with every song. Not only had he outgrown any family pageantry, one sensed that he was constrained by a fear of upstaging his brothers. the undisputed star, appeared on stage. All that mattered was his talent, his pa.s.sion for his work, his charisma, his voice and the way he could execute one of those impossible, backward glides across the stage. The audience roared its appreciation for him with every song. Not only had he outgrown any family pageantry, one sensed that he was constrained by a fear of upstaging his brothers.

Also, there was a feeling imaginary or not that Michael couldn't wait for the show to end. At the same time, the brothers, who entertained with great hunger and eagerness, looked as if they knew that their performance represented the chance of a lifetime for them... and maybe their last chance. However, never for a moment did they appear to share any common values or goals of showmans.h.i.+p with their star performer. And never did it appear that Michael wanted anything more to do with them than necessary. By trying to prove his loyalty to his family, he had distanced himself even further from them. Moreover, maybe he had lost a little of his soul in the process. Certainly he must have felt as if he'd lost something something when James Brown one of his idols refused his invitation to perform onstage with him at Madison Square Garden in New York. when James Brown one of his idols refused his invitation to perform onstage with him at Madison Square Garden in New York.

James, always a big fan of Michael's, felt that the steep ticket prices would preclude the attendance of many of the group's black fans. That decision had to hurt Michael, and make him think about whether the tour was worth it to him.

The agony of Victory Victory would continue through 9 December 1984 same show and dialogue each and every performance. Michael is not a spontaneous performer. In concert, he has a set routine, and he rarely veers from it. Bruce Springsteen went to see the show in Philadelphia and afterwards he and Michael had a conversation backstage. would continue through 9 December 1984 same show and dialogue each and every performance. Michael is not a spontaneous performer. In concert, he has a set routine, and he rarely veers from it. Bruce Springsteen went to see the show in Philadelphia and afterwards he and Michael had a conversation backstage.

'Do you talk to people during your concerts?' Michael asked him. 'I heard that you do.'

'Yeah. I tell stories,' Bruce said. 'People like that, I've learned. They like to hear your voice do something besides singing. They go wild when you just talk.'

Michael shuddered. 'Oh, I could never do that. To me, it feels like people are learning something about you they shouldn't know.'

The closer the time came for the tour to be over, the more anxious Michael was to see it end. 'The way we planned it, this was going to be the greatest tour of all time,' Joseph Jackson would say in retrospect. 'But outsiders interfered. Soon the brothers were at each other's throats.'

Without a doubt, the most annoying thing about the Jacksons' behaviour over the years has been their frustrating inability to take responsibility for their own actions. Over the years, all of them have pointed fingers to external sources for their internal problems. Either it's managers, promoters, the public or, their favourite foe, 'the media', that is held responsible for their problems never themselves. Of course, the truth is that they almost always create their own internal dysfunction.

Touring can be a stressful, lonely business for an entertainer, even under the best of circ.u.mstances. However, to feel isolated from the people with whom you are performing, let alone if they happen to be your family members, is devastating especially to someone as sensitive as Michael. The family had already begun to fall apart; the Victory tour seemed to be hastening its complete destruction. At one point in the tour, Michael was so upset with his brothers, he suffered from exhaustion and dehydration and had to be put under a doctor's care.

As a result of such pressure, Michael became increasingly difficult. Some of his demands were unreasonable. At one point, he threatened not to perform unless a certain publicist working on the tour was fired. The publicist had apparently allowed something to be printed that Michael did not appreciate. The brothers ignored the threat. Then, at the last possible minute, right before the show was to start, Frank Dileo announced that Michael would not appear unless the publicist was dismissed on the spot. Of course, then then the publicist was fired. the publicist was fired.

In the beginning of the tour, it was agreed that only the performing members of the family would travel in the Jacksons' van. However, when Michael started showing up with Emmanuel Lewis, nothing could have been more annoying to the brothers. Before the tour was even half over, the brothers began travelling in separate vans and limousines Jackie (who joined the tour midway on crutches, but did not perform), Marlon, Randy and t.i.to in one vehicle, Jermaine in another by himself, and Michael in still another, alone. When they had to travel by air, the brothers used a commercial airline; Michael travelled by private jet. (A couple of times, Pia Zadora's multimillionaire husband, Meshulam Riklis, who was friendly with the Jacksons, took mercy on the brothers and allowed them to use his private aircraft.) In New York, when the group had to fly by helicopter to Giants Stadium, they agreed that no outsiders would be in the helicopter. Michael then showed up with Julian Lennon, John's son. The brothers glared at both of them during the brief flight.

At one point, the Jacksons received an offer from a producer who wanted to pay them millions of dollars to film the show and release it to the home-video market when the tour was over. They took a vote. Everyone was for the idea, except for Michael. He threatened that he would not perform if they struck such a deal. Furthermore, no one was to videotape the show. Without any recourse, the brothers bitterly turned down the deal, and all of that money.

Then, three nights later, the group was onstage with cameras all about them. Michael, himself, had arranged for the show to be videotaped. 'I'll give you copies, don't worry,' he promised his brothers when they confronted him after the performance, but they never saw a copy. (When Michael tried to get them to agree to let him release the video to the marketplace, they blocked him from doing it.) The brothers stayed on separate floors of hotels in each city; they refused to talk to each other on their way to the stadiums. Every time there was a meeting about anything, there would also be side meetings among the different factions in the group, including the pair of lawyers who represented Michael, the one who worked for Jermaine, and the two who spoke for the rest of the brothers. 'It was devastating,' said long-time family friend Joyce McCrae. 'It amounted to the worst experiences Michael had ever had with his brothers. His success had affected every member of the family. Some were jealous, there was denial, the whole gamut of human emotions.'

During the final week of the tour, Joseph and Don King began making plans to take the Victory tour to Europe. When Michael heard about the possibility of European dates, he couldn't believe his ears. He sent a succinct message to Joseph and Don through Frank Dileo: 'I will absolutely not be going to Europe with the Victory tour. Good luck to you. Michael.'

On 9 December 1984, after the last song of the evening, Michael hollered out from the Los Angeles stage, 'This is our last and final show. It's been a long twenty years, and we love you all.' The brothers looked at Michael with surprised expressions, as if his declaration was news to them. 'What a little p.r.i.c.k,' one of the brothers said of Michael afterward. 'How dare he? The little creep.'

'There's no way Michael Jackson should be as big as he is and treat his family the way he does,' Don King fumed after the final show, when it was clear to him that he would not be taking the show abroad. 'He feels that his father did him wrong? His father may have done some wrong, but he also had to do a whole lot right.'

He went on, 'What Michael's got to realize is that Michael's a n.i.g.g.e.r. It doesn't matter how great he can sing and dance. I don't care that he can prance. He's one of the megastars of the world, but he's still going to be a n.i.g.g.e.r megastar. He must accept that. Not only must he understand that, he's got to accept it and demonstrate that he wants to be a n.i.g.g.e.r. Why? To show that a n.i.g.g.e.r can do it.'

If it was possible for Michael to blow sky high when he read those comments, he would have done it. 'Sue his a.s.s,' he told John Branca. 'That guy has been pus.h.i.+ng my last nerve since Day One.' John knew better than to drag the Don King experience into a new year with fresh litigation. He calmed Michael down, as he always managed to do, and convinced him to let it go.

As if to rid himself of the bad taste in his mouth left by the Victory tour, Michael donated all of his proceeds from it nearly five million dollars to the T. J. Martell Foundation for Cancer Research, the United Negro College Fund and the Ronald McDonald Camp for Good Times.

When Michael wrote of the Victory tour in his autobiography, Moonwalk, Moonwalk, he didn't mention Don King, Joseph and Katherine Jackson, Chuck Sullivan, or any of the other princ.i.p.al players behind the scenes. Of his brothers, he took the high ground, as he always does, 'It was a nice feeling, playing with my brothers again,' he wrote, graciously. 'We were all together again... I enjoyed the tour.' Whether or not he wanted to admit it publicly, the real victory for Michael Jackson was that he and his brothers were finally finished as a performing group. he didn't mention Don King, Joseph and Katherine Jackson, Chuck Sullivan, or any of the other princ.i.p.al players behind the scenes. Of his brothers, he took the high ground, as he always does, 'It was a nice feeling, playing with my brothers again,' he wrote, graciously. 'We were all together again... I enjoyed the tour.' Whether or not he wanted to admit it publicly, the real victory for Michael Jackson was that he and his brothers were finally finished as a performing group.

Their future as a family didn't look very promising either.

Janet Elopes.

While Michael Jackson and his brothers were preoccupied with the Victory tour, trouble was brewing at home too. Much to everyone's dismay, Janet (who turned eighteen on 16 May 1984), had become involved with a young singer named James DeBarge. James is from a large singing family from Grand Rapids, Michigan (the same DeBarge that had been the Jackson's stable-mates at Motown), and he and Janet seemed to have common ground, at least superficially, since both were from show-business families. Joseph and Katherine disapproved of the relations.h.i.+p, saying that James was combative and unpredictable. Plus, in their view, Janet was young and inexperienced. James would later insist, though, that he and Janet were first intimate when she was just fifteen, and, he added somewhat indelicately, 'that was some real lovemaking.'

When the Jackson parents finally figured out that James was abusing drugs, it was the end of their daughter's little romance, as far as they were concerned. However, Janet told them that she was in love with him and determined to marry him, despite or perhaps even because of their disapproval. She was aware that he had a drug problem, she said, but she thought she could handle it, and maybe even be of a.s.sistance. 'You always think you can change people,' she said in retrospect. 'And I knew that he so badly wanted to change. He was trying, but he wasn't trying hard enough.'

They eloped on 7 September 1984, in Grand Rapids, DeBarge's hometown. Their wedding night was a disaster, as James recalled it: 'I spoiled it completely. Janet had been shaking in her shoes at the wedding ceremony, and I thought the least I could do was to give her a night to remember. I booked the top suite of the Amway Plaza Hotel, which cost me a small fortune. But then I went out and got rotten drunk with some friends. I finally got back to the hotel at three a.m. and Janet was waiting for me, crying.'