What kind of gems are deleted or on the cutting room floor of these legends? I’m sure Michael would have listened to the new version and tried to collab.
This is Sheila E’s account of things
Much is made of Michael's fraught relationship with his father but I think he also had a mother wound, and it showed in some of his relationships. I'll pull out some notable examples.
Elizabeth Taylor
I think it's interesting that MJ sought friendship with these women who had a very different personality to his mother. I am not saying MJ replaced Katherine with Elizabeth but perhaps she was like how a regular person would have a 'work wife' who understands your work enviroment in a way your spouse cannot. They were both child stars and Hollywood royalty so could relate on that front. Elizabeth was a big protector when Michael was in crisis. She was basically his advocate in legal talks during the 93 allegations. She was the one who flew to Mexico during the Dangerous tour and took him to a London rehab for his drug dependency. I feel like MJ could be forthcoming about having a problem with drugs to Elizabeth since she dealt with it herself and knew the pressures of fame. In an interview with Bev Smith she was asked, "How did you feel when Elizabeth Taylor said she felt like she was a mother to your son?" Katherine answered that she spoke to Elizabeth and was thankful for her concern and taking care of her son. However, she was upset with MJ's 'people' as 'they didn't let me know' he was receiving treatment, only shortly before it went out to television. The interviewer says "Why wouldn't they let you know? Why would they tell Elizabeth Taylor? With a tearful voice, she says "This is what's been happening...They called Liz they should have called me also". I feel like that may have been under Michael's instruction because he knew Liz as a mother figure would actually be proactive and his own mother would be passive and just get upset instead.
It was also very sweet of her to host Michael's first Christmas to try and re-create the childhood events he missed
Diana Ross
Described as his "mother, lover and friend" in his biography MJ's fondness for Diana never seemed to fade. As a child, when they met he apparently called her 'mama' and as an adult he valued her mothering skills enough to name her a guardian of his children in his will, if his mother was unable. Say what you want about Diana but despite her busy schedule she always made time for her kids and was never away from them for more than a week ensuring she tucked them in and made them breakfast. This is again an example of a woman who unashamedly put herself first and would drop a man like a bad habit if need be, unlike Katherine. "I can tell her anything, the most private of secrets" gives me the impression he could confess things his mother wouldn't know. They both went through eating disorders for a time for example maybe that is something he confessed.
Biographers of the tabloid-ish persuasion says that she was upset when feelings turned romantic calling her 'too old for my son'; Katherine apparently called the press leading to the 'cradle snatcher' reports. I'm not sure I believe that considering it was British tabloid The Sun.
Katherine Jackson
It's obvious Michael truly loved his mother and never spoke badly about her. He always described her as 'perfection' and an 'angel'. However, not always the right person to run to, it seems he wanted to shield Katherine from a lot of the ugly side of Hollywood. This could be because JW's are not meant to associate with 'worldly' things or because Joe had the boys trained to hide illicit things from her: like the fact they performed at strip joints (she found out after discovering a nipple tassle was found in the boys' belongings) or that Joe openly cheated on her on the road. Maybe some secrets were by her request like when she was questioned in MJ's wrongful death trial she was not aware that Dangerous Tour was cancelled due to the rehab and she said "I don't like to hear bad news". Fair enough, as people struggling with dependency usually hide it from family but maybe secret-keeping was a general thing. As adults, some of her children also hid their elopements and marriages from her. I saw a clip of her saying that a regret was keeping her children sheltered and I think that mostly pertained to La Toya after her terrible marriage.
Was there a sense from Michael that she could have done more to protect them? We only know he constantly asked her to divorce him and facilitated her in doing so. Yes, she was a woman in segregated America with 9 kids and average women didn't even have enough autonomy to open up a bank account. But by the time the kids were grown she was on the deed for Hayvenhurst, Joe was still terrorising his adult kids and she never went through with a divorce. Maybe for image purposes, she always seemed to back Joe and that didn't make her always safe to confide in. I think the biopic gave her some redemption with her character saying she should have protected Michael more. I wonder if she said so in real life. I think MJ took on her trait of largely being non-confrontational and thus gravitated to mother figures who would step up for him. The family even noted that they liked his wife LMP, as she had a backbone.
Rose Fine (his childhood tutor)
I thought this was really sweet actually. This is from The MJ Tapes conversation recorded by Rabbi Schmuley. He recognised there was missing motherly love on the road and looked after Mrs Fine as she aged.
Q: Rose Fine, although she wasn’t your biological mother, was able to show you a lot of motherly affection?
MJ: And boy did I need it. I was never with my mother when I was little, very seldom, and I had a wonderful mother. I see her as an angel, and I was always gone, always on tour, doing back-to-back concerts, all over America, overseas, clubs, just always gone. [Rose Fine] was with us all the way from the very first professional tour of the Jackson 5 until I was eighteen.
MJ: After the show I would run into [Rose Fine’s] room. We’d read and have warm milk and I needed that so badly. She would always say to me, “The door’s open”, and she would leave her door open.
MJ: She called me her son. Whenever you go on the plane, you see these seven little black kids and a black father, all got big Afros, and this old white Jewish woman would be in the back. They would stop her and go, "Who are you?" She would say, "I´m the mother." She would say it every time and they would let her go. Sweet story. She was special. I needed her.
MJ: Rose died this year (2000), Janet and myself, we paid for her nurse and her hospital care, or if her television broke down or the electricity, or there was anything wrong with the house, we would cover the bills. Now her husband is sick, so I am taking care of him, and because we felt she is our mother and you take care of your mother… She was more than a tutor and I was so angry at myself that when she died I was far, far away. I couldn’t get there.
Jackie drops a thirst trap 🪤
Also on this day in 1981 they started the Triumph tour.
This can’t be true can it? I’ve seen that Tyla didn’t renew her contract with Epic and signed with Roc Nation instead. It’s not on many ‘reputable’ websites but reports say there was a billboard in Times Square with the announcement.
This makes no sense if A-Pop is innocent. Not least the apparent tension between Rihanna and Ayra Starr. RN are also just crap at promotions and I suspect they planted bad press about Tyla some months back.
So I’d be surprised if she signed up and puzzled. Anyone heard this story too?
