Prominente und Wegbegleiter zum Tode von Michael Jackson (Keine Diskussionen)

The World has lost one of the greatest hearts and the heavens have gained a Saint. In the Light my dear Michael, my friend - I love you more!

Michael was a dear friend and a
consummate professional.

This was the most exciting collaboration of my life with a man who has inspired
me like no other.

He will be deeply missed. I am terribly sad.

We had a 25 year friendship.

This is all too much to comprehend.

This was the world’s greatest performer and the world will miss him.

My heart goes out to his family and fans.

-Kenny Ortega

Twitter - KennyOrtegaBlog

dieser thread dient dazu, alles zu sammeln, was prominente und bekannte leute zu diesem tragischen unglück äussern.
also 'normalen' presseartikel.

hier ein interview mit bob sanger:

Michael Jackson's Lawyer, Bob Sanger, Talks to West Coast Sound About the Pop Star, His Life -- and His Reading Habits

In the wake of the the untimely death this afternoon of Michael Jackson, West Coast Sound contacted the late King of Pop's longtime attorney, Bob Sanger. Sanger represented Michael Jackson for 16 years, and sat at the table with Jackson throughout the high-profile 2005 case in which the family of a boy accused Jackson of child sexual abuse. We spoke with Sanger late this afternoon.

Bob Sanger: This is what I want to say. I do think it's appropriate to speak out at this point in honor of Michael. First of all, he was a great musician and performer, and his impact on music goes on today. I saw something on television today, I forgot who it was, but I looked at it, a current star doing a music video, and thought, 'That's Michael Jackson.' You can just see where all that came from that didn't exist before he started doing that sort of thing. The beat, and the music and everything else. That's an impact that he'll have forever, or certainly for a long time. I think that what people don't appreciate about Michael Jackson was as a human being, which I got to see, was privileged to see this, because he does have a lot of people around him.

When you represent him, which I did, unfortunately - unfortunately for him that we had to do this, but you do get very close to a person, and I sat next to him for four months in the criminal case - it took a full four months, and he was there every day. But what I did learn in the years that I represented him - particularly in that last case - is that he is a very kind person. Truly from his heart. And his whole family is like that. His mother, Katherine, and his sisters, LaToya and Janet - they have their own personalities onstage and everything, but they are the kindest, sweetest people you'll ever want to meet. And his brothers are very nice; they offer to do what they can for you.

I remember having a family meeting out at the ranch, in a room out there that was nicely appointed, as everything was. And we were all going to sit down and have a big meeting. And Janet says, 'Bob, you don't have a place to sit.' I told her it was okay, I could stand, and she said, 'No, no, no, I'll get you a chair.' She walks out the door, and I figure she's going to get someone to bring me a chair. She walks in with this big wing-backed armchair that she's carrying into the room - Janet Jackson - for me to sit in. It wasn't remarkable in that it was any different that what you'd expect from anyone in that family, or from her.

They were very kind. You would go to the ranch, or a house elsewhere where we met on other occasions, and you couldn't get away without being offered something to eat or drink. And personally, and I don't mean snap your figures and someone comes to do it, they would be very concerned and very kind and generous about everything. And Michael was the same way. He believed that one of the things he could do in life in addition to entertainment was that he could really help children. And I know that's going to immediately get some kind of sarcastic response, but it's absolutely true.

I was there at his ranch when he wasn't even there on at least two occasions when he had a giant group of kids come up. One, a bunch of kids who were from hospitals down in LA -- children's wards -- came up with their families and everything else, and another time it was disadvantaged kids with their families, they were brought up and came up on buses - he had a couple of buses - and he would bring people up and it was like they were at Disneyland. His staff was there, and at one point he had a hundred-something people on staff. They would be offering everybody candy, and something to drink, and play in the game room, and go to the movie theater. And you'd see these kids, and it was just remarkable to see these kids and their eyes so wide and being treated this way.

Did the attorney in you ever become concerned with that? Here are hundreds of strangers coming into this multimillionaire's home, and anyone of them could have ulterior motives.

Well, I don't want to get into all that.

No, no, I understand.

Well, you know what? Yeah, the attorney in me, I look at what clients do and I always wonder. But, I've got to tell you: until we saw what this last family tried to do to him, which was so completely bizarre and off-the-wall, unfounded, manipulative -- the DA was so committed to get back at Michael Jackson that they just looked with blinders at these people, and ignored the fact that they had scammed other people, and so on. But when you saw that family and looked at that, you had to say, 'Oh my god, how vulnerable' - clearly he was vulnerable. But for a family like this to be able to get the attention of a district attorney and law enforcement was just remarkable. And it just shows you how vulnerable people can be.

And I've certainly seen that in my career in representing people for the last 35 years, certainly there are cases - people are prosecuted because they're guilty, sure, but people are also prosecuted because the government can, and sometimes there are some bad motives. And I don't want to talk about the particulars of that case, but it was just so clear how vulnerable he was.

The groups stopped at that point because we were in the trial - or at least I didn't see any, because I was busy trying to save his life, basically. But prior to that when I'd see these people come in, the generosity, and the kindness - the staff was told at all times, whenever you go to Neverland, or to his house elsewhere, the staff was always instructed to be absolutely kind to everybody. The kindness ran from the top down. And it wasn't the obsequious kind of stuff. It was true kindness, and it came from the top. Michael was kind, the whole family was. And that's the stuff that people don't see. They don't understand how deep the concept of kindness ran in his family.

And the third thing was that Michael was extremely well-read.

I didn't know that.

No. Few people did. In trial - and I knew Michael, but I got to know him a lot better at the trial. The judge was doing jury selection, and it was time for break. Judge Melville said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to know that jury service is very, very important.' He's trying to convince people not to have stupid excuses to get out of jury service. All judges do this. He says, 'The jury system is a very time-honored system. It's been around for 200 years. We're going to take a break and come back in 15 minutes.

We stand up and the judge leaves, and Michael turns to me and says, "Bob, the jury system is much older than 200 years, isn't it?' I said, 'Well, yeah, it goes back to the Greeks.' He says, 'Oh yeah, Socrates had a jury trial, didn't he?' I said, 'Yeah, well, you know how it turned out for him.' Michael says, 'Yeah, he had to drink the hemlock.' That's just one little tidbit. We talked about psychology, Freud and Jung, Hawthorne, sociology, black history and sociology dealing with race issues. But he was very well read in the classics of psychology and history and literature.

That's fascinating.

He loved to read. He had over 10,000 books at his house. And I know that because - and I hate to keep referring to the case, because I don't want the case - the case should not define him. But one of the things that we learned - the DA went through his entire library and found, for instance, a German art book from 1930-something. And it turned out that the guy who was the artist behind the book had been prosecuted by the Nazis. Nobody knew that, but then the cops get up there and say, 'We found this book with pictures of nude people in it.' But it was art, with a lot of text. It was art. And they found some other things, a briefcase that didn't belong to him that had some Playboys in it or something. But they went through the guy's entire house, 10,000 books. And it caused us to do the same thing, and look at it.

And there were places that he liked to sit, and you could see the books with his bookmarks in it, with notes and everything in it where he liked to sit and read. And I can tell you from talking to him that he had a very - especially for someone who was self-taught, as it were, and had his own reading list - he was very well-read. And I don't want to say that I'm well-read, but I've certainly read a lot, let's put it that way, and I enjoy philosophy and history and everything myself, and it was very nice to talk to him, because he was very intellectual, and he liked to talk about those things. But he didn't flaunt it, and it was very seldom that he would initiate the conversation like that, but if you got into a conversation like that with him, he was there.

Do you remember the last time you saw him, or talked to him?

The last time I talked to him was right after the trial, and then he moved out of the country. I had not seen him personally, in person - I talked to him on the phone - since them. Of course, I talked to people around him, because we still took care of matters for him. But the best I can say, and I don't want to oversell my significance in his world, but I want to convey this side of him that people didn't see. I just hate - every time I hear Jay Leno or somebody take a cheap shot - and Jay Leno I think is a very funny man - but every time they take a cheap shot I think, that really isn't fair, because that's not who he is. And few people had an opportunity to really experience the kindness of him and his family. And few people really had the opportunity the have these intellectual discussions about great thinkers and writers. Freud and Jung - go down the street and try and find five people who can talk about Freud and Jung.

So I have to ask. Are you representing his estate?

No, no. I represented him up here for Santa Barbara-type matters.

And what's the status of Neverland Ranch?

I don't know the exact - I always hesitate to comment on this because I don't know exactly. It was taken over by an investor. I don't know that it was sold outright, I'm not sure exactly. But Michael - after having it raided three times by the cops to no avail for them, it shook him. He was living there up until the trial, and continued to live there during the trial, but just before the trial, they got a search warrant and went back out, allegedly because they wanted to find as-built plans for the house. And they could have asked us and we would have given them to him. They could have made a motion in court and we would have given them to him. They could have gone down to the archives and got them. But it was just an excuse to go out and raid it one more time. They roused him early in the morning, and his kids were there, and after that he said, 'I don't think I can live here anymore.' And it was a shame. He had his tree. He would go up in this tree, and he wrote some of his songs there. It's kind of like a historic place, but for him it was a very personal place.

Los Angeles - Michael Jackson's Lawyer, Bob Sanger, Talks to West Coast Sound About the Pop Star, His Life -- and His Reading Habits - West Coast Sound - LA Weekly

Paul McCartney: "It's so sad and shocking. I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones.

I send my deepest sympathy to his mother and the whole family and to his countless fans all around the world."

Ellen DeGeneres: "So sad to hear about Michael Jackson. His music changed our lives. The world has lost an amazing singer and dancer. I will miss him."

Sheryl Crow On Michael Jackson’s Death: ‘It Just Makes My Heart Sick’

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --
Sheryl Crow toured with Michael Jackson for nearly two years in the late 1980s on the singer’s “Bad” world tour and also appeared in the video for “Dirty Diana.”

In looking back at her “surreal” time with the King of Pop, Sheryl said it would have been difficult to imagine Jackson becoming an old man.

“For a moment there, I kind hoped that he’d staged his own getaway,” Sheryl told CNN’s Anderson Cooper during a phone interview Thursday night after news broke that Jackson died at age 50. “He’s got a lot of gigs coming up and the pressure of that, and I thought maybe he’d just staged a getaway. And when the news really started trickling in…it’s just, it’s makes my heart sick.”

Sheryl explained that she found it hard to foresee Jackson aging into his golden years.

“It’s tragic at 50 he’s gone,” Sheryl said. “But did we ever think he was going to grow to be an old man before our eyes? It would have almost been too surreal.”

Though Sheryl’s heart aches with his passing, she said she looks back on her time spent with the pop star with great joy.

“I can’t explain to you how much of a life [changing experience] it was for me to sing with him. There’s no way to express how amazingly talented this person was, because, not only had he been doing that quality of work his whole life, but he created dance moves that nobody had ever seen before, and to create something that no one has ever imagined is quite a gift,” she continued, adding, “He has literally inspired Usher and Justin Timberlake and every young artist who has come along.”

She describes her time spent on Jackson’s “Bad” tour as unlike anything she’d ever experienced, especially the time spent alone with the pop star.

“It was really surreal. I was lucky in that I got to hang out with him on a number of occasions by myself,” she recalled, “He invited me to his hotel room in Tokyo and we watched ‘Amos & Andy’ videos and the movie ‘Shane,’ just completely unexpected. He was funny, he had a big laugh, he loved practical joking and I can remember vividly going to Disneyland and going on a ride with him and he wouldn’t let the ride stop and by the end of it I was just absolutely ill. And he thought that was the funniest things he’d ever seen.”

Sheryl said that she worried about the pressure mounting on Jackson surrounding his 50 sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena, which were to begin in July.

“I think he felt pressure in every way. He had been under real scrutiny for the last 10 to 15 years. He’d been in real financial trouble. This was sort of a comeback for him. And that’s got to be an immense amount of pressure,” she told Anderson, adding, “I’m going to mourn his loss just like millions and millions of other fans out there, and I’m grateful for a brief moment in my life that I got to stand on stage nightly and watch him sing ‘Human Nature’ and ‘Billie Jean’ and do those moves and sing those incredible melodies, that were original to him… I’m sad and grateful at the same time.”

Sheryl Crow On Michael Jackson’s Death: ‘It Just Makes My Heart Sick’ | Access Hollywood - Celebrity News, Photos & Videos

Statement von Joseph Jackson: "Unsere ganze Familie ist tief bestürzt, erschüttert und unendlich traurig. Die Welt ohne unseren Sohn wird eine andere Welt sein. Bitte schließt Michael in Eure Gebete ein."

Klaus Meine, Sänger der Band Scorpions: „Es ist heute ein ganz trauriger Tag für die Welt der Musik. Denn wir haben einen einzigartigen Entertainer verloren. Aber mit seiner Musik wird er ewig weiterleben.“

Die zweimalige Wimbledon-Siegerin Serena Williams: „Er war ein großer Mann, wirklich eine Ikone. Worte können nicht beschreiben, was für ein Schock und ein Horror es für mich war, als ich von seinem Tod erfuhr. Ich bete für ihn und seine Familie. Es ist eine fürchterliche, fürchterliche, fürchterliche Sache.“

Die italienische Schauspielerin Sophia Loren: „Ich bin am Boden zerstört. Es wird nie einen zweiten Michael Jackson geben. Die Welt hat eine Ikone verloren, er hat der Welt mit seiner Musik einen Schatz geschenkt.“

Bürgerrechtler und Politiker Jesse Jackson: „Unsere Freude ist zu Ende. Er ist am Ende seiner Schmerzen. Er wurde von der Presse immer kritisiert, aber alles, was er immer wollte, war es, der größte Entertainer zu sein – und das war er.“

Rock-Star Lenny Kravitz: „Es wird niemals wieder ein Talent wie Michael Jackson geben. Ich habe auch gesehen, was er für ein wunderbarer Vater
war. Er war ein wundervoller Mensch. Ich bin tieftraurig. Du hast uns alles gegeben, was Du geben konntest.“

Sänger Udo Jürgens: „Das Talent von Michael Jackson war grenzenlos und ließ einen mit offenem Mund daneben stehen. Jackson war ein unglaublicher
Songschreiber und der Einzige seiner Generation, der eine derartige Bewegungskultur hatte. Seine Songs haben etwas Geniales und waren immer auf der Höhe der Zeit.“

Musikproduzent Frank Farian: „Jetzt steht er auf dem Olymp.“

Sängerin Nena: „Ich war immer ein absoluter Fan von Michael Jackson. Und ich hätte ihn gern gesehen im Sommer, in London. Ich wünsche Michael eine schöne Reise, wo immer er jetzt hingeht. Ich glaube, dass es ihm sehr gut geht.“

Berlins Regierender Bürgermeister Klaus Wowereit: „Ich empfinde auch Trauer. Jackson ist eine Legende, eine Persönlichkeit, die riesige Erfolge hatte, die Musikgeschichte geschrieben hat, legendär, aber auch eine gebrochene Persönlichkeit, die mit dem Ruhm, dem Metier, der Branche und der Familie nicht
zurecht kam.“

Burlesque-Tänzerin Dita von Teese: „Ich bin fassungslos und traurig. Ich kann gar nichts weiter dazu sagen. Ich kann es gar nicht glauben.“

Hollywood-Produzent Steven Spielberg: „So wie es keinen zweiten Fred Astaire oder Chuck Berry oder Elvis Presley geben wird, wird es nie jemanden geben, der mit Michael Jackson vergleichbar ist.“

Schauspielerin Jane Fonda: „Ich bin erschüttert. Mein Freund Michael Jackson ist tot.“

R&B-Star Usher: „Er hat Grenzen durchbrochen, er hat Radioformate verändert. Mit Musik hat er es Menschen wie Oprah Winfrey und Barack Obama ermöglicht, Einfluss auf den Mainstream auszuüben. Sein Vermächtnis ist beispiellos.“

Diana Ross and Tina Turner are mourning the loss of their fellow music legend Michael Jackson.

"I can't stop crying, this is too sudden and shocking," Ross says in a statement. "I am unable to imagine this. My heart is hurting. I am in prayer for his kids and the family."

'I am shocked and saddened by Michael's passing," Turner says. "I, along with his millions of fans, looked forward to seeing him tour one more time. Now, may he rest in peace."

Lance Armstrong: Terrible news about Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. My best to their friends, fans, and families.

Joel Madden: I'm getting off the computer. Gonna spend time with my family. It was a sad day. Need a break from all of this. Rest in Peace Michael.

Pink: Michael Jackson was one of the best that ever did it. RIP

Michael's ex-wives have spoken out about the tragedy.

Nurse Debbie Rowe - the mother of his two eldest children, Prince Michael, 12, and Paris, 11 - was said to be "inconsolable" at the passing of the man she was married to for two years until 1999.

Yusuf Islam:
"It's always inevitable, but a shock when death comes. With Michael, it seems to me even more shocking, and I feel very sad. He seemed to have the heart of a child, though he was a giant of a musician. The moment I heard he had been taken to hospital, the worst was anticipated. I hope he finally worked out his purpose in life, before he left it. I just discovered his middle name was Joseph. He'll be missed."

Ein sehr ergreifendes und ausführliches Statement von Lisa Marie, in dem sie sich u.a. selbst Vorwürfe macht.

Zitat von Lisa Marie Presley (myspace-Blog)

He Knew.

Years ago Michael and I were having a deep conversation about life in general.

I can't recall the exact subject matter but he may have been questioning me about the circumstances of my Fathers Death.

At some point he paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty, "I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did."

I promptly tried to deter him from the idea, at which point he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost matter of fact as if to let me know, he knew what he knew and that was kind of that.

14 years later I am sitting here watching on the news an ambulance leaves the driveway of his home, the big gates, the crowds outside the gates, the coverage, the crowds outside the hospital, the Cause of death and what may have led up to it and the memory of this conversation hit me, as did the unstoppable tears.

A predicted ending by him, by loved ones and by me, but what I didn't predict was how much it was going to hurt when it finally happened.

The person I failed to help is being transferred right now to the LA County Coroners office for his Autopsy.

All of my indifference and detachment that I worked so hard to achieve over the years has just gone into the bowels of hell and right now I am gutted.

I am going to say now what I have never said before because I want the truth out there for once.

Our relationship was not "a sham" as is being reported in the press. It was an unusual relationship yes, where two unusual people who did not live or know a "Normal life" found a connection, perhaps with some suspect timing on his part. Nonetheless, I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much.

I wanted to "save him" I wanted to save him from the inevitable which is what has just happened.

His family and his loved ones also wanted to save him from this as well but didn't know how and this was 14 years ago. We all worried that this would be the outcome then.

At that time, In trying to save him, I almost lost myself.

He was an incredibly dynamic force and power that was not to be underestimated.

When he used it for something good, It was the best and when he used it for something bad, It was really, REALLY bad.

Mediocrity was not a concept that would even for a second enter Michael Jackson's being or actions.

I became very ill and emotionally/ spiritually exhausted in my quest to save him from certain self-destructive behavior and from the awful vampires and leeches he would always manage to magnetize around him.

I was in over my head while trying.

I had my children to care for, I had to make a decision.

The hardest decision I have ever had to make, which was to walk away and let his fate have him, even though I desperately loved him and tried to stop or reverse it somehow.

After the Divorce, I spent a few years obsessing about him and what I could have done different, in regret.

Then I spent some angry years at the whole situation.

At some point, I truly became Indifferent, until now.

As I sit here overwhelmed with sadness, reflection and confusion at what was my biggest failure to date, watching on the news almost play by play The exact Scenario I saw happen on August 16th, 1977 happening again right now with Michael (A sight I never wanted to see again) just as he predicted, I am truly, truly gutted.

Any ill experience or words I have felt towards him in the past has just died inside of me along with him.

He was an amazing person and I am lucky to have gotten as close to him as I did and to have had the many experiences and years that we had together.

I desperately hope that he can be relieved from his pain, pressure and turmoil now.

He deserves to be free from all of that and I hope he is in a better place or will be.

I also hope that anyone else who feels they have failed to help him can be set free because he hopefully finally is.

The World is in shock but somehow he knew exactly how his fate would be played out some day more than anyone else knew, and he was right.

I really needed to say this right now, thanks for listening.

~LMP

Alles anzeigen

Quelle: IvoryKeys, MJJC

Darren Hayes in seinem Myspace-Blog:

Zitat

The man with a child in his eyes
When I was a little boy, he was my hero.
When I was a young man, he was my sanity.
Taking me away from the pain in my life and filling my heart with joy and wonder.
When I was 13 I saw him live in concert and from the second he arrived on stage I knew what I was going to do for the rest of my life. It was September 1987 and I have to this day never seen anything more extraordinary. To this day I've never seen a reaction from audience like the one he received. I've never seen magic and glitter fly through the air and witness that electricity start up hearts the way he did that night. And now I'm certain the world never again will. Thank you Michael Jackson. On behalf of dreamers the world over. The world is a duller place without you. I'm so privileged to have lived in the same lifetime to witness even a moment of your glory.

Hier der Link: *klick*

John Legend (gerade auf seienm Blog & Facebook):
Michael Jackson will always be remembered as one of the greatest performers in the history of popular music. As a child of the 80’s, I feel as though his music and his videos have been an inseparable part of my life and that of an entire generation. And the powerful thing about great music is that it will always live on. He was and always will be an icon. My heart goes out to his family, friends and countless fans for their tragic loss.

Will.I.Am

Zitat

"I am so grateful to have worked with the King (and always will be King)
of the music industry,He was a gift to the world, he is a bright light and I
wouldn't be surprised if the world stopped spinning tomorrow."

Akon

Zitat

“From my experience with Mike he was one of the healthiest
guys I’ve ever known.
He was always very conscious about his diet, very conscious
health-wise. For his age, he moved better than anyone I’ve known.
His death came as a complete shock to me.”

Lil Wayne

Zitat

“I personally can’t believe it,But it’s more unfortunate
for the world of music. … My love goes out to his family.
…A sad day in history, not just music.”

Kanye West: THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING MIKE

US-Präsident Barack Obama

Zitat

[...]

US-Präsident Barack Obama bezeichnete Jackson als "Musik-Ikone" und "spektakulären Performer". Wie der Sprecher des Weißen Hauses, Robert Gibbs, bekanntgab, sprach Obama Jacksons Familie und seinen trauernden Fans sein tiefes Beileid aus. Die ganze Welt werde sich an seine Lieder und seinen berühmten Moonwalk erinnern. Obama sagte demnach jedoch auch, dass es auch "tragische und traurige Aspekte in Jacksons Leben" gegeben habe.

[...]

Quelle

Pharell Williams Goodbye my friend ...