There is talk that Michael Jackson is planning to convert to Islam. It was brother Jermaine that released this news to the media earlier this week. Jermaine, a Muslim since 1989, said that Michael had been reading Islamic books and is interested in the faith. Maybe Michael is looking for something to provide him with inner peace after two very tumultuous decades.
Michael has actually been lying relatively low lately. Through the years though, he has been in the news for one reason or another. It used to be that Michael was in the news for good reasons. The self-professed “King of Pop” actually lived up to his title in the late 70s/early 80s. “Off the Wall” was the first album in history to produce four top ten hits. In 1982, he released the blockbuster “Thriller,” which everyone thought secured his place in music history. I remember many of us at college gathering around the big screen television to see the premiere of the thirteen-minute video for the song “Thriller.” It was innovative and critically acclaimed. Jackson was nominated for twelve Grammys in 1984 and won eight – breaking the record for most Grammys won in a single year.
But even then, things were getting strange. Michael, once a cute chubby faced boy, had started to alter his looks. The joke goes that he went from a cute black boy to a middle-aged white woman, but sadly, the joke isn’t that far from the truth. We heard rumors of his nose literally falling off his face from all the plastic surgery. By the early 90s, Michael had become what Britney is now – less of a pop star and more of a media joke. There was the whole scandal over allowing children to stay at his Neverland Ranch. One of the children accused him of sexual abuse and although Michael denied it, they settled out of court in 1994 with Michael paying him $20 million dollars. Then, in a move, which surprised everyone, he married Lisa Marie Presley. I think that marriage made everyone uncomfortable. That marriage lasted less than two years and in 1996, he married his dermatologist’s nurse, Debbie Rowe. That union produced two children, but oddly, Rowe turned over full custody to Jackson after the divorce. People are still speculating if these are truly his children. Out of nowhere, another baby appeared in his life and Michael was ridiculed (rightfully so!) for hanging him over a hotel balcony in Germany in 2002. Although Michael was still popular overseas, most of America had grown tired of his strange antics and odd looks.
In 2003, a new trial of two counts of child molestation began. Michael was found not guilty in 2005. This time, he decided to take a break from the limelight and he has spent the last several years in the Gulf island of Bahrain. He returned to America last December and is currently living in Las Vegas.
There are rumors circulating that Michael is planning a comeback. Some of the reports say he will do concerts in Vegas, the capital of comebacks. There are also plans for a new album to be released in 2007.
I will be the first to admit that I love Michael’s old music. But while I can deal with most of the oddness, I still don’t think I can get over the accusations of child molestation. I don’t know if Michael was guilty or not, all I know is he obviously has lead a trouble life and it will take a lot for people to look past the last ten years and welcome him as the King of Pop again.