A life for L.O.V.E. Michael Jackson stories you should have heard before Bearbeitet von Brigitte Bloemen, Marina Dobler, Miriam Lohr 1. Auflage 2013. Taschenbuch. 456 S. Paperback ISBN 978 3 8495 5196 4 Format (B x L): 14 x 21 cm Weitere Fachgebiete > Musik, Darstellende Künste, Film > Musikwissenschaft Allgemein > Einzelne Komponisten und Musiker Zu Inhaltsverzeichnis schnell und portofrei erhältlich bei Die Online-Fachbuchhandlung beck-shop.de ist spezialisiert auf Fachbücher, insbesondere Recht, Steuern und Wirtschaft. Im Sortiment finden Sie alle Medien (Bücher, Zeitschriften, CDs, eBooks, etc.) aller Verlage. Ergänzt wird das Programm durch Services wie Neuerscheinungsdienst oder Zusammenstellungen von Büchern zu Sonderpreisen. Der Shop führt mehr als 8 Millionen Produkte. Brigitte Bloemen (ed.) Marina Dobler (ed.) Miriam Lohr (ed.) A life for L.O.V.E. Michael Jackson stories you should have heard before tredition Although the editors and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the editors and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any mistakes or misunderstandings. The editors of this book are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with Michael Jackson. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the editors. © 2013 Brigitte Bloemen, Marina Dobler, Miriam Lohr Verlag: tredition GmbH, Hamburg Printed in Germany ISBN: 978-3-8424-5196-4 Das Werk, einschließlich seiner Teile, ist urheberrechtlich ge- schützt. Jede Verwertung ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages und des Autors unzulässig. Dies gilt insbesondere für die elek- tronische oder sonstige Vervielfältigung, Übersetzung, Verbrei- tung und öffentliche Zugänglichmachung. Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek: Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliograf- ische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. Visit us at mjjbook.com. Contents Helping... 9 Michael Jackson Preface 10 Brigitte Bloemen, Marina Dobler & Miriam Lohr The way he made me FEEL 20 Christine Dowling So thoughtful of others 24 Teddy Lakis I’m just a person... 31 Michael Jackson Do not say anything! 32 Firpo Carr ...Take a look at yourself... 33 Stephen Simpson Hope in humanity 37 Adriana Lucas I find in animals... 43 Michael Jackson Invited by the King 44 Cécile Duteil He did it from his heart 46 Alex Gernandt I saw this little kid... 50 Michael Jackson Michael’s Dream Foundation 51 Christine Serene Precious human moments 84 Darlene Dunloe Love, Michael 86 R. M. In a world... 87 Michael Jackson A gift to keep me strong 88 Mallory Cyr The charitable efforts of MJ 94 Vincent Amen MJ and the blank check 98 Gwen J. Cariño Travelling the world... 108 Michael Jackson MYstory: Past - Present - Future 109 Steven Hodges Fight against indifference 114 Dr. Patrick Treacy Flowers from Michael 118 Denise Fergus Do I really believe... 127 Michael Jackson The real Michael 128 David Nordahl Just right the way he was 136 Mark Lester My source of faith 139 Stefania Capasso Children show me... 149 Michael Jackson Dreams become reality 150 Julie Windsor Mike, be nice 218 Michael La Perruque Inspired by Michael 228 Clair I’m looking forward... 231 Michael Jackson A trip of a lifetime 232 Family Wolf My Michael 251 Maria Crawford We want to make... 257 Michael Jackson A gift from God 258 Dieter Wiesner Following in his light 272 Brenda Jenkyns Onstage with Michael 276 Andrew Hudson Be my guest 284 Stephanie Große My fondest memory... 290 Michael Jackson How Michael really was 291 Jacqueline Tas Magic Echoes over Prague 296 Julia What I usually do... 301 Michael Jackson I want all that rack 302 Wayne Galley He believed in giving 307 Markus Thiele We’ve been treating... 318 Michael Jackson A better place 319 Talin Shajanian He did not have to do it 329 Christine Fossemalle We are Germans... 334 Michael Jackson Shining like a bright star 335 John Isaac He would not hurt a fly 344 Howard McCrary Surprise in the morning 348 Nancy Crabtree Our goal is... 350 Michael Jackson He loved more 351 The Munichs He was a giver and helper 366 Curtis Mickey Gordon True miracle 370 Antonietta Parisi If you enter this world... 381 Michael Jackson To be a father 382 Seány O’Kane The Children’s Congress 388 Maria Drown The foundation of all... 393 Michael Jackson Michael Jackson’s Neverland dream 394 Robert E. “Rob” Swinson The Power of Love 428 Violet Gaitan-Silva Neverland appeals.... 439 Michael Jackson I was there! 440 Seth Riggs Epilogue 446 Brigitte Bloemen, Marina Dobler & Miriam Lohr Bibliography 448 Thank you’s 452 Credits 453 Message from Make-a-wish 454 9 Preface by Brigitte Bloemen, Marina Dobler & Miriam Lohr The idea for this project started about a year after our first book “It’s all about L.O.V.E.” was released. The book, that con- tained stories by fans about their relationship and experiences with Michael Jackson, was well received in the fan community. We were happy about a lot of positive comments and espe- cially about the fact that we were able to donate much more money resulting from the book’s revenues to charity than we had initially expected. Apart from general comments on the book, we had also been contacted by enthusiastic readers ask- ing if we would consider doing a “volume two” with more fan stories. While we believe that it had been important to publish a book showing the relationship between Michael and his fans, and while there are, no doubt, still thousands of incredible fan stories out there, we hesitated to put our energy and time into another book like that. During that time we noticed the many stories about Michael’s humanitarian efforts that started to emerge on the internet. As long-time fans we were familiar with a lot of Michael’s humani- tarian work, however, we were deeply touched by every new story we read and the big difference Michael had made in the lives of so many people. The contrast to the stories published about Michael in the me- dia at the same time, with the “Conrad Murray trial” unfold- ing, could not have been more blatant. As they have done for so many years, the media yet again put out outrageous and twisted stories about Michael. We all had witnessed and experi- 10 enced first hand how misunderstood Michael was for so many years of his too short life. Too many times we had seen his pain caused by the cruel sensationalism of the media, too many times he was crucified for greed and money. And even now, after his death, the slander didn’t stop. Untrustworthy sensa- tionalized stories were preferred to beautiful accounts full of love and positive emotions. The portrayal the world is currently given of Michael and his life is far from being complete and has rather been heavily ma- nipulated during his living years and underwent further modi- fications after his death. Somehow the public picture of him is like looking into a “distorting mirror”: Certain aspects of his life have been pointed out whereas other rather important parts strangely never found the attention they deserve. People talk about his “legacy”, but we feel that this legacy is so much more than just that of his musical career achievements and so much different than that promoted in the media. Once asked in an interview what he would like to be remembered for, Michael himself said: “Helping, especially children!”. So he himself left no doubt that he wanted his efforts to heal the world to be at least part of his legacy. Could we just sit back and watch how this was overlooked? Suddenly it was crystal clear that if we would ever take on the burden to work on another book in our spare time again, it needed to be a project collecting stories about Michael’s ef- forts to help, to be a source of support and positive energy for people, to be a good example as a human being, to spread love. It became a concern for us to create a record of Michael’s small and big achievements - not his musical and artistical successes, which are well documented and recognized around the world, but his humanitarian accomplishments. 11 Only few people know that Michael Jackson not only broke re- cords in the field of music and entertainment, but he also used his influence and success to break records with his humani- tarian achievements. The Millennium Edition of the “Guinness Book of World Records” lists him for breaking the record of “Most Charities Supported By a Pop Star “; until the year 2000, Michael had given to 39 different charity organizations. Estimat- ed amounts speak of more than 300 million dollars that were donated by Michael during his lifetime. And in 1992 he even set up his own charity organization called “Heal the World”. He used his extraordinary level of fame to change things for the better and make people aware of problems long before it was popular to do so. Recognizing his countless efforts to help and give, Michael has also received some awards during his lifetime, as well as after his death. Organizations like the NAACP, the UNCF or the “Boy Scouts of America”, to name just a few, have honored him for his humanitarian work. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush Senior have awarded him with acknowledgements for his commitment against drugs and his care for disadvantaged chil- dren at his Neverland Ranch.