Showing posts with label Michael Jackson. Show all posts

Hold My Hand ft. Akon Michael Jackson

The music video also features a heavy dose of Akon -- MJ's duet partner on the song -- and around 2:44 ... a man with one hand. A casting call for the video had listed a role for "a disabled person with no hands."

This is the first video and single from the album "MICHAEL" -- which officially drops on Tuesday.

Early Friday morning, Michael Jackson's website released the tracklisting for Michael, the first album to be released after the pop icon's June 2009 death. The album, which hits stores December 14, will be teased by the single "Hold My Hand," a collaboration with the "Smack That" singer Akon.

"Hold My Hand" was recorded in 2007, and an unfinished version of the song appeared online in the summer of 2008. According to a statement accompanying the posting of the tracklist, Jackson wrote a note saying that he wanted "Hold My Hand" to be the first single from the project he was working on before his death.

"The world was not ready to hear 'Hold My Hand' when it leaked a couple years ago," Akon, who completed production of the track in time for Michael's release, said in the label's statement. "We were devastated about it. But its time has definitely come; now in its final state, it has become an incredible, beautiful, anthemic song."

"Hold My Hand" will be available online beginning at 12:01 a.m. ET on Monday, November 15. The 10-track Michael also contains collaborations with 50 Cent ("Monster") and Lenny Kravitz ("[I Can't Make It] Another Day").

Another song from Michael, "Breaking News," was released earlier this week; the jittery, press-hostile track was greeted by some controversy about whether or not Jackson was actually singing on it. On Thursday, a lawyer for Jackson's estate released a statement asserting that Jackson did, in fact, provide the track's lead vocal, and that an unnamed person who is "one of the best-known forensic musicologists in the nation," as well as Jackson collaborators like Teddy Riley and Elliot "Dr. Freeze" Straite, could vouch for the track's authenticity.

The complete track listing for Michael:

1. Hold My Hand (Duet with Akon)
2. Hollywood Tonight
3. Keep Your Head Up
4. (I Like) The Way You Love Me
5. Monster (Featuring 50 Cent)
6. Best Of Joy
7. Breaking News
8. (I Can't Make It) Another Day (Featuring Lenny Kravitz)
9. Behind The Mask
10. Much Too Soon

Michael Jackson's Doctors Avoid Charges for His Death

The California Attorney General's office has announced that it won't seek charges against seven doctors and one nurse who were under investigation following Michael Jackson's death for prescribing drugs to the King of Pop. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Jerry Brown said that the investigators did not find sufficient evidence, CNN reports. However, one unspecified doctor who knowingly provided drugs to Jackson under one of the star's aliases could be disciplined by the California medical board. While the Attorney General's office declined to name the physicians in their probe, it's believed that Jackson's dermatologist Arnold Klein, whose practice was searched in the days following Jackson's death, and the singer's nurse Cherilyn Lee, who was subpoenaed by authorities, were among those investigated.

Look back at Michael Jackson's life in photos.

Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, remains the lone suspect in Jackson's death. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter; Jackon's death was ruled a homicide due to acute Propofol intoxication. An additional autopsy report found a large amount of the anti-anxiety drug lorazepam in Jackson's system, which "would have accentuated the respiratory and cardiovascular depression from propofol," causing Jackson to go into cardiac arrest. Murray pleaded not guilty in court to the charges.

Last month, Murray's lawyer Ed Chernoff mapped out the doctor's defense strategy, claiming that either a third party or Jackson himself administered the fatal dose of Propofol, a powerful sedative usually limited to surgical operations and hospital use, when Murray left the room for two minutes on the night of June 25th, 2009. While an aesthesia expert told the coroner that it would be "difficult" for Jackson to self-administer the Propofol, Murray's legal team argues that it is possible. Due to his role in Jackson's death, the California Attorney General has twice attempted to have the state's medical board revoke Murray's license to practice in California, but the judge overseeing Murray's case has rejected the Attorney General's bid. Murray's trial is expected to begin in the fall.

The world's most famous right-hand glove sold for $190,000 at an auction on the first anniversary of its owner, Michael Jackson's death. Jackson first wore the white Swarovski crystal-studded glove during the 1984 Victory Tour with his brothers.

Originally expected to sell for $30,000 the glove's new price tag far exceeded expectations. "People flew in from Asia, Russia, all over. Now that he's gone, we now realize the true legend we lost," Darien Julien of Julien's Auctions, which ran the auction told the Associated Press. The winning bidder was Wanda Kelley, a fan and collector from Los Angeles. "Let's just say I wasn't walking out of here without that glove," she said.

The auction included 200 items of Jackson's memorabilia. A pair of loafers worn he wore, which were estimated to be worth between $2,000 and $3,000, sold for $90,000. A white fedora he wore sold for $56,250 and an autograph he signed the day before his death -- June 24, 2009 -- sold for $21,000.

Would you pay $350,000 for this?

That's how much Michael Jackson's glove -- called the "Holy Grail of Michael Jackson memorabilia" -- sold for at auction in New York last night. It was expected to bring in $50,000.

If I Had That Kind Of Money I Still Wound't I cand Find Somethething Better to do with my money R.I.P. Mike .

Jackson single released as new recording

Song has striking resemblance to older release

Michael Jackson's new single "This Is It" was released online and on radio on Monday but fans and music experts quickly spotted striking similarities to an 18-year-old recording.

"This Is It" was promoted as a new Jackson recording and was released around the world nearly four months after the "king of pop" died in Los Angeles of a prescription drug overdose at the age of 50.

It will be available to buy as part of a two-disc album that hits the shelves internationally on Oct. 26 and in North America on Oct. 27 to coincide with the global limited release of the Jackson rehearsal footage movie "This is It" on Oct. 28.

Fans said the "This Is It" song has the same melody and almost identical lyrics to a little-known 1991 recording by Puerto Rican singer SaFire. A version of the SaFire song, called "I Never Heard," was posted on YouTube on Monday.

In Los Angeles, 1960s teen idol and songwriter Paul Anka told celebrity web site TMZ.com that he had written the song with Jackson in 1983, and that Jackson himself had recorded it under the title "I Never Heard" in the early 1990s.

Sony Music's Columbia/Epic Label Group and executors of Jackson's estate did not immediately return calls for comment.

But TMZ.com quoted executor John Branca as saying, "We acknowledge that Michael and Paul wrote this song together."

Anka told the website that those handling Jackson's estate had apologized for "ripping off my song."

The "This Is It track, which features backing vocals by Jackson's brothers, opens with a soft, soulful introduction and the lines: "This is it, here I stand/I'm the light of the world, I feel grand."

Jackson's other executor, John McClain, who is also a co-producer of the "This is It" album, had said in a statement on Monday that the song "only defines, once again, what the world already knows -- that Michael is one of God's greatest gifts."

Some critics begged to differ. Jon Pareles, the chief pop critic of The New York Times, said in a blog it "won't be on anyone's list of best Michael Jackson songs, even if it's a long list" and hoped there was something better in the Michael Jackson vaults of album outtakes.

The "This Is It" movie is based on rehearsal video shot in Los Angeles in the weeks before Jackson's planned 50 comeback concerts in London. It was the subject of a $60 million deal between Jackson's estate and concert promoter AEG Live and Sony Pictures.

Sales of Jackson's records spiked after his death and the release of the movie and album will add to the value of the "Thriller" singer's estate, estimated at around $400 million.
Sony Music said the first disc of the album will feature some of Jackson's greatest hits plus two versions of the "new" single.

The second disc will include unreleased versions of some of the singer's classic tracks and a spoken word poem entitled "Planet Earth" performed by Jackson and never heard before.

Sony Pictures and Sony Music are units of Sony Corp.

The results are in, and they're not what you expected.
Sure, Michael Jackson may have played a zombie in "Thriller," but reports of his ravaged, skeleton-like body were greatly exaggerated, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner's surprising autopsy results revealed today. In fact, the King of Pop was in good shape for a 50-year-old man when he died of a drug overdose in June.
Among the report's revelations: The "Beat It" singer's heart was strong and revealed no evidence of plaque accumulation, and his major organs, including both kidneys, functioned normally.
However, he did have his share of ailments, most notably chronically inflamed lungs that left him short of breath, though the coroner took pains to note that such a condition wouldn't have been a factor that caused his death. The findings also revealed that Jackson had mild plaque buildup in his leg arteries and arthritis in his lower spine and some fingers.
There are also some findings bound to intrigue the morbidly curious.

Jackson's face and neck were scarred by plastic surgery, he had tattooed lips and eyebrows and, as previously reported, he did have injection marks all over his arms. His 136-pound weight was on the low end but was within the healthy range for his 5-foot-9 frame.
The autopsy results back up the findings of AEG-approved doctors, who gave Jackson passing marks during a physical earlier this year, but the coroner's report doesn't bode well for Dr. Conrad Murray.
Although no charges have been filed, Jackson's personal physician remains under investigation for criminal manslaughter for dosing Jackson with the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid, despite such sedatives only being approved for use in a hospital setting.
Consequently, the coroner last month ruled Jackson's death a homicide caused by "acute propofol intoxication" along with several other drugs listed as a contributing factor.