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    MJ- Misunderstood
    MJ- Misunderstood
    MJ- Misunderstood
    Ebook112 pages1 hour

    MJ- Misunderstood

    By John Perry

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    About this ebook

    Who was the man called Michael Jackson? Was he a star without childhood? Was he an occultist who worshiped the Devil? Was he gay or frigid or asexual in orientation? Was his death premeditated or a natural death? Is Michael Jackson really dead? Honest answers and illuminations are proffered to some of these questions in this unauthorized biography of the greatest artist of all time who remained an enigma even in death.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPipit Inc.
    Release dateMay 16, 2018
    ISBN9781386680079
    MJ- Misunderstood
    Author

    John Perry

    John Perry graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University, with additional studies at University College, Oxford, England. Before beginning his career as an author in 1997, he was an award-winning advertising copywriter and radio producer. John has published 21 books as an author, collaborator, or ghostwriter. He is the biographer of Sgt. Alvin York, Mary Custis Lee (wife of Robert E. Lee and great granddaughter of Martha Washington), and George Washington Carver. Among other books, he has also written about the 1925 Scopes “monkey” trial (Monkey Business, with Marvin Olasky, B&H Publishing, 2005) and contemporary prison reform (God Behind Bars, Thomas Nelson, 2006). He is a two-time Gold Medallion finalist and Lincoln Prize nominee. He lives in Nashville.

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      Book preview

      MJ- Misunderstood - John Perry

      MJ- MISUNDERSTOOD 

      Dedicated to the memory of Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

      FOREWORD

      Michael Jackson, fondly called MJ by his teeming fans, is a star that needs no introduction. Considered by many to be the greatest artist of all time, MJ remains the ultimate pop star that bestrode the entertainment world like a colossus; reigning as a king from his debut into the music scene at a young age, up till his gracious exit from the world at the age of 50 years. Gifted, rich and controversial, Michael Jackson was a phenomenon that defied earthly interpretations and societal stereo types, growing to become a legend shrouded in enigma.

      But was Michael Jackson really the freak the media made him out

      to be? Was he a maverick whose riches and privileges of luxury had robbed of common sense? Was he really asexual in orientation or homosexual or a chronic pedophile as touted by the press during his lifetime? Was Michael Jackson an occultist who worshipped the Devil? Was his death natural or premeditated? Who was the man behind the mask?

      These and other like questions that had agitated the curious for long are given answers in this abridged unauthorized biography of Michael Jackson; undertaken with the noble intention of painting him in true light, now that the opportunity to reflect on his life without being critical to his person is presented with his perennial absence.

      It is hoped that at the end of the book, the reader will emerge more educated about the character and person of Michael Jackson; and take a lesson or two away from the legendary life of a Pop Star, who touched many a life with love; given in his voice, in his vision and in the charity of a heart which grew to be larger than life itself.

      Happy reading. John Perry,

      Los Angeles, California

      MJ- MISUNDERSTOOD 

      There will never be another Michael Jackson

      -Mickey Rooney

      CHAPTER 1

      STARBIRTH

      From starlet to Superstar

      Michael Jackson was born into greatness on a tepid summer day on August 29, 1958, to the family of Joseph and Katherine Jackson, in the sleepy town of Gary, Indiana. The stars blazed bright in the night sky and the trees shook in rhythm to the breeze of the lovely season, where Michael laid in the cradle, adored upon by a mother and father, who felt an incredible love for another destiny child gifted to them.

      Born in the 8th position in the family, in the 8th month, Michael was welcome into a warm and lovable home of eclectic mix of brothers and sisters, where respect and dignity flourished, as well as raw talents. It was in this humble family he found a home, a name and identity, through which his artistic genius was to flower in the wilderness of a fertile American landscape.

      When Michael Jackson was born, the American landscape was racially demarcated. It was the era of agitation for blacks in America, clamoring for a change in civil status from second class citizens to dignified full American citizens. It was also the period of cultural reawakening begun in Harlem, in time transported to other climes, which gave blacks a platform of expression in music and art and also a leeway to fortune.

      At this time, the gulf that separated blacks from the whites in America was so wide it extended to almost every facet of its national life. White folks, as they were then called, lived in relative affluence and enjoyed unrestricted citizenship in cities built with modern amenities and replete with opportunities denied their black counterparts; who lived in slums and ghettos, with a checkered citizenship that limited their aspirations and destinies.

      MJ- MISUNDERSTOOD 

      Gary, Indiana where the Jackson family lived was an example of such a black settlement afflicted by poverty and want, and a crucible for crime and regression. To support body and soul and a family in such a harsh system was a herculean task for any black man. It was a place where men survived more by grace than power and Michael's father, as the breadwinner of the family, was not exempted from this unsavory reality. Stark, cold and dangerous, Gary was a jungle created for the strong-hearted, the disciplined and the industrious and no place for laggards and lily livered to survive. Knowing the odds he was up against as a dedicated provider for a large family, Michael's father strove hard and dreamt harder to make a difference, even in the stereotypical setting that America was, to ensure he made success for himself and his family.

      Michael's father, simply referred to as Joe or Joseph by his family and close friends, was a patriarch with a vision, who struggled hard working in a Steel Mill to provide for his large family. He was known to be a strict disciplinarian who abhorred no nonsense from friends and family alike, taught by the prevalent harsh system of segregation in his time to strive harder than most in achieving the lofty 'American Dream' which he dreamt for himself and his family.

      Supported by an amiable and loving wife in the person of Katherine Jackson who managed their home, Joe toiled relentlessly, daring the heat and hunger in the Steel Mill where he worked to make ends meet in

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