Either Michael Jackson is on the verge of a stunning comeback, or he is sinking to new depths of personal and financial crisis: as usual, his reality seems rather flexible.
The singer has fired his business managers, formed a new company and says he is moving from Bahrain to Europe, possibly to Ireland, where he was travelling this week ”on personal business”, his spokesperson said. He plans live performances and a new album to be released next year.
On the other hand, according to a deposition in a new court case against him that opened in Santa Monica, California, on Wednesday, he has been forced to scrape together some money by renting out land at the Neverland ranch for cattle-grazing.
Jackson has sacked the financial experts and lawyers he employed while living in Bahrain, and has appointed his veteran spokesperson, Raymone Bain, as general manager of the newly formed Michael Jackson Company. He is also hiring the prominent New York entertainment lawyer Londell McMillan, whose past clients include Stevie Wonder and Prince, as part of a ”sweeping restructuring”, Bain said in a statement.
”He is very serious about his music. When you are a creative person and the creative juices are flowing again and you’re about to embark on new projects, you want to make sure your organisation is running smoothly,” she said. Living in Europe would enable him to be closer to important music-industry contacts, she said — a humbling arrangement for a musician who could once insist on any record executive coming to see him.
Although Jackson was acquitted last year of sexually abusing a teenage boy, the scandal ruined him. He was forced to agree to a debt-refinancing plan with Sony whereby he sold them a further chunk of the music catalogue they jointly own, Sony ATV, which derives much of its value from the 250 Beatles songs it includes.
Neverland was closed because of the non-payment of salaries and insurance premiums. But it turns out the singer did find a way to make it pay, according to documents connected to the Santa Monica case. Jackson, who is being sued for $3,8-million by his former associate Mark Schaffel, told Schaffel’s lawyer that all his spending money came from renting land for grazing.
”So all your cash, whenever you need cash to shop or whatever, comes from the cows?” the attorney asked. ”Yes, believe it or not,” Jackson replied. – Guardian Unlimited Â