Michael Jackson - Prince Rivalry Kept Jackson Up At Night

15 October 2009 22:06

Picture: Michael Jackson The memorial service for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, at the Staples Center Los Angeles, Califor....

Prince Rivalry Kept Jackson Up At Night

MICHAEL JACKSON's longtime pop rivalry with PRINCE was partly to blame for the superstar's death - because he worked himself into the grave to make sure his comeback shows in London were better than anything the PURPLE RAIN hitmaker could produce.

Randy Phillips, the promoter behind the ill-fated comeback shows, has revealed the costs of the This Is It production were spiralling out of control in the weeks leading up to the King of Pop's death in June (09) - because the pop superstar couldn't stop coming up with expensive ideas.

Phillips, the president of promotion firm AEG Live which organised the London concerts, held a meeting with Jackson and his musical director Kenny Ortega and begged the star to stop adding ideas.

He tells Entertainment Weekly magazine that Jackson was worried Prince would get the ideas if he ignored them.

He explains, "We went and met with Michael, and Kenny said, 'Michael, you've got to stop. We've got an incredible show, we don't need any more vignettes.'

"Michael said, 'But Kenny, God channels this through me at night. I can't sleep because I'm so super-charged.'

"Kenny said, 'But Michael, we have to finish. Can't God take a vacation?' Without missing a beat, Michael said, 'You don't understand - if I'm not there to receive these ideas, God might give them to Prince.'"

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Comments View All Comments (5)

7th January 2010 17:55 lovemusic (1)

	Perhaps stress was responsible, but not caused by Prince. Remember around 2007, Michael went to Prince for help regarding his comeback. Michael was worried that the media would yet again attack him, and wanted to prove he wasn't past it. Prince suggested that he came back with unplugged shows in a Las Vegas residency. Not only would the pressure be less on him without having to worry about everything around him, also, that the media are less critical of performances without gimmicks/props etc. He suggested "No gimmicks, no costume changes, no smoke or mirrors, just his voice." To prove he was really and truly up to it. A gimmicky performance could have been criticized as covering up an inability to match up to his past. They were pretty close anyway. There are been numerous sightings of MJ at Paisley park (Princes home), with the two of them playing sports with eachother, they've also been seen backstage at eachothers concerts many a time. Seeing as Princes religion of the past decade is the same as Michaels since childhood to 1991, and from 2005 onwards, tied with the fact Michael always attributed his talent as a gift from God, having the same God, is probably the reasoning behind the final comment - 'You don't understand - if I'm not there to receive these ideas, God might give them to Prince.' It's not very fair on Prince, who even despite being notoriously shy in front of the press, came forward to stand up for Michael at points in his life when the media, and Michaels so-called 'friends' turned against him. Unfair especially - when Princes more toned down suggestion for Michaels comeback, with much less to lose, would not have amounted the same stress on him. He might even be alive today. RIP Michael

12th December 2009 04:36 MJ Fan 4 Ever (2)

	When are you haters going to learn? The more bad things you say about MJ, just makes him more famous. You can call him whatever you want. Everyone has their own things that they like. Hell, if he met most of these people posting these ignorant comments, I'm sure he would think they were weird. Prince is good. He has a great deal of talent, but he doesn't have that wow factor that MJ had. Besides, MJ had been doing it since he was 5. His talent proved he had years of practice. Also, this lady gaga chick is ridiculous, but people love her. See how people have double standards.

11th December 2009 23:52 tattoodizzy (1)

	Thats why he is wakko jakko, Prince would never steal anything that Mike whould come up with because everything Prince has done has been way more cooler and ahead of its time than anything mike has done.And PRINCE is a real musician that creates and writes MUSIC.He never has or would write music to cater to children like barney.Mikes music was for little kids.Prince smokes EVERYONE in the music Business.Mike(in his words)was Peter Pan HAAAAH NO COMPARISON