 Michael Jackson is not comfortable getting older, apparently. Pic: Kieran Doherty
August 30, 2008 10:27 PM
By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES - Singer Michael Jackson turned 50 on Friday, a shadow of the superstar once known as the "King of Pop" whose records thrilled millions before his bizarre personal life eclipsed his musical brilliance.
Unlike Madonna's 50th birthday bash and launch of another world tour earlier this month, the singer who wishes he was Peter Pan appears to have no special celebrations planned and a much-touted musical comeback has so far come to nothing.
A semi-recluse since his harrowing 2005 trial and acquittal on child sex abuse, Jackson has been living out of the spotlight for the past few months.
In a telephone interview with ABC television program Good Morning America, Jackson said he will "just have a little cake with my children and watch some cartoons," and he added that he feels "very wise and sage, but at the same time very young."
Recent pictures of Jackson in Las Vegas showed him dressed in pyjamas and slippers, and one had him sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a surgical mask.
Long-time Jackson family friend and lawyer Brian Oxman told
Reuters the singer sometimes used the wheelchair to get around
unobserved. "It is not an indication of any health problems. It
is an effort to be unseen," he said.
Oxman added that for the 50th birthday, "no-one is planning
anything special. He is just being quiet these days."
Billboard senior music analyst Geoff Mayfield saw nothing
unusual in Jackson's low-key birthday. "I don't think our
celebrities are real hot on how old they are getting. Why would
a pop singer draw attention to the fact they are getting
older?," Mayfield told Reuters.
Jackson's record label Sony BMG launched a big overseas
promotion to mark his half-century and a career that started
with his brothers in The Jackson Five, when Michael was 11, and
which produced the 1982 album Thriller - still the world's
biggest selling album and one of the most influential.
Fans in 11 countries, including Japan, Britain, the
Netherlands, Germany and Australia where Jackson has his
biggest following have voted on Web sites for their favorite
songs that have been compiled on a "King of Pop" hits album
being released on Friday.
Yet, a poll on AOL's pop culture news Web site PopEater.com
suggested that Jackson's surgically-altered face, his financial
problems, the shuttering of his "Neverland" fantasy ranch, and
the fallout of the 2005 trial, risked overshadowing his musical
achievements.
Some 49 per cent said Jackson's bizarre behavior changed the
way they viewed his classic hits of the 1980s, and 71 per cent
agreed there was "not a chance" of him making a comeback.
Jackson's last major public performance, in London in
November 2006, fizzled out in disappointment when he sang only
a few lines of an old song.
His last album of new music was Invincible in 2001, but
the 25th anniversary reissue of Thriller this year has sold
635,000 copies in the US alone and is one of the 30
best-selling albums of 2008.
Mayfield said that whatever the future holds for Jackson,
he has made an indelible mark on pop music.
"To really still be in the conversation in terms of music
sales decades after your career started is the exception not
the norm," Mayfield said. "It is hard to imagine any album ever
dominating the conversation as much as Thriller did."
Oxman said that all stars go through difficult stages and
he was hopeful that Jackson would yet resurrect his career. "We
are anxious and waiting for him to do something," Oxman said.
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