Michael Jackson's Last Days Depicted In Rolling Stone

People who worked with Jackson say he was determined to make a comeback.
By Kyle Anderson

Following up on their Michael Jackson tribute issue, Rolling Stone has put the pop star on the cover for the second consecutive issue. The cover story, called "Michael Jackson's Final Days," delves deep into the events that led up to Jackson's death on June 25, including preparations for his This Is It concerts in London and his attempts to reorganize his life into something a little more inconspicuous. The piece visits Jackson's rehearsal spaces (there were a total of three) and quotes the people who surrounded the singer at the end of his life, including session musicians, security guards and promoters. "They seemed like they'd be the people who would have the least amount of spin," writer Claire Hoffman says in a video on the magazine's Web site. "Everybody was saying that he was really, really into this. He was so pumped about doing this tour. He wanted it to be the greatest show on Earth."
According to the article, Jackson had become well aware of the public's perception of him, and the London concerts were consciously meant to be a comeback that would re-establish Jackson as a great musician rather than a tabloid icon. "He wanted people to see his work and not just talk about his lifestyle," said AEG CEO Randy Phillips, who also told Rolling Stone that Jackson had intended on settling down in Las Vegas once the shows were completed. Multiple sources — including Grammy Awards producer Ken Ehrlich — said that Jackson's rehearsals were awe-inspiring. "I got chills, literally," he told the magazine.
The story, which hits newsstands Wednesday (July 22), paints a picture of Jackson as an artist who knew he had fallen off a bit and was determined to reclaim his place. Many people surrounding Jackson believed that the concerts would have indeed resurrected his career, but the public will be able to decide for themselves when Sony Pictures releases a film in October pieced together from more than 80 hours of Jackson rehearsal footage. Sony spent almost $60 million in a bidding war for the footage, which also features at least three new music videos — including an alternate version of Jackson's legendary "Thriller."