Daily Independent (Lagos)
Ifeanyi Ezeoba
2 July 2009
opinion
Lagos — I had just finished watching the FIFA Confederation Cup tournament semi-final clash between the host South Africa and defending champions Brazil, and was sympathizing with our African brothers Bafana Bafana over their loss to the Samba Boys, despite the great performance they had put up during the game. I thought that loss would be the only thing I had to deal with that night until I switched channels to listen to some news on CNN and the breaking news that greeted me was one that was shocking. Michael Jackson had suffered a heart attack and been rushed to the UCLA with unconfirmed reports from TMZ.com that he had passed on.
MJ's life is a typical story of how success could be a blessing and a burden. From a very young age he had known fame; he traded his childhood for music and entertainment and savoured all the glitz and glamour that came with it. He had hits like "I want you back" with his brothers a.k.a. the Jackson 5, and even greater hits as a solo artiste which earned him an unprecedented eight Grammy awards. MJ also co-wrote the hit song, "We are the world" which was performed by about forty famous recording artistes for philanthropic causes, targeting hunger especially in Africa. But by the 1990s his eccentric and strange lifestyle began to earn him a rather controversial reputation. From his frequent cosmetic surgeries to his addiction to pain killers and his marriage and divorce from his wife Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley, MJ continued to stumble from one child molestation charge to another. He did bizarre things like dangling his baby from the window of his hotel room, to masking his kids so they could not be recognized by the paparazzi. At the turn of the millennium MJ had gone from a multimillionaire to almost broke. He attracted even more curiosity when he started losing weight and became a shadow of himself, sometimes sighted on a wheel chair.
His travails saddened me a great deal and I prayed and hoped to see him reclaim his lost glory. The outpour of emotions when he came on stage to receive an award at an event in London in 2006 and the request by the audience that he perform even though he was not billed to, moved me and reinforced my hope that he was still in demand and would bounce back. Sometime last March he announced he would be on tour in the UK and I was elated because he was finally getting the chance to stage a comeback and it was estimated he could rake in nearly $50 million, which of course would have come in handy given his financial situation. That was one concert I would not have missed for any reason if I had been resident in the UK. I remember the conversation I had with my cousin who was visiting Nigeria from the UK for the Easter holidays about these concerts. We argued about Jackson's ability to stage a comeback, with my cousin insisting his performance would never measure up to what we used to know him for and as such could not exactly be taken as a comeback tour. I disagreed with him and managed to convince him that MJ would surprise his critics.
On the day my cousin left for the UK, I asked him to please make sure he attended at least one of his concerts for my sake, if only to get a firsthand account on how successful or otherwise the concerts would be. One week later he called me to say that the concerts were sold out and I told him it was an indication that MJ was back.
Who knew that MJ was never going to get that second chance?
All his fans that had bought his tickets really wanted him to have another shot at his career. If it were in their hands he would still be here. There is a lesson in this tragedy, even though we could get a second or even a third shot at life, the safest bet is to take it with our first shot. MJ had it and he blew it and when a second chance presented itself, his life had just a few weeks to go.
Despite the ups and downs in his life, I believe MJ is one in a billion. A gifted artiste who gave his all to keep us all entertained. The smiles he put on peoples' faces and the joy he brought to many lives will be forever remembered. He was an inspiration to many artistes and he is my personal music icon. I always tried to learn his signature dance step, the moonwalk but never got to do so. MJ was a legend, he awakened the pop culture in many, elicited mixed reaction to his personality and at the peak of his career had attained a cult status. He was an international newsmaker while he lived and even in death he still commanded attention.
Adieu MJ. We will miss you dearly and may your soul rest in peace.
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