Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (4 page)

He was referring to Apollo
clone theaters across America that
booked only black acts. On that
chitlin' circuit, the Jackson brothers
continued to find gigs-at least
sometimes-but no stardom.

Over the years the accusation
that Michael was a "midget" has
been attributed to such popular acts
as Sam and Dave or the Isley
Brothers. It is not clear at this point
who started the rumor, but word
soon traveled the circuit that Michael was indeed a midget, and that Papa Joe
was palming him off on audiences as a child.

In spite of Gladys Knight's promotion, Gordy at Motown sent word that
"ol' Joe could take his boys and shove them where the sun don't shine." But
another producer, Gordon Keith, agreed to sign the boys to his Steeltown
label.

In April of 1968, their record, "Big Boy," was heard over WWCA radio
in Indiana. "It didn't set the world on fire," Joe later recalled, "but it sold some
copies."

Bypassing Gordy, Gladys Knight and performer Bobby Taylor got Ralph
Seltzer, also a producer at Motown, to grant Joe's talented sons an audition in
Detroit, not only headquarters of the U.S. automobile industry, but the home
of Motown Records. In this unlikely setting, the studio was turning out hit
records for Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and, of course, The Supremes with
Diana Ross.

If Katherine became jubilant at the sound of Heaven, Joe responded in
equal fashion to the word "Motown." It was not only the hottest record label
in America, but evoked just how far a black entertainer could advance in show
business. Joe once told Berry Gordy Jr.: "To me, Motown means that a black
man can live in a fancy mansion with white servants, have money in his pocket, a hot pussy in his bed, and three big cars in the garage. It also means that
my sons might one day have the name recognition of Frank Sinatra, Bing
Crosby, and Dinah Shore."

Michael remembered "shakin' like a leaf in the wind" when he was
brought before Seltzer to perform at the same sound studio where The
Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and The Four Tops had scored big. After the band's
performance of several songs was filmed, Seltzer thanked the boys for coming and shook Joe's hand. "We'll call you," he said, making it sound like a dismissal. Seltzer wasn't going to commit himself until he got the tape to Gordy.

Gordy was "forced" to sit through the film. At its end, he immediately
instructed his staff to "sign them up. That little Michael's going to be a big
star. Bigtime, that is."

When Gordy signed The Jackson 5, Michael was only ten years old. "But
he had as much talent as Sammy Davis Jr., and Sammy boy was about as good
as it gets," Gordy said. "In time, Michael will be even bigger than Sammy."

Thanks to earnings from their road trips, the Jackson family finally had a
phone to receive the call from Seltzer, telling them to "get your asses back to
Detroit," where boilerplate contracts awaited The Jackson 5. Without reading
it, Joe signed for his sons on March 11, 1969. Gordy himself had bought out
The Jackson 5 contract from Steeltown Records for a small amount of money.
Gordon Keith later referred to the settlement as "peanuts."

If Joe had read the contract he'd signed, he would have learned that his
boys would be getting a royalty of only 2.7 percent, the industry low.

Gordy mandated that, for the purposes of PR and media, he wanted it to
be broadcast that The Jackson 5 had been discovered not by Gladys Knight but
by Diana Ross. Ross had just achieved her 12th Number One hit for Motown,
and was "hot." Already famous, Ross would, in time, become the best-selling
female vocalist in music history. As such, her fictitious involvement in their
"discovery" would add an attention-getting boost to Motown's introduction of
The Jackson 5.

Michael idolized Ross. "She moves on stage like a panther and when she
smiles her teeth shine like diamonds," he said. Before meeting her, he changed
his clothing five times before arriving at a Christmas party at the Gordy mansion in Detroit. Gordy had booked the Jackson brothers to entertain his starstudded party held at this million-dollar residence with its marble floors and
Grecian columns. Actually, at the time of the party, the house no longer func tioned as Gordy's main residence, as he'd moved to Los Angeles where he
was deeply involved in a romance with Ross.

In her white silk gown, with sparkling diamond earrings, Ross made her
appearance before the Jackson brothers. She was truly "The Supreme" of The
Supremes.

She immediately gravitated to Michael, sensing he was the star of the
family. "Cute boys are so delicious," she said, bending down to plant a kiss on
Michael's cheek.

"I'll never wash my face again, Miss Ross," he told her.

"I insist on most people calling me Miss Ross," she told him. "But to you,
it's Diana."

"Yes, Miss Ross."

"As Humphrey Bogart told Claude Rains in Casablanca, I think this is
going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"Who is Humphrey Bogart?"

"Bogie?" she asked in astonishment. "You've never heard of him? Kid,
I've got to take you under my wing. You've got a lot to learn."

For the early part of the evening, Michael followed Ross around the mansion. He was shown a portrait Gordy had commissioned of himself as
Napoleon, dressed in full military regalia.

She felt uncomfortable with
this young boy because of his constant stares. "He was soaking up
my every move like a sponge with
his wide eyes," she later said.
Finally, she pinched his cheek
aggressively, nicknaming him
"saucer eyes."

The Jackson brothers,
with Michael front and center

Wandering through Gordy's
mansion, Jackie was also awed.
"I'm sure the Queen of England
doesn't live in such a big place. Out
back was a golf course. There was
also an indoor swimming pool. I'd
heard rumors about nekked swim
parties. I was scared shitless. All
the big Motown stars were there
that night to hear us. And here we
were. So many little black brothers
singing the same songs these dudes
had already made famous."

The night was a success as the
Jackson brothers performed before such
Motown pros as Smokey Robinson and The
Temptations. Joe later told Katherine, "I
think these high-ridin' daddies were just a
bit nervous hearing my boys for the first
time. Maybe jealous, as they witnessed firsthand tomorrow's competition."

Miss Ross

While the careers of the Jackson
brothers were being launched, there was
trouble brewing in the family, if published
reports are to be believed. In 1994, Simon &
Schuster published Unauthorized, a book
about Michael Jackson by biographer
Christopher Andersen, whose other works
include Madonna Unauthorized and Jagger
Unauthorized.

In this shocker, which we assumed
was vetted by S&S's attorneys for libel,
appears this quotation: "While La Toya lay
shivering next to Rebbie in bed, Joe would,
according to La Toya, climb in with them."

Around the time Ross was introducing the brothers in Detroit, Andersen
quotes La Toya as claiming that her father molested her and her older sister,
Rebbie. "My father was like an animal," La Toya allegedly said. "I was ten or
eleven at the time," the quote continues. "He'd say dirty things and touch my
body inside my clothes. And I had to touch him in certain places."

The older sister, Rebbie, as well as family members, have denied these
accusations. On the surface, they are libelous. But no charges were ever
brought against Joe, and he never sued Andersen or S&S for libel.

As serious as these charges are, there were even more explosive accusations that followed.

At the time of Michael's sham marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, his publicist, Bob Jones, had to deal not only with that make-believe union but with
another story that a newspaper tabloid was set to reveal. A reporter had come
upon charges that Joe also molested Michael when he was a small child. Jones
categorically denied such charges and was able to suppress the story, even
though accusations were aired over late-night talk radio.

Of course, Jones would have no way of knowing whether these accusations of molestation were true or not. In his book, Michael Jackson: The Man
Behind the Mask, Jones did report on a confrontation he had with Michael.

He quotes the singer as saying, "How do you know that thing with Joseph
never happened?" A valid question, of course. Not getting a straight answer
from Michael, Jones asked himself a question: "Was he telling me the story
was true? He certainly acted in a manner that wouldn't confirm or deny."

Jones, who knew Joe Jackson, found the molestation charges "hard to
believe."

But the rumors persisted. Some pop psychologists in talk shows have
pointed out that child molesters in case studies were often the victims of
molestation in their youths. Like many other episodes in Michael's life, these
molestation charges, including those from La Toya, remain a mystery.

No sooner had these charges that Joe molested Michael been suppressed
than yet another shocking story emerged. Whether true or not, the Jackson
family could be counted on by tabloids for a scandal du jour. Although much
has been written about the family in "Second Coming headlines," some of the
most explosive stories were never printed.

Also around the time of his marriage to Lisa Marie, there were allegations
floating around that as a pre-pubescent, Michael was "pimped" to pedophiles
within the record industry as a means of promoting the advance of The
Jackson 5. There is no evidence that this is true but the rumors-some of them
quite convincing-still persist.

To our knowledge, the only person who tried to sell such a story was a
sleazy record producer we'll call John Stoffer, who worked the Detroit music
industry for some twenty years. He approached the National Enquirer with a
very detailed account of how a nine-year-old Michael was allegedly delivered
to his hotel room in Detroit. His account didn't specify who made the delivery.

For a fee of ten thousand dollars, Stoffer was willing to tell all. In his
report, he gave a very detailed and specific account of how he'd allegedly
sodomized young Michael. "The boy cried through the ordeal and even bled,"
Stoffer claimed. "But I liked that. You see, I'm quite small down there. I used
to be basically straight, but several women laughed at the size of my organ. I
turned to young boys-very young because I achieved great satisfaction in
penetrating their tight, virgin butts. Michael was no exception. He was real
tight. When I saw the pain I was causing him, it goaded me on and made me
feel like more of a man."

Although Stoffer offered times, dates, and places that checked out, his
charges could not be proven. The staff at The Enquirer decided not to publish
the scoop, considering it too undocumented for publication. However, Stoffer
did help promote and publicize The Jackson 5 and was instrumental in getting
radio stations to play the group's records. In his dossier, Stoffer said that
Michael was "delivered" to him on three different occasions, and that "each time the boy cried when he was penetrated."

A member of the Enquirer staff said, "We've published more stories about
Michael Jackson than about any other modern celebrity, enough for our own
book about the star called Freak! But what we've published is only a grain of
sand on the beach. The Enquirer has been approached countless times by people trying to sell stories about Jacko. Some of them were obvious frauds.
Others were quite convincing, but too shocking even for the Enquirer.
Incidentally, I no longer work there."

On the road, traveling from "blood bucket" to "blood bucket," Michael
learned about sex from his father. It wasn't exactly a healthy introduction.

Joe was a known womanizer. With Katherine safely tucked away at home,
he could indulge his passions with other women, often quite young ones.
Many women found him attractive, and he did possess sexual charisma.