Footage of Michael Jackson’s final rehearsals led people who knew him to think something was different

People who worked with Michael Jackson said they saw something different about him in his final days of rehearsals before his death.

The singer had been preparing for his comeback tour titled This Is It which had been due to begin on 13 July, 2009 and last until March the following year at the O2 Arena in London.

However, Jackson died in his Los Angeles home at the age of 50 on 25 June – less than three weeks before the show was about to start with all 50 concerts sold out.

On 28 August, a day before Jackson would have turned 51, the coroner concluded that his death had been a homicide after being administered a series of drugs by his doctor, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

This Is It was cancelled, leaving footage of Jackson rehearsing 48 hours before his death as the final recorded video of him before he died and people who knew him have said they could see something different about the music star in it.

CNN

Dorian Holley, Jackson’s vocal director for This Is It who had worked with him for years, told Time Magazine that the singer was ‘glowing’ as ‘he was finally seeing it all come together’.

Holley said that he was amazed by Jackson’s ability to keep up with the backing dancers but revealed the singer would ‘sometimes talk about how it made him sore’.

The final footage of Jackson shows him rehearsing the song ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ along with backup dancers at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, but one part which particularly affected people is what happened at the end.

The song ended, the lights went down and suddenly the only clearly visible figure on stage was Jackson while the backing dancers were shrouded in red.

A voice can be heard telling the performers to ‘hold for applause’ and as the lights faded out completely the only visible face was Jackson’s as he had his eyes closed and looked contemplative before smiling.

CNN

People viewing the footage have said that the final smile they saw was ‘priceless’, while someone else said it ‘puts a knot in my throat every time’.

A third said Jackson’s smile as the song concluded and the lights went down ‘brings me to tears every time’.

Holley said that during rehearsals ‘you couldn’t take your eyes off him’ and he left the rest of the crew ‘with our jaws open’.

One particular thing the vocal director enjoyed was being able to isolate Jackson’s performance during rehearsals from the rest of the show, which he said gave him a new appreciation for ‘what a genius he was’ with his voice.

Featured Image Credit: CNN

Michael Jackson’s ‘real voice’ after being ‘exposed’ for faking iconic high-pitched tone

Michael Jackson spoke softly and high-pitched, but a video is resurfacing exposing what his real voice sounded like.

Mia Williams

Published Aug 29, 2023, 15:29:10 GMT+1Last updated Aug 29, 2023, 16:28:50 GMT+1

Michael Jackson was known for his soft and high-pitched voice, but a resurfaced video suggests he might have just being putting it on.

The ‘Thriller’ singer’s softly spoken voice was just as much part of his image as the moonwalk and his glitter glove.

Rumours circulated that the reason for his high-pitched tone was because of his notoriously strange father injecting him with hormones to stay childlike forever, maintaining his tone for singing.

Conrad Murray, the doctor who served time for administering Jackson a fatal dose of painkillers, claims the singer’s late father Joe Jackson chemically castrated him aged 12 to ‘maintain his high-pitched voice’.

While it is uncertain whether this actually happened, the people closest to Michael have instead claimed his voice was part of a carefully crafted public persona.

Rapper T-Pain once recalled: “His voice is as deep as s**t.

“It was between where you think Michael Jackson is and Prince.

“It was inbetween that.”

Youtube/The Detail

There is also a clip of Michael using a deeper, more masculine voice during a performance in Copenhagen in 1997.

One fan commented under the video: “Wow, makes him seem like a totally different person in that moment.”

The megastar’s good friends Liza Minnelli and David Gest once let slip that the star had a second voice.

Liza was shocked when she first heard his deep tone, and said: “Michael, you’re busted.

“I got you now.

“All these years you’ve been talking in that voice.”

In 2005, journalist Diane Dimond said Jackson had a ‘big, deep voice’.

She said: “Somewhere in there, especially if you bring him bad news or if you make him mad, his voice gets very, very deep.

“I was there one day when someone asked him about Gloria Allred, the attorney that has sort of dogged him and turned around in one foul swoop and said ‘She can go to hell’ in this big, deep masculine voice.”

Youtube/The Detail

David and Liza believed that Michael had crafted a public persona, which the high-pitched voice was a part of, to protect his inner and younger self after years of pain and hurt.

Liza added: “He’s been hurt too much.

“I mean, people have said kind of rotten things about him.

“The person that we know is a rather regular guy, believe it or not.”