Michael Jackson Book Club Review: “When the Prince Met the King”

When the Prince Met the King
Rating 3/5

I was really looking forward to reading this book “When the Prince Met the King” about an unknown time in Michael’s life, his time in Bahrain. The author Motez Bishara is an award-winning journalist and contributing feature writer for CNN, ESPN, The Guardian, and other publications and has served as an adjunct Professor of news writing at the Gulf University for Science and Technology. The author states that he was inspired to write the book because Bahrain is a special place to him. The author describes this book as “The Complete Oral History of Michael Jackson’s Bizarre Secretive Year in Bahrain.”

Michael’s time in Bahrain was a time where he could recuperate and find peace. People found him to be charming, humble, and kind. The author quotes several people who met Michael in Bahrain. Some of the comments include: “the guy was a fantastic, very loving father. He was unbelievable with his kids. He never spoiled them….” “I was struck that he was a loving father. That came through over and over and over” “He was a very sweet man. He was really sweet with his children as well. I saw them interact, and anyone that would see him with his children would know that he would not hurt a fly and certainly not abuse children.”

Author: “What I was also told did not happen was foul play with children. Nearly every one of my sources told me they saw Jackson as a caring and loving parent with his three children and that they could not have envisaged him as a child molester. These are people who spent a considerable amount of time with Jackson that year. They did say there were plenty of other things the pop icon could be accused of – namely, ignoring contracts he signed and playing dumb when it suited him – but being a sexual predator was not one of them. This book does not take sides on any of the sexual allegations directed at Jackson, including those that have emerged in recent years.”

There are quotes by Lucy Lester, Carol LeMere, Grace Rwaramba, Aileen Medalla, Prince Jackson, and many others who were around Michael during that time. The book is worth the read for the Oral History. There is a wonderful chapter of an interview with Matt Forger that I really enjoyed which focused on his music and Michael’s creativity as an artist. Forger describes what it was like to work with Michael after years of being part of his music team since Thriller. This is truly golden. The author also includes quotes from respected friends in the MJ Community. I’m thankful for their voices in the book.

I am happy that I read the book because I was better able to understand why Michael left Bahrain and what happened with the Prince. The Prince was connected to Michael through Jermaine and the Prince was also a long-time fan. The Prince had numerous conversations with Michael during the ’05 trial as well as sent Michael money to help with the Neverland utilities and contributed towards some of the legal fees, which helped keep him afloat during a very difficult time in his life. This is no doubt amazing and very generous. The Prince invited Michael to stay at the Kingdom to recuperate after his three years of hell since the Bashir documentary, the allegations, the arrest, preparing for trial and then the five months of trial. Michael was showered with gifts, food, cars, a place to live, presents and shopping. The Prince even had belly dancers perform for them which Michael apparently really enjoyed! The Bahraini people gave him some space and were very respectful towards Michael. By the accounts of some of the people in the book, Michael was happy there for a time.

The 29-year-old Prince wanted to create music with the King of Pop and was very eager to do so. The Prince and Jermain discussed forming 2 Seas records in principle while Michael was in Trial. The Prince built a studio with top-of-the-line equipment for Michael to lay down some tracks. Michael and the Prince worked on some music together such as “I Have This Dream” which was intended for charity that Michael was very excited about. There are a few other songs in the Prince’s possession as well that will likely never be released.

It appears that the Prince and managers started pressuring Michael to start working more in the studio. The Prince flew in some of the engineers and musicians that Michael previously worked with on other albums, but it’s clear that the pressure was on. When I watched the footage or read court documents about the lawsuit filed by the Prince against Michael, Michael would state that he thought these gestures were “gifts.”  Knowing the way Michael was with his generosity in having families and underprivileged children enjoy Neverland for free, I believe he thought that the gifts they were lavishing on him were in fact gifts.  I can now better understand why he would think that. However, Jermaine was the one who negotiated the deal with the Prince for the three of them to make music and film while Michael was in trial. It’s unclear what Michael’s understanding was of this verbal deal was.

The Prince comes off as very kind and generous with good intentions. After much time had passed the Prince’s advisors drafted a contract which tallied up all the money spent to host Michael and the costs to create this state-of-the-art studio and music endeavor. However, Michael was clearly not happy with the terms. According to Jermaine, Michael would have been locked into future publishing with 2 Seas. My impression is that although the Prince was generous, he was expecting too much too soon after Michael went through hell over the last three years. Many accounts from other people say that Michael was depressed and didn’t seem well when he first arrived. We all saw what the trial did to Michael. The Prince and his team were upset that he didn’t stay and make records with them, hence a lawsuit. Per Grace’s testimony that the Prince called her and sent $35,000 for the Neverland utility bills at which time the Prince said, “what more can I do for my brother?”. Michael seemed very appreciative of the Prince’s support but the fact the Prince spent millions in this venture to record music with Michael, it’s unclear whether Michael was aware that the Prince would later add up all the costs hosting Michael. The Prince states the money spent was an “advance” in consideration of the records they would make. I also don’t think the Prince appreciated that Michael just needed peace and didn’t need the pressure to have to work so soon after trial. Excerpt: “Sheikh Abdulla didn’t need money from Michael. He just wanted to be part of a rewriting of history [by] bringing this artist back to life and letting the world enjoy it.” Excerpt quote by Bill Bottrell producer, instrumentalist, and songwriter: “Prince Abdulla called me and said, ‘Hey! I’ve got Michael here and we want to make a record, and we’re building a studio and I’m very proud of it, I’d like you to come out and do what you did with Michael when you guys used to work together, make some music’”.

The quotes of people who either worked with the Prince or around Michael in Bahrain had a certain impression about his financial situation.  It’s nothing new that we haven’t read before. Yes, money was an issue, but it’s stated repeatedly in the book that he was “on the verge of bankruptcy” which we know that his 50% share of the ATV Catalog would have easily paid off all his debts and would have left him with millions in the positive if Michael would have sold it. The author states that most of the sourced information are from the books Untouchable, The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson, by Randall Sullivan and The Genius of Michael Jackson by Steve Knopper (Billboard editor, former Rolling Stone contributing editor). Most of the quotes by the people who worked with the Prince and Michael are quick to belittle his business skills. Many of those quotes are by Michael’s manager in Bahrain, Guy Holmes, who comes off as arrogant and it’s very apparent that Holmes is a fan of the Prince. In my opinion, too much airtime is given to Guy Holmes throughout the book.

Inaccuracies/Negative Narratives

The book states that Michael “binged on drugs” and “overdosed” on June 25^th which is not an accurate description of how Michael died. The title of that section is “Jackson’s Overnight Drug Binge that Led to his Death Was Alarming – Even for Rock ‘n’ Roll Drug Binges.” I vehemently disagree with this misleading title. A doctor went to jail for manslaughter, it was not ruled an “overdose.”

The book states that “Soon after being dropped by Sony, Jackson’s music career took a backseat to his legal problems.”  The book implies more than once that it was Sony that ousted Michael, but fans will know that Michael was not happy with Sony in 2001 and that Michael wanted out from Sony per his speech in 2002, he only had to provide a few more albums before he could be released from his contract. The book goes on to say “If Invincible wasn’t enough of a deterrent for any of the other major record labels to sign Jackson, this [Bashir Documentary] certainly was” “Despite dropping him as an artist in the aftermath of Invincible, Sony maintained a healthy business partnership with their former talent” “the former-most-in-demand entertainer in the world…”  Michael sold out fifty shows at the O2 Arena for the This is It concert within a few hours with millions of people still in que waiting to buy tickets. As we know this was after the trial so clearly he was still highly in demand.

An obvious slant which is incorrect “The February 2003 broadcast of Martin Bashir documentary Living with Michael Jackson, in which the singer spoke of sharing his bed with teenage boys, brought an investigation and multiple felony charges by California prosecutors”. Michael did NOT say he shared his bed with teenage boys, he stated that he offered Gavin and his brother Star the bed and then he slept on the floor in a sleeping bag. Frank Cascio also slept on the floor. But yes because of Bashir’s editing, this documentary fed Sneddon’s obsession with Michael.

The book gives examples of eccentricities such as “pajama day” but doesn’t give the context as to why “He appeared even thinner and paler than usual, once entering the courthouse in silk pajamas and slippers while clutched by the arms of bodyguards for support.” He was in pajamas because he came directly from the hospital and wasn’t given time by the Judge to change before court.

There is a section at the end of the book Titled “Strange Things I Stumbled Upon While Researching This Story.” This section again discusses his financial issues, the many lawsuits against Michael, specifically Marc Sheffield and Debbie Rowe’s lawsuits. Those accounts seem to be accurate accounts from court documents.

The other “strange things” discussed is basically the old worn rumours of Michael’s apparent planting the press stories of buying the Elephant Man’s Bones and the Hyperbaric Chamber story, which are denied by Michael. That Michael’s voice is not as soft normally as when he appears in public. The book talks about his alleged drug abuse and makes it seem like it was continual since the Pepsi commercial accident. “Jackson relied on prescription pills for half his life, beginning with the Pepsi commercial accident at the age of 25 until his death at 50.” We are aware of this sad known part of his life. He was prescribed certain medication for different ailments, but don’t agree it was continuous use since 1984.

The other “weird” stories the section discusses is when James Brown passed away, Michael sat with his body for a time. Then at the funeral, he kissed is forehead and fixed his hair. The title is “Jackson Spent More Than an Hour Alone With James Brown’s Corpse Before Brown’s Funeral.” The fact that James Brown was his mentor since he was a child, it’s not weird that he wanted to spend time with him privately. This is a common human response to death and part of closure, there’s nothing strange or weird about it.

When you read enough books and have studied Michael long enough, you will spot inaccuracies immediately. For example, Michael and Lisa Marie were still seeing each other off and on since their divorce until approximately ‘99. In an interview with TV Guide in 1999 Michael stated that Elvis too had a nose job. “For Presley, it was the final straw in their tumultuous marriage. ‘I’d had enough. That’s all I told him I wanted a divorce’” As you can see, words and their placement matters. She did make this quote, but the quote was from 1995 and had nothing to do with the 1999 interview and was certainly not the “final straw in their tumultuous marriage”.

Quoting the author “in consideration of comments she said that may be touchy for Jackson’s most zealous fans. I am aware that those followers can be rather intolerant of even the mildest criticism levied at the King of Pop.”  To address the quote above, books that discuss the negative aspects of Michael’s life should be accurate and give more context otherwise leave them out. This is also true for positive aspects of his life. Fans who have researched Michael for years know the ins and outs of his life better than most journalists and expect an accurate account of facts. The author states that when unable to confirm an account or there were conflicting accounts, either both accounts are in the book, or an explanation is given in a footnote as to what was unclear. The footnotes are not obvious.

Excerpt: “…the elevated accusations of sexual misconduct that have surfaced about Jackson in the 2019 documentary Finding Neverland…”   I’m not even going to go there.

Conclusion

Readers need to keep in mind that some of these quotes are from people who only knew Michael for a very short time, or they are excerpts of testimony from people who are suing Michael or sourced from various media outlets. Because there was such a focus on financial matters, it would have been nice if the book would also include the 100s of millions that Michael donated to charity and the millions it cost him yearly to host underprivileged families at Neverland. If new fans do end up reading this book, I would recommend they also read Michael Jackson Inc. which is probably the best book for a better understanding about his business and money matters, not The Genius of Michael Jackson.

I will close with this last remark, my review of the book might seem picky, but I will again quote the author “Dedication: To Freelance Journalists everywhere, keep fighting the good fight” immediately following is the Epigraph: “Lies Runs Sprints, But The Truth Runs Marathons ~Michael Jackson.” These are two contradictory themes as they relate to most Journalists and Michael Jackson.

Excerpt of why he wrote the book: “Why am I writing this? This simple answer is to preserve history – nothing more, nothing less.” Exactly this, appreciate preserving the “Oral History” while Michael was in Bahrain, however any inaccuracies found in any book about Michael Jackson should be addressed. Books are part of history where our future generations will study Michael Jackson and it needs to be accurate.

By Tammy Gauthier
Michael Jackson Book Club Member

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When the Sheikh met the King: The Complete Oral History of Michael Jackson’s Remarkable Year in Bahrain ebook

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