MichaelJackson-The King Of Pop....6th fanclub - Page 4

1985

January -- Michael Jackson is one of the first artists to arrive at A&M Lion Share Studios for the historic recording which brought dozens of nationally acclaimed artists together in the hope of alleviating famine in Africa. In an all night session, the largest-grossing single in the history of the recording arts, We Are The World, is recorded, spawning a videocassette and a book, all the proceeds of which would be funneled directly through to famine relief efforts. The famine relief efforts of this recording resulted in over $60 million dollars being channeled directly into the countries most affected. Michael Jackson contributed to the effort not only as featured artist, but co-wrote the song with Lionel Ritchie and recorded the demo tracks distributed to the participating artists. [Numerous sources]

Early 1985 -- Michael Jackson visits a young girl who was paralyzed in a car accident in Miami, Florida. Later, he sent her a tape of the Victory Tour concerts and a tour jacket. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The King of Pop' and 'Michael Jackson: The King of Pop's Darkest Hour' by Lisa D. Campbell (Branden Books 1993 and 1995)]

1986

February -- Donna Ashlock from Patterson, California receives a call from Michael Jackson after he learns she is a devoted fan. In March, the fourteen-year-old girl visits Michael at home in Encino, California. She stays for lunch and watches a movie. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary' by Adrian Grant (1995)]

October-- Michael's Pets, a line of stuffed animals modeled after Michael Jackson's zoo is released to market. Michael Jackson requests that from each purchase, one dollar should be donated to a children's charity. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary' by Adrian Grant (1995)]
Edited by mj_applehead - 13 years ago

1987

November -- Michael Jackson donates 10,000 pounds to the Children in Need Appeal in Britain. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary' by Adrian Grant (1995)]

November -- Michael Jackson visits a children's hospital while touring in Australia. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The King of Pop' and 'Michael Jackson: The King of Pop's Darkest Hour' by Lisa D. Campbell (Branden Books 1993 and 1995)]

September -- While touring in Japan, Michael Jackson donates thirty personal items to an auction, the proceeds of which went toward educating children in the third world. Among the items were sunglasses, t-shirts and a windbreaker. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The King of Pop' and 'Michael Jackson: The King of Pop's Darkest Hour' by Lisa D. Campbell (Branden Books 1993 and 1995)]

September -- Michael Jackson donates $20,000 to the family of a young Japanese boy, Yoshiyaki, who had been recently kidnapped and killed. News footage of his empathy with Yoshiyaki and his family shows a highly emotional Michael Jackson addressing the incident, "I am very sorry and deeply saddened to hear about Yoshiyaki. If I could, I would like to rush to his parents to express my words of sympathy and pay tribute to Yoshiyaki. I would like to dedicate my Japanese tour to Yoshiyaki. Yoshiyaki, I know you're out there watching us. I hope such a brutal and heartbreaking thing never happens again. And I love you." Jackson then proceeded into the song I Just Can't Stop Loving You. [Source: film footage of the Bad World Tour in Japan]

1988

February -- Man in the Mirror enters the music charts. Jackson's royalties from the sale of this single are donated to Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, a camp for children with cancer. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary' by Adrian Grant (1995)]

March -- Second stop of the first US leg of the Bad Tour, New York -- Michael Jackson performs at the Madison Square Garden, the first of three concerts is a benefit for the United Negro College Fund. He presents a check for $600,000 to Christopher Edley, UNCF President, making him one of the UNCF's largest contributors. The reviews in New York read, "Michael's act has already gone well beyond a pop music concert. By this time, 97 young people had benefited from Michael Jackson's generosity to the United Negro College Fund. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The Magic And The Madness' by J. Randy Taraborelli]

April -- It is announced that 4,000 tickets from Michael Jackson's concerts in Britain will be donated to ITV Telethon which will raise 200,000 pounds for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary' by Adrian Grant (1995)]

May-- Michael Jackson visits Rome's Bambin Gesie Hospital during a tour stop, passing out candy and autographed pictures to the children.

June -- Music celebrity auction to benefit the T. J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research boasts a black fedora signed by Michael Jackson as its winning bid. It sold for over $4,000. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary' by Adrian Grant (1995)]

July -- Michael Jackson presents a check in the amount of $450,000 to the Princes' Trust, a charity for disadvantaged children. He also contributes to the Wishing Well Fund, established to help finance the construction of a new building for London's Hospital for Sick Children. Michael toured the hospital and visited with some of the patients. He also donated 100,000 pounds to the
Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, where he visited the ill children, reading them a story. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary' by Adrain Grant (1995)]

August -- Michael performs a concert for the British Charity, Give For Life. The $130,000 proceeds from the concert were contributed toward helping immunize 40,000 children.

October -- Michael Jackson presents a check in the amount of $125,000 to Esther Edwards and Berry Gordy for the maintenance and upkeep of Hittsville, USA, Motown's Museum in Detroit, Michigan. He also contributed a black fedora, a white beaded glove and costume from the Motown Era for display.

December -- Reports appear in many media forums that David Rothenberg, a young child who had been critically injured by his father setting him on fire, had received compassionate visits from Michael Jackson. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary' by Adrian Grant (1995)]

Late 1988 -- One hundred tickets to the Atlanta, Georgia Bad Tour concerts were given to the Children's Wish Foundation to be distributed to terminally ill children.

1988-1989 -- Michael Jackson begins his Bad World Tour. During many of the stops Michael is joined backstage prior to the concert with ill children from the local areas in which he performs. Seth Riggs, Michael's vocal coach, remarks, "Every night the kids would come in on stretchers, so sick they could hardly hold their heads up. Michael would kneel down at the stretchers and put his face right down beside theirs so that he could have his picture taken with them, and then give them a copy to remember the moment." [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The Magic And The Madness' by J. Randy Taraborelli]
Edited by mj_applehead - 13 years ago

1991

April -- Michael Jackson organizes "chimpanzee tea party" to benefit Jane Goodall's ape research institute. In May, Michael attends a Jane Goodall International Tribute Benefit. Michael assumes the honorary "chair" of the organization. [Source: 'Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary' by Adrian Grant (1995)]

Edited by mj_applehead - 13 years ago

1996

February -- Heal the World/World Children's Congress youth ambassador from Mexico presents model for creating a sustainable environment to the U.N. Habitat II Prep Committee.

April -- Heal the World/World Children's Congress youth ambassadors attend Children First: A Global Forum, in Atlanta, Georgia. The event, hosted by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Rosalyn Carter, the Carter Center, and the Task Force for Child Survival, and co-sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, The World Bank, and Heal the World, brings together 360 representatives from 100 countries to discuss strategies to improve the quality of life for children.

April -- Heal the World/World Children's Congress youth ambassadors attend the Spectrum of Light Youth Conference in Washington, D.C. to form partnerships to emphasize the need for a sustainable society based on a healthy environment.

May -- Michael Jackson sends a floral tribute of white roses, carnations and lilies to the funeral of one of his British fans. The inscription reads, "May your courage be an inspiration to us all. Your spirit shines on. Love, Michael Jackson" Eleven-year-old Jaymee Bowen had lost her battle with leukemia. Her favorite songs -- Farewell My Summer Love, Ben and Never Can Say Goodbye -- were played at the funeral services. [Source: MJIFC]

June -- A donated trip to Neverland Ranch received the highest bid at a Cities in School celebrity auction. Los Angeles KIIS-FM and Cities in School organized the event, raising over $115,000 to benefit school children. A trip for four to Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch received the highest bid of $5,200. [Source: MJIFC]

September-- Michael Jackson visits a state orphanage in Bucharest, Romania prior to his concert before 70,000 in that city. After handing out toys, Michael said, "I wish all the world was here to see this, instead of sending our brothers to the killing fields. This is our future -- children. I love you all so much." [Source: MJIFC]

October -- Jackson visits a hospital for mentally challenged children in Kaoshiung, Taiwan. 2,000 free tickets to the sold out performance in Kaoshiung are offered to children.

October-- Michael Jackson contributes almost 85 percent of earnings from the Indian leg of the HIStory World Tour to a Hindi charity organization, the Shiv Udyog Sena, and will help leaders to create jobs for 270,000 young people from the state of Maharashtra. [Source: MJIFC]

October-- Michael Jackson visits two hospitals, Ronald McDonald House and AMC, in Amsterdam distributing toys and gifts at each during his tour stop.

October -- Michael Jackson performs a benefit concert in Tunisia.
The concert benefited the National Solidarity Fund, a Tunisian charity dedicated to fighting poverty. [Source: MJIFC]

November -- During scheduled tour stops in Brisbane, Australia, Michael Jackson visits the Prince of Wales Hospital which houses children suffering from assorted ailments, including cancer, heart trouble, asthma and tumors. He signs autographs and distributes toys to over 75 children, spending hours with the kids. [Source: Press Release by Burson-Marsteller]

November -- Michael Jackson visits a children's hospital in Sydney prior to being publicly feted by Sony Music honoring his sales (exceeding $75 million in Australia) at a reception held in his honor at the Opera House. Again, reports state that he spends over two hours speaking to the children, signing autographs and distributing gifts to each child. Reports also surface that Michael had committed a portion of his receipts from his nine Australian performances to "The Smith Family", a charity dedicated to feeding the needy. [Source: MJIFC field report from Swa, Shaz and Ian McKee]

November-- Michael Jackson grants American news magazine, American Journal, permission to accompany him for two weeks on his tour itinerary. Phenomenal footage narrated by Les Trent depicts Michael Jackson's visit to "Starship," a children's hospital in Auckland, New Zealand, following Jackson from room to room as he speaks to each child, leaving each a toy and autographed photo or CD. In answer to Trent's question regarding how the children's faces make him feel, Jackson touches his chest, replying "It touches my heart." Jackson is also shown backstage just moments prior to his sold out performance, comforting Emily Smith, a shy, 13-year-old cancer victim. He welcomes her to the "shy club" while holding her in his arms and ruffling her curly hair, then poses for photographs with Emily and her family and rushes off to prepare himself for the show.
In Bangkok, Thailand, Michael Jackson is shown visiting an orphanage and a school for blind children. At the orphanage, he leaves a donation of $100,000 American dollars as well as distributing toys and gifts to children at both the orphanage and school for the blind. An orphanage spokeswoman comments, "They don't know him as a pop star. To them he is just a very nice man who came here to offer hope." [Source: American Journal news footage]

November -- Bombay, India -- 85% of the $5 to $6 million ticket receipts from one concert is slated to go to he Shiv Udyog Sena to help create jobs for 270,000 young people in the state of Maharashtra, of which Bombay is the capital. Upon arriving in Bombay, Jackson asks his driver to stop the motorcade transporting him from the airport to his hotel to allow him to spend 20 minutes talking with children playing in the crowded slums he must pass en route. [Source: Indian journalist Hema Shukla]