Michael Jackson Plans Next Music Move
Looking to revive a career that has seen better days, Michael Jackson announced Tuesday he has teamed up with a Bahraini music label to record a new album and is aiming for a late 2007 release.
The newly formed partnership is between Jackson and Two Seas Records, which is owned by Bahrain royal family member Abdulla Hamad Al-Khalifa. British music exec Guy Holmes, chairman of London-based indie label Gut Records, has been named CEO of the joint project.
“I am incredibly excited about my new venture and I am enjoying being back in the studio making music,” Jackson said in a statement.
The entertainer’s last studio album was 2001’s Invincible, which by Jackson’s standards was considered a disappointment, despite debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 and selling about 2 million copies in the United States. After the album underperformed, Jackson accused Tommy Mottola, then president of the singer’s record company, Sony Music, of not promoting the album properly.
Raymone Bain, Jackson’s spokesperson on this side of the pond, told reporters that she wasn’t aware of any deal brokered between the pop singer and Bahraini royalty, but that Jackson had collaborated with Two Seas Records before. The label apparently was Jackson’s choice to produce “From the Bottom of My Heart,” the as-yet unreleased star-studded Hurricane Katrina benefit single that he announced he was making last September.
The legally challenged artist has been chummy with the royal honchos of Bahrain for some time now, staying with them as their guest since moving to the Persian Gulf isle last year after being acquitted of child-molestation charges.
Jackson, beleaguered by stories about his financial insolvency, put the bankruptcy question to rest last week, refinancing more than $270 million in loans by offering up half of what remains in his possession of the Sony/ATV Music Catalog he purchased in 1985.
If Sony opts to buy, Jackson should have more than enough to live on. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was once considered one of the richest entertainers in the world, with a net worth reported at $750 million, according to CNNMoney.com. Jackson’s 1982 classic Thriller has sold more than 51 million copies, making it the world’s best-selling album ever, and is second place in all-time U.S. sales at more than 26 million copies, behind The Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)
Jackson’s musical announcement comes at the heels of another bit of good news–a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Jackson brought by a man claiming he was abused by the “Billy Jean” singer in 1984. Jackson proved to the judge’s satisfaction that he was in California at the time the plaintiff claimed to have been molested in New Orleans.
