Michael Jackson’s ‘King Of Pop’ album has debuted at #5 on the UK Album Chart, making it this week’s 4th highest new entry. ‘Thriller’ has re-entered the Chart at #89.

‘Billie Jean’ rises 69 places in the UK Singles Chart this week to #93. ‘Thriller’ rises 30 places to #98. ‘Thriller Megamix’ is charted at #111.

Source: BBC Radio 1

‘Number Ones’ rises 5 places on the Australian DVD Charts this week to #12.

Source: ARIA

Guitar goddess Jennifer Batten will be performing next Wednesday, September 3, 2008. The performance will be held at Drizzy’s in downtown San Diego. Batten, who lived in San Diego, California (USA) for 15 years, went on to see the world while on tour with Michael Jackson. And after playing on three world tours with the King of Pop, she holds the distinction of having performed for around 1.5 billion TV viewers in 80 countries when she appeared with him in the Super Bowl performance. Batten refers to her time on tour with MJ as her “paid vaction.”

Now Batten is back in San Diego as part of her 28 city USA tour to promote her new CD/DVD entitled, “WhatEver.” Ax Mama Guitarist, as she is also known, is not just a hard rock goddess however, because during her one-woman show, she also plays an electronica version of Rimskij-Korsokov’s ‘The Flight of the Bumble Bee!’ The show is being described as a “multimedia-to-the-music event” and tickets are $15 (USD).

Batten’s “WhatEver” CD/DVD comes out next week and will be available at www.batten.com, and copies will also be sold at the show.

Source: San Diego Reader

Michael Jackson’s Australian fans have voted for their favorite ‘MJ’ tracks and the Top 20 have been compiled for ‘King of Pop’. This limited edition release will also include rare and unreleased tracks, a bonus poster and selected messages left on the MJ50 website from Michael’s fans.

CD Tracklist

Billie Jean (Single Version)
Man In The Mirror
Smooth Criminal
Beat It (Single Version)
Thriller (Single Version)
They Don’t Care About Us (LP Edit)
Who Is It (7? Edit)
Black Or White
You Rock My World (With Intro)
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (Single Version)
The Way You Make Me Feel
Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (Edited Single)
Dirty Diana
Blood On The Dance Floor
Rock With You (Single Version)
Stranger In Moscow
Remember The Time
Will You Be There (Single Version)
Give In To Me
You Are Not Alone (Single Version)
Say Say Say
Scream
State Of Shock
Got The Hots (Thriller 25th Anniversary - Previously Unreleased)
You Can’t Win
Fall Again (Demo)
Sunset Driver (Demo)
Someone Put Your Hand Out
In The Back
We Are The World (Demo)
One More Chance
Thriller Megamix

Release Date: 30.08.08
Catalogue No: 88697356252

Source: SonyBMG Australia

Michael Jackson’s ‘King Of Pop’ album has debuted at #65 in the Irish Album Chart this week. ‘Thriller’ has re-entered the Charts at #89.

Source: IRMA

Speaks Exclusively to ‘GMA’ About His Past, His Future, His Dreams for His Children

By CHRIS CONNELLY and MICHAEL S. JAMES

He first became a star as a young boy, then endured superstardom, scandals and a legal prosecution, but as he turns 50, Michael Jackson told “Good Morning America” in an exclusive interview, he is “having a wonderful time, just relaxing.”

Speaking by phone from his home in California, at times so softly he was barely audible, Jackson said he was listening to James Brown and preparing for his 50th birthday Friday, when he will “just have a little cake with my children and we’ll probably watch some cartoons” - before he gets right back to work.

Does turning 50 mean he now has an AARP card?

“Not that I know of! You never know. They can find you wherever you are.”

He said he still can do all his famous dance moves and “more.”

“I feel very wise and sage, but at the same time very young.”

Reflecting back, Jackson said the happiest time in his life was probably when he was recording his hit solo albums “Thriller,” released in 1982, and “Off the Wall,” released in 1979. Those albums - which were accompanied by a string of hit singles and videos and corresponded with the 1983 debut of his signature dance, the “moonwalk” - propelled him to the height of his stardom.

“That meant very much to me and seemed to be received so beautifully by the public and the world. I enjoyed it very much.”

Asked to pick a single song as his greatest achievement, Jackson went back to the same period.

“Oh boy, that’s a hard one,” he said, before singling out “We Are the World,” “Billie Jean” and “Thriller.”

But Jackson was not content to rest on his laurels:

“I am still looking forward to doing a lot of great things.”

He hopes to release new music and tour, though he doesn’t have dates set.

“I am writing all the time. I love composing and the whole thing. But I am also raising my children and enjoying it and teaching them to ride bicycles and how to read. I love it.”

He said he hopes to “be myself” in his future work, but also that he is “inspired by many great artists,” noting he wished he could have worked with Brown or Fred Astaire.

He sees his influence in some of today’s artists, specifically mentioning Chris Brown.

He said he sacrificed his childhood with “a lot of hard work,” and that he remembers “giving up your life for the medium.”

But he’d do it all again.

“I think I would. It is very much worth it. I have always loved show business and have always enjoyed making people happy through that medium. I love the celebration of music and dance and art. I just love it.”

Asked if he’d like his two sons and daughter to have the same sort of upbringing as him, he said he’d prefer to let them “enjoy their childhood as much as possible.”

“I let them go to the arcade and go to the movies and do things. I want them to get to do the kind of things I didn’t get to do. So, I fill them with a lot of enjoyment that way - a lot of amusement. You know?

I get pretty emotional when I see them having a wonderful time, when they are on a ride and they are screaming and they are happy. … It makes me emotional, ’cause I see they are having a real good time.”

Jackson said his kids “love music … they are very much into the arts,” but that, “I don’t push them.”

If he could go back and give himself some advice at age 9 or 10, the approximate age of his oldest children, he would advise himself, “if you are going to do it, commit yourself, know your craft and be really involved.” He’d say to be strong and to have “rhinoceros skin” when it comes to dealing with the pressures of fame.

Click Here to listen to the exclusive interview.

Source: ABC News

The King Of Pop is celebrating his 50th birthday today!!!!

Michael, the entire MJFC Team, the MJFC Family, and all your fans worldwide wish you a wonderful and happy day full of joy and laughter!

With lots of LOVE from your fans!

Of course we all know by now that Ne-Yo is hard at work on the highly anticipated new albums of both Whitney Houston AND the King of Pop. Recently he had this to say about the projects:

“It’s coming along slowly, but surely. They’re being very selective about what they keep, which they’re supposed to be. These are two very important albums. It’s the one that’s going to bring Whitney back and the one that’s going to take all the attention off of [Michael Jackson’s] personal life, hopefully, and put people back in the mindstate of why they love Michael in the first place.”

Ne-Yo also had this to say about Michael’s “comeback”:

“The entertainment side—the way he dances, the way he sings, and him being one of the greatest entertainers that got put on the stage—bring people back in that mind frame and away from thinking about when his last surgery was or if he still has the monkey or whatever the hell it is. He’s still Michael Jackson!”

Ne-Yo’s own album ‘Year of the Gentleman’ is due out on September 16th. Neither Whitney’s nor Michael’s album has a release date at this time.

Source: Rap-Up.com

Life-long Michael Jackson friend, David Gest says that he and Michael loved the poetry of Robert Burns so much that they used to talk about doing a musical of the poet’s life.

“Our favourite poet in the world is Robbie Burns. Michael and I were originally going to do a musical on his life with Gene Kelly directing and Anthony Perkins as executive producer but, they both died.”

So, instead the pair decided to set the poems to pop music.

“So Michael and I put all the poems to contemporary music in his studio in Encino. We did [Burns poems] ‘Ae Fond Kiss,’ ‘Tam O’Shanter’ and all that. We turned his work into show tunes. It is beautiful and I still have the recordings.”

Robert Burns (1759 – 1796) was a Scottish poet and lyricist; largly regarded as the national poet of Scotland.

Source: Contact Music

According to TheVegasEye.com, the King of Pop and his three children attended the 7 pm performance of ‘KÀ’ by Cirque du Soleil at the MGM Grand, on Tuesday, August 26.

Michael was dressed in a dark colored, hooded sweatshirt and the children were dressed very casually in jeans and baseball caps. Little ‘Blanket’ however, sported a Mystère hat instead of the ball cap (the family had also attended ‘Mystère’ by Cirque du Soleil on July 29).

The family snacked on popcorn as they watched the show from center seats. Afterwards Michael reportedly commented that it was the best production he has ever seen and that ‘KÀ’ is his favorite of all the Cirque du Soleil shows.

Source: TheVegasEye.com