A Tribute to The King of Pop

My Tribute to

The King of Pop

By Angela Macari O’Looney

For a few hours today the world stood still, to honour the memory of a legend of our time; the late Michael Jackson, R.I.P.

Jackson was a performer whose music seemed to never date. He was a child pop idol when I was just a kid myself. I remember listening to the forty five record of ‘Ben’ and learning it word for word.

When he developed his own sound, emerging from being the front man of his family singing act ‘The Jackson Five’, he took the world by storm yet again. This time it was my niece who was forever showing off her moonwalk. Michael’s charm cast its spell right accross generations and cultures.

Coming from a musical background myself, I always felt an affinity with him, since he was from a large family, with a musician Dad like mine. I always had stars in my eyes and even sang in a sister act for a few years. Although our efforts were a tad more humble and we never hit the big time like the Jacksons, in our own way we achieved an ambition by doing the odd gig and a few variety shows.

Thus, I feel that I grew up alongside the late King of Pop. I saw him twice in concert and will remember both events forever. Awesome!

I was away on holiday when I and my husband saw a newsflash on TV in a bar. We had been watching videos at an American style restaurant only minutes beforehand and I had been enjoying the fabulous ‘All I wanna say’ video. Little did I know I was in for a shock.
To me it was like hearing that a close relative had died. We considered the possibility that perhaps there was some mistake. So back at our apartment we switched on the TV. to discover it was no mistake. The great man was really gone!

Far away from home and on holiday, we mourned a little. But we also got on with the remainder of our break. We got back late on Sunday and although there were other things I should have been doing this evening, I watched the whole lovely memorial service on T.V.

How great to know that so many people high up in showbiz, shared the admiration of MJ’s many fans. However eccentric he may have been, there is no debating his gift for showmanship, song writing and creativity.

I couldn’t be in L.A. even if I had been lucky enough to get a pass, but in my own way I treated this sad day as a time for reflection and appreciation of how precious each moment we have with our loved ones is.

I lit a candle in a church for the repose of his soul and a second for my own sister, who passed away almost two years ago at the same age as Michael. As I lit the second one, another beside it snuffed itself out leaving a taper of smoke. It was like a poignant little omen or something.

When the broadcast from L.A. finished, I picked up my out of tune guitar and strummed a song I often sing. It’s the B side of the single ‘Farewell my summer love’ and it’s called ‘Music and Me’.

I know I’ll always think of Michael Jackson as a kind of old friend and anytime I hear his music or play a song or two on my guitar, will remember him. A beautiful line from the song ‘Music and Me’ sums up the maestro for me; there have been others, but never two lovers like music and me.

R.I.P. Michael.