Michael Jackson

He was always there in my life and now he is gone. It was a shock to hear that Michael Jackson died last week. I remember watching TV and see him sing and dance with his brothers in the Jackson 5. I was totally mad about the song Ben. I was 3 or maybe 4 years old, but I liked him. I grew up and so did he. He started a solo carreer and I saw his first real videoclips. I still see myself in bed watching Count Down (a very populair music show in the Netherlands at the time) because Thriller was going to be on. After 8 o'clock. I watched it on my little black and white TV and was scared to death when I saw all these creepy figures. I was happy not to see it in colour. It was the talk of the day, next day at school. He had more hits and I watched his video clips on TV. I saw him change. His face, colour, behaviour and the gossip machine started to roll. In the 90s Michael went down hill for me when it came to music. He still had good songs, but not as good as they used to be. There were even more scandals at the time. I catched a glimpse of him when I worked in Disneyland Paris in the summer of 1996. He spent a few days there in September, during my last few days there. I still remember seeing all these fans at the entrance of the parc, in front of the Disneyland Hotel screaming for Michael. I had to stop them (with many other colleagues) from hunting him down to the store in the hotel. He was surrounded by bodyguards and had a boy with him. I thought it wasn't clever to do this what happened with this boy Jordan something. I always thought that this boy was after Michaels money. So was the other boy who was eager to appear with Michael in the Bashir documentary. He "loved" Michael and crawled all over him in the documentary. A few weeks later he claimed to be abused by Michael. I never believed that. I always thought that that boy was after his money. And there were more people after that. The last part of his life were marked by other scandals. But people forget that Michael did a lot of good things too. He helped a lot of charities and did a lot of good things for sick children and those in need. I was shocked to hear about his death. Michael was there all my life and now he is gone. I was never a fan, but I did and do like his music. Not all songs, but a lot of his hits are really good. He was a good entertainer and dancer. In my opinion we lost a great personality in him. I hope Michael is happy and in peace where he is now. I know that I will never forget him. He left us with a lot of great music and some wonderful clips. If I look at Thriller now, it gives me a good laugh and it is a great trip down memory lane, but it still is one of my favorites. May peace be with him.