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LOS ANGELES - So, who gets Michael Jackson's riches?
His mother took the first step Monday when she petitioned the Superior Court of California to be named the administrator of the late singer's estate. Katherine Jackson said in the filing she was acting to ensure Michael Jackson's three children are the beneficiaries.
It's the opening salvo in a complicated battle for a fortune that includes a lucrative music catalog of the King of Pop's own hits, the rights to songs by the Beatles, and the Neverland ranch that could one day be a tourist attraction.
There's even an elaborate video production, dubbed the "Dome Project," that was overseen by Jackson and finished two weeks before he died.
The high stakes and array of people involved will likely make the fight far more convoluted than recent high-profile squabbles over the estates of singer James Brown and ex-Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith.
"There's no doubt that there's going to be a big battle," said Alexis Martin Neely, a Los Angeles-based estate attorney. "It's going to be very messy and I don't see anything comparing to this."
Complicating matters is that few, if any, people know all the details of the reclusive entertainer's financial affairs. His mother's filing, for example, declares that Jackson died "intestate," or without a will. But that is in dispute. Another person with knowledge of Jackson's business matters told The Associated Press last Friday that there is a will, which would take precedent in court. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the material.
Becoming an estate administrator "puts a vast amount of power in one person's hands," said Roy Kozupsky, a lawyer with Smith, Gambrell & Russell. The person would have the power to sell assets, make deals and determine how to pay off creditors, he said.
At stake is Jackson's 50 percent ownership in Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a company itself estimated to be worth $2 billion; Jackson's own recordings and songwriting rights, which could be worth more than $150 million; and his joint ownership of the Neverland ranch.
Katherine Jackson said in her filing she intends to use the estate's assets for "the exclusive use of the decedent's (Jackson's) three children." But the filing could also be the first move in contesting the validity of a will, if there is one, Kozupsky said.
Jackson, who died Thursday at age 50, left behind three children: son Michael Joseph Jr., known as Prince Michael, 12; daughter Paris Michael Katherine, 11; and son Prince Michael II, 7. The youngest was born to a surrogate mother, while the first two were born to ex-wife Deborah Rowe.
The list of potential parties seeking a piece of Jackson's estate is long, ranging from financial firms to the companies involved in his planned comeback. Among them is AEG Live, the concert promoter that booked Jackson for 50 sold-out performances at London's O2 arena starting next month.
AEG Live reportedly gave Jackson a $20 million advance, which it may seek to recover from the estate. AEG Live declined to comment.
How much AEG can recover will likely depend on the wording of insurance policies it took out and whether they included protection against "medical conditions or another event," said Mary Craig Calkins, a partner at Howrey LLP who handles insurance recovery cases for TV and film productions.
The promoter took out about $18 million in insurance through Lloyd's of London, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment.
A big part of determining what the estate is worth and how much it owes in taxes will depend on how much Jackson owed to creditors. Estimates put the tally around $400 million.
The federal government will be able to collect around 45 percent in tax on the value of the estate's assets, minus its debts and administration costs including attorney fees.
It appears that the most valuable assets will likely remain in the estate's control.
The Sony/ATV stake and 100 percent of Mijac, the company that controls Michael Jackson's own music, were held in a trust whose beneficiaries are Jackson's children. That trust is safe from creditors, said Al Malnik, its former trustee and Jackson's business adviser from 2002 to 2005.
"The assets were protected through the trust against creditors," Malnik said Monday.
Jackson used those assets as collateral to secure $200 million in loans from Bank of America in 2001. He then refinanced several times. Malnik said the loan total reached $275 million by the time he quit as trustee in 2005. Fortress Investment Group LLC, which took control in 2005, sold the loans off entirely "over a year ago," said company spokeswoman Lilly Donohue.
It is unclear who holds the loans now, but one candidate is Colony Capital LLC, a Los Angeles real estate firm owned by billionaire Thomas Barrack, which also set up a joint venture with Jackson to own Neverland, the 2,500-acre property in Santa Barbara County that once included amusement park rides and zoo animals.
Barrack had lunch with Jackson brothers Jackie, Jermaine and Tito on Saturday at Neverland.
Jackson's estate is still growing through record sales and songwriting rights.
So far this year, some 297,000 of his albums have sold in the U.S., and that's not including last week, when sales spiked in the wake of the singer's death. Jackson's existing works will continue to sell well, said Keith Caulfield, senior charts manager for Billboard magazine.
"He's good for at least a half a million albums a year," Caulfield said.
Songwriting rights also keep earning revenue. Jackson wrote many of the songs he recorded including "Beat It," "Bad," and "Black or White."
For the past three years, Jackson has ranked among the top-earning 100 U.S. songwriters for royalty payments collected by Broadcast Music Inc.
"Michael Jackson is the number one international songwriter in the world for BMI. He is it," BMI chief executive Del Bryant said, adding that use of the singer's songs outside of the U.S. earn more than $1 million dollars annually just for Jackson's share of the royalties.
Warner-Chappell Music, a division of Warner Music Group Corp., is Jackson's music publisher, meaning it promotes use of his songs and lyrics in commercials and TV shows. Jackson's own works, plus scores of song rights he purchased, gross several million dollars per year.
Jackson also owns the master recordings of his own albums such as "Thriller" and "Bad" and had a distribution deal with Sony, according to a person familiar with his finances, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the material.
The surge in interest in his music could inflate the value of assets held by his estate, and the tax bill owed to the U.S. government.
"Unfortunately due to his demise, the value of these entities has increased substantially," Malnik said.
Grace Rwaramba, the 42-year-old nanny who cared for Michael Jackson's three children, said she routinely had to pump out the singer's stomach after he'd ingested a dangerous combination of drugs.
"I had to pump his stomach many times. He always mixed so much of it," Rwaramba tells The Times of London, referring to drugs. "There was one period that it was so bad that I didn't let the children see him," she is quoted as saying. "He always ate too little and mixed too much."
Rwaramba was introduced to Jackson more than 15 years ago by mutual friend Deepak Chopra, who ironically says some of her quotes in The Times were taken out of context.
"For the record, Grace never pumped Michael's stomach. She has no idea how she would even do such a thing," Chopra - spiritual teacher, medical doctor and Jackson's longtime friend - wrote on his Web site Sunday. He also says of Rwaramba, "Grace is more than my best friend - I refer to her as my sister."
Having now arrived in Los Angeles from London, Rwaramba, who is originally from Rwanda, is expected to be interviewed by LAPD detectives investigating Jackson's death on Thursday, according to People.
Rwaramba at one point proposed a famliy drug invention for Michael in Vegas, and went so far as to contact his mother Katherine and sister Janet for their help with it. But when Micahel found out about her efforts, he fired her - temporarily.
"He didn't want to listen," she says, "that was one of the times he let me go."
In Jackson's employ for more than a decade, Rwaramba started as an office assistant to the pop star before becoming a nanny to his three children: Prince, now 12; Paris, 11; and Blanket, 7. She was last fired by Michael in December, and claims that when she visited the children in April, she herself had to buy balloons for Paris's birthday, because Michael was so broke.
"Michael had no idea about money," Rwaramba says, citing a $1 million offer he received to appear in Japan. "By the time everyone took their share," she says, "he ended up with $200,000."
According to Rwaramba, on Friday, the day after Michael died, his mother Katherine called her from Michael's Holmby Hills house and asked where he kept his cash.
"She said, 'Grace, the children are crying. They are asking about you. They can't believe that their father died. Grace, you remember Michael used to hide cash at the house. I am here. Where can it be?' "
Rwaramba advised looking "at the garbage bags and under the carpets." Then, said the former nanny, "She said, 'Grace, where are you? Come. I will pick you up from the airport.' She sounded so strong. So strong!"
Probably no celebrity has been as revered and reviled over the past 40 years as Jackson, 50, who died Thursday in Los Angeles. The troubled, reclusive star was rushed to UCLA Medical Center by paramedics responding to a call from his home at about 12:30 p.m.
Jackson had been scheduled next month to begin the first of 50 sold-out concerts at London's O2 Arena, a testament to his enduring popularity with fans around the world, a love affair that reached a peak on that March evening 26 years ago.
The occasion was the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever television special that celebrated a milestone for the legendary label, but it was also a seminal moment for the King of Pop. A then-record 47 million people watched in awe as Jackson unveiled the moonwalk with an electrifying performance. Other Motown greats performed that night and Jackson himself had reunited with brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Randy for a walk down memory lane with the Jackson 5.
But in that moment, Jackson stood alone in the spotlight, a singular figure riding a wave of popularity rarely seen anywhere. His groundbreaking Thriller-- still the biggest selling album of all time -- was dominating the charts and Jackson was in the process of reshaping the musical landscape with his videos and celebrity. There were still millions of records to be sold, acclaimed videos to be filmed and record-shattering concert tours to undertaken.
It was also before years of tabloid exposes, bizarre behavior, artistic flops, financial crises, health issues and child sex abuse scandals tarnished his image. His run of triumphs in the 1980s, in addition to Thriller, included the blockbuster albums Off the Wall and Bad.
Since he first arrived on the scene in 1969 as the cherubic 11-year-old phenom leading the teen heartthrob J5 singing I Want You Back, Jackson has been at the forefront of pop culture.
He transformed pop music, becoming the first African-American singer to gain mass crossover appeal. The premiere of videos for songs likeBeat It, Billie Jean, Thriller, Bad andSmooth Criminalwere major events and he helped popularize the then-fledgling MTV. It, in turn, brought him into millions of homes daily.
Thriller won a record eight Grammy Awards in 1984. Virtually every song became a hit single and it changed the industry's thinking about how albums were put together and marketed. It also opened the door for artists to have more creative freedom and higher royalty returns. At the same time, he inspired legions of imitators and a line of dolls and accessories.
He spent his life under the glare of paparazzi flashbulbs, but in recent years, he has more often been the subject of negative news about his eccentricities and personal life. Jackson's seemingly charmed life started to change when a pyrotechnics accident during the filming of a Pepsi ad set his hair afire and burned his scalp. He got outpouring of sympathy after that and won a $1.5 million settlement from Pepsi, which he donated to charity.
But his health also became a public fascination, especially as he began to change his appearance through plastic surgery. He had several nose jobs, his lips thinned, and chin clef put in, among other alterations. Meanwhile, Jackson's brown skin grew progressively lighter, rumored to be the result of skin bleaching, but later diagnosed as vitiligo. The skin disorder causes a loss of pigment.
Jackson himself fueled gossip column by leaking false stories that he slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, reportedly to slow the aging process, or next to the bones of Joseph Merrick, the 19th century Englishman known as "The Elephant Man" because of his congenital deformities.
He addressed many of these issues in his 1988 autobiography, Moonwalk, in which he also revealed that he had been physically abused as a child. That same year, he built his $17 million Neverland Ranch near Santa Ynez, Calif., replete with an amusement park and exotic animals.
And while none of his post-Thriller albums matched its success, 1987's Bad, 1991's Dangerous and 1995's HIStory were still commercial successes. Jackson reminded the world again of his power as a artist with an exhilarating halftime performance at 1993's Super Bowl XXVII before a U.S. TV audience of more than 135 million.
But despite such triumphs, curiosity and controversy were his constant companions. Not long after the Super Bowl, he talked his troubled childhood, his virtiligo and other tabloid issues in a wrenching 90-minute televised interview with Oprah Winfrey. Later that year, he was accused of sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy. The stress of that situation led Jackson to become addicted to various painkillers and rather than stand trial, he ultimately settled with the boy's family for $22 million.
His reputation never fully recovered, even when he married singer Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley later that year. They kept their Dominican Republic ceremony secret for nearly two months, and had an amicable parting two years later.
Jackson's 82-concert HIStory World Tour in 1996 was seen by 4.5 million fans. It was his biggest ever, and also his last. It was also during the tour that he married Deborah Rowe, a dermatologist nurse with whom he had two children --Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. They divorced in 1999, with Rowe giving Jackson full custody rights.
Again, this parting proved amicable, but his split with Sony Records-- his label since Off The Wall-- was anything but. Just before the release of 2001's Invincible, he accused Sony chief Tommy Mottola of being a racist. It was another commercial success, though short of Jackson's standards.
In 2002, Jackson had a third child, Prince Michael Jackson II, who he claims was conceived via the artificial insemination of an unidentified surrogate mother. The tabloids scandalized him again after he dangled the baby over a hotel room balcony.
The following year, he was charged with nine felonies relating to the molestation of a 14-year-old. The charges came after a documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, showed him holding hands and discussing sleeping arrangements with the boy. Jackson was acquitted of all charges at a highly publicized trial five months later and he left the United States to live in Bahrain as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah, a member of the royal family who had paid Jackson's legal fees. Jackson constantly struggled with his finances after the 2003 trial.
Relations with Abdullah soured recently, with Jackson reaching a settlement in November in the sheikh's $7 million breach-of-contract suit. He had accused Jackson of reneging on a deal to produce an album, an autobiography and a musical for his 2 Seas Records company. Jackson, who earlier in the year was photographed at a Bahrain shopping mall disguised an Arab woman, moved back to California, living in a rented home near the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills.
In November, Jackson gave up the title to his 2,500-acre Neverland ranch, transferring the deed to a company he partly controls. Jackson had gone into default on the $24.5 million he owes on the property and had faced foreclosure before the real estate investment company Colony Capital bailed him out earlier this year by purchasing his loan.
Jackson's most recent controversy found a spokesperson refuting British tabloid reports that Jackson, who has been seen in a wheelchair and frequently wears a surgical mask on his face, was in dire health suffering from Alpha 1-antitryspsin deficiency, a rare lung disease. The rumors stemmed from an interview given by Ian Halperin, author of an upcoming unauthorized Jackson autobiography.
But despite all of his peccadilloes, Jackson remains a revered figure to those in the record industry. A broad range of pop artists, such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Akon, Britney Spears, Usher, Justin Timberlake, R.Kelly, Chris Brown, baby sister Janet, and dozens of others cite his influence on their music and even their desire to be entertainers.
Will.i.am, who this year produced three remixes on the celebratory reissue Thriller 25, explained: "It was the first time a black dude was on MTV. It was the first time you saw things that were happening in the ghettos and kids in the suburbs were copying it. It was like Broadway fused with street performance and his wardrobe was fly. He made it possible to be yourself and be free and just do you."
Jackson is a two-time inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Jackson 5 and solo), a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a 13-time Grammy winner, and has 13 solo No. 1 hits and another four with the Jackson 5. Thriller alone sold more than 27 million copies in the USA.
Whether he was wowing fans as a singing/dancing machine, turning heads with his outlandish wardrobes, or alternately amusing or horrifying everyone with his kooky behavior, Jackson could never, would never be ignored.
The King of Pop was always center stage. And the world was always watching.
*Jennifer Hudson's fiancé has finally made his pro-wrestling debut.
David Otunga, who first became famous as Punk from VH1's "I Love New York," stepped into the ring in Florida Wednesday under his pro moniker Dawson Alexander, Esq. - a nod to his law degree from Harvard University.
The bout against Troy Jackman was for Florida Championship Wrestling, a farm system for the WWE. According to RadarOnline, commentator/wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes hinted that reps pro-wrestling organization were at the match scouting the high-profile ring rookie.
Not only was J-Hud watching from the audience, but so were folks from TMZ.com, People magazine and Star magazine.
Hudson and Otunga are reportedly expecting their first child together.
The study, which appears in the recent issue of Research on Aging, includes responses from 837 people including African-Americans aged 55 and older. The study also revealed that churches also serve as a venue for men to retain, or perhaps achieve, important work roles, status and prestige even if they are not employed.
"Churches may be a primary social outlet and sphere of productive activity for older African American men, particularly those who are no longer active in the labor force," said Robert Taylor, professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and a faculty associate at the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research.
In addition to congregational activities - men's club, choir and Bible study - men also perform various activities at the church, such as cleaning, cutting grass, opening and closing the building, and minor repairs.
Taylor said gender and marital status are significantly associated with the frequency of attending religions services. Women usually participate in congregational activities, such as study groups, more often than men but spend less time in unstructured activities, including doing chores or talking with friends, the study found.
Taylor said religious communities provide opportunities for marital and family life counseling, as well as access to reference groups and individuals who model and reinforce shared values and behaviors relating to marital accord.
For many people who frequent church, their experience within religious settings may make them "less vulnerable to marital problems and marital dissolution compared with their counterparts who have not attended services as adults," Taylor said.
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Blog in your request and Love dedications. Also, if you're celebrating a birthday or anniversary we'll take that to. Let me what area of the upstate you're representing. Thanks!
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*President Barack Obama kept a campaign promise he made to his wife Michelle and whisked her off to the Big Apple Saturday night to see a Broadway play.
"I am taking my wife to New York City because I promised her during the campaign that I would take her to a Broadway show after it was all finished," the president said in a statement an aide read to the press.
After grabbing a two-hour dinner at Blue Hill, a West Village restaurant touted by New York magazine as a "seminal Greenmarket haven" that features food grown by chef and owner Dan Barber on his upstate farm, the Obamas arrived at the Belasco Theater to see the August Wilson play "Joe Turner's Come and Gone."
The production is about black America in the early 1900s, with residents of a boardinghouse recalling their migration from the sharecropping farms of the South to the industrialized North.
As the motorcade left the West Village and drove up Sixth Avenue to the theater, crowds of people, at times about eight deep, gathered on the sidewalks of the blockaded streets to wave as the Obamas passed, reports the Associated Press. Cab drivers opened their doors and stood on the frames of their taxis to glimpse the president and first lady.
The Obamas left the theater after the play and were greeted by more cheers from enthusiastic bystanders along New York streets as they headed back for the flight to Washington.
The White House declined to say how much the trip was costing taxpayers, and even before the smaller jet left Washington, the there-and-back trip drew criticism from the Republican National Committee. The RNC issued a news release that chastised Obama for saying he understands American's troubles, but then hopping up to New York for "a night on the town."
Noting that General Motors is expected to file for Chapter 11 protection on Monday, the news release said: "Putting on a show: Obamas wing into the city for an evening out while another iconic American company prepares for bankruptcy."
Before traveling to New York, the Obamas watched daughter Malia's soccer game for an hour Saturday morning.
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*Earlier it was reported that actor Terrence Howard and actress Zulay Henao had become engaged on the Prauge set of Howard's movie "Red Tails." (See that report from WENN below.)
Now, however, a representative for the actor is denying the report.
"Not true," blog site Just Jared quotes the representative as insisting. "Terrence is not engaged to Zulay."
In the meantime, Zulay's representative, brands report of both stars' engagement as "very fake."
WENN further claimed that Howard confirmed his engagement to Henao while he was partying at a bar in Prague on Friday night, May 22. He was claimed saying, "I just got engaged."
Here's what was reported previously:
*On location in Prague shooting the WWII film "Red Tails," Terrence Howard took time out to ask for his girlfriend's hand in marriage.
According to WENN, the actor proposed to Columbian actress Zulay (pronounced: Zu-ly) Henao after she jetted over to the Czech Republic for a visit.
Although he has never confirmed his relationship with Henao, the pair has been spotted together at red carpet events and they were snapped frolicking in the sea together during a December 2007 vacation.
Howard, 40, started dating Henao after splitting with ex-wife Lori McCommas for the second time in 2005. Howard and McCommas ended their 14-year marriage in 2003, but he wooed her back and they remarried, only to split for good soon after.
Last year, the actor revealed how he had bought McCommas her childhood home and stalked her in a bid to win her back. But, after their second split, he moved on and found love with Henao, who helped him recover from the death of his beloved mother Anita to cancer last September.
The couple can be seen together in 2009 movie "Fighting."
Personal Pride here. My oldest Son Corey graduates from Byrnes High School Tuesday 5/26. Pictured above...He's holding a plaque for finishing 2nd place in the State in Track. The boy's got speed. Please leave your comments and wish Corey Miles well in his College Career. Thanks!
*A public memorial service has been scheduled for Wayman Tisdale, the former NBA star and jazz musician who died Friday at a Tulsa hospital after a two-year battle with bone cancer.
According to the Web site of Biglow Funeral Directors, Tisdale's service will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Tisdale's hometown. His band will play selections starting a half-hour before the service begins.
The 44-year-old was a three-time All-American for Oklahoma in the mid-80s before playing 12 seasons in the NBA with Indiana, Phoenix and Sacramento.
Tisdale will be buried at Memorial Park Cemetery.
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