Michael Jackson continues to burn bridges in the music industry despite the former pop king's desire to make a comeback.
According to Roger Friedman, a Fox News columnist, Bruce Swedien, the man who recorded all of Michael Jackson’s adult hits including "Thriller," "Bad," "Dangerous" and "Off the Wall," is out of the picture.
Swedien, described by Friedman as a lovely, soft-spoken man, said Jackson has cheated him out of about $500,000 in royalties from the 2001 "Invincible" album. Swedien said he’s tried over and over again to reach Jackson and get his money, but there’s been no answer.
Ironically, Swedien said intermediaries for the former pop star recently reached out to him to see if he’d come work with Jackson a new album. Swedien declined. The music producer also is apparently miffed that Jackson never got back to him on a request made by Swedien for Jackson to write a forward to a book Swedien is writing.
Swedien also told Friedman that Jackson has recently had contact with his other former producer, Quincy Jones. “But Quincy has no interest in working with Michael, and he and I work together. It’s not going to happen,” Swedien said.
That Jackson isn’t complying doesn’t surprise one man who has been around Jackson for 30 years.
“No, this isn’t a surprise at all,” Bob Jones, Jackson’s publicist and vice president of Jackson’s company for 17 years, told this column. Jones, who wrote the sensation biography, “Michael Jackson: The Man Behind The Mask: An Insider’s Account of the King of Pop, detailed a lot of what he called Jackson’s lack of loyalty in the book. (NOTE: writer of this article co-wrote Man Behind The Mask with Jones.)
Jones said Jackson opposed Quincy Jones receiving a Grammy for “Thriller” even though the famous producer was one of the driving forces behind what became the biggest selling album in music history. “Michael wanted the spotlight all to himself,” Bob Jones said. “It’s a giving with Michael. He’s the king and there is nobody else but him in his world.”
Jackson was acquitted in 2005 on 10 counts of child molestation and other charges. He moved to the Middle East after the trial and former confidantes and family members complained the pop star turned his back to them after they supported him throughout the trial.
“Michael Jackson cares only about Michael Jackson and it’s about time that everybody learned that,” Jones said. Jackson has reportedly been working with 50 Cent, Whoo Kid, Beyonce’ and others on a comeback album tentatively titled: Trial of The Century. The album would be the first of all new material by Jackson since “Invincible.” The embattled pop star last toured the United States in 1988 with his “BAD” album and his recent move to Las Vegas has many in the media speculating that Jackson is planning a U.S. tour in support of any new material.
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