In 1965, a young Welsh singer walked onto a film set at Paramount Studios in Hollywood and got the shock of his life. He was 25 years old, had been famous for about a year, and had exactly three singles to his name. His name was Tom Jones, and he had grown up in a … Read more
At around three in the morning in the summer of 1975, a small Chow puppy named Getlo started behaving strangely at Graceland. Elvis Presley’s girlfriend Linda Thompson noticed something was badly wrong and called out a vet in the middle of the night. The vet examined the dog, then delivered the verdict nobody wanted: “I … Read more
On April 30, 1964, Elvis Presley needed a haircut. He was in Hollywood filming, so an assistant rang a 24-year-old hairdresser named Larry Geller, who worked at a famous Beverly Hills salon and cut hair for Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, and Paul Newman. Geller drove over to Elvis’s rented house on Perugia Way expecting a … Read more
In 1957, the biggest singer in America published an article attacking rock and roll in the harshest words anyone had used. He called it music made “for the most part by cretinous goons.” He said it was brutal, ugly, degenerate and vicious, and that hearing it had been his misfortune. That man was Frank Sinatra … Read more
Sometime between 1993 and 1996 Michael Jackson wrote a short note on yellow lined paper and sent it to Lisa Marie Presley. The words are plain and exhausted. He told her he truly needed rest because he had not slept literally in four days. He needed to get away from phones and business people. He … Read more
Ten semi-trailer trucks had carried a vast collection of Michael Jackson’s belongings away from Neverland. His famous entrance gates, stage clothing, luxury vehicles, artwork and personal furniture were being prepared for a four-day public auction. Yet Jackson changed course. On March 4, 2009, his company filed a lawsuit demanding that the auction house return the … Read more
In 1979, Michael Jackson was 21 and already famous from the Jackson 5. Yet on the back of a tour itinerary, he privately mapped out something much bigger. Decades later, a CBS crew entered a warehouse holding his personal effects and found the folded, worn page among the costumes, statues and memorabilia. It was not … Read more
In June 1989, 17-year-old AIDS activist Ryan White collected a shiny red Mustang from an unnamed benefactor. The giver had tried to remain hidden, but one question gave him away. Someone from Michael Jackson’s staff had called Ryan’s mother to ask which car her son had told the singer he wanted. The surprise was not … Read more
Most music charts in 2026 are filled with new releases from today’s biggest singers and rappers. Yet Michael Jackson has placed five songs on Billboard’s 25-position R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart. That gives the late King of Pop one-fifth of the entire ranking and leaves him only one appearance behind Drake, one of streaming’s most dominant … Read more
In 1992, a British tabloid put Michael Jackson’s face on its front page and described him in language meant to shock. The Daily Mirror claimed cosmetic surgery had left the world-famous singer hideously disfigured, visibly scarred and like a “scarred phantom.” Jackson did not answer with another interview. He started a legal fight that would … Read more
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