New York, NY - Special Administrators for the Estate of Michael Jackson, John Branca and John McClain, and Sony Music will continue the label’s 30-year relationship with Michael Jackson and his music with a landmark recording deal, it was announced today.

With this new agreement, Sony Music’s Columbia Epic Label Group and Legacy Recordings will continue their term of rights to his catalog and also create new projects for Michael Jackson featuring the never-before-released Jackson recordings. The first project featuring unreleased music is expected for release in November 2010.

Rob Stringer, Chairman of the Columbia Epic Label Group comments, “Michael has always been a treasured member of the Sony Music family. We’re dedicated to protecting this icon’s legacy and we’re thrilled that we can continue to bring his music to the world for the foreseeable future.”

John Branca comments, “During his life, Michael’s contracts set the standard for the industry, reflecting his unique vision and talents that inspired and excited people in every corner of the world. By all objective criteria, this agreement with Sony Music demonstrates the lasting power of Michael’s music by exceeding all previous industry benchmarks. Each new generation produces countless new fans who appreciate Michael’s artistry, requiring a partner that has Sony’s wherewithal, business acumen and foresight to properly and respectfully showcase his genius well into the future.”

As a solo artist with Epic Records spanning three decades, Michael has sold hundreds of millions of records worldwide and released thirteen #1 singles. Jackson became one of a handful of artists to be inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, won 13 Grammy Awards and received the American Music Award’s Artist of the Century Award. Sony’s Legacy Recordings has also created a number of successful projects such as the “Thriller” 25th anniversary album. The best selling album of all time worldwide by wide margin, “Thriller” showed the lasting power of Michael’s music by returning to #1 on the weekly sales charts in 2008.

John McClain comments, “Nowhere did Michael set the bar higher than he did with ‘Thriller,’ which nearly three decades after its release by Epic remains by far the best-selling album in history worldwide with music that transcends generations. We believe we have a partner in Sony that knows and appreciates Michael’s artistry as well as the passion of his fans. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Sony to preserve and enhance his remarkable musical legacy.”

This past fall, Sony Music released the #1 two-disc album companion to the motion picture Michael Jackson’s This is It ” which has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. Released by Sony Pictures, the film made history as the highest grossing concert film of all time and the recently released DVD took the #1 spot in DVD sales, breaking the record for first-week’s sales of a music film.

Source: Sony Music & MJWN

At this special event for the release of Michael’s ‘This Is It’ DVD and Bluray, Paula told us it was attended by several Australian celebrities, including Delta Goodrem and Guy Sebastian, who performed ‘Earth Song’ together. Michael’s choreographer, Travis Payne, and some of the dancers from the movie performed concert routines, taken from ‘Jam’, followed by ‘The Drill’ and lastly ‘They Don’t Care About Us.’

Paula and her husband met Kenny Ortega, who was moved when they showed him photographs taken with Michael. Kenny’s speech was very well received, and to quote Paula; One thing he said that just sums Michael up, was how Michael used to come up to him with ideas he had in his head, that he wanted to do, but Kenny used to tell him that “Michael we don’t have the technology to do that yet.” Michael’s reply to this used to be; “That’s okay, we will wait for a while.” Kenny added that’s exactly what they did…they waited for about two years at times, until technology caught up with Michael.

The highlight of Paula’s evening though was the presence at the launch of Michael’s brother, Jackie and his wife. She says that he was very sweet and on accepting an award for ‘This Is It’ from Sony, became very emotional and began to cry, making many of the audience cry too.

‘This Is It’ has achieved wonderful reviews, and terrific sales, and it has given Michael’s fans at least a little concept of the wonders that they would have seen had Michael been able to perform his concerts in London.

Source: MJWN with special thanks to Paula Katsikas

Registration is required to participate in the auction. Please visit www.gottahaverockandroll.com to view the online catalogue or register to bid, or visit www.thegoldencloset.com for detailed images and descriptions of the memorabilia.

Source: MJWN

For further information and to view a trailer of the DVD that will be released soon, please click here.

Source: Dana Gedrick & MJWN

Among the subjects discussed was a section on Michael’s love of books, and his many visits to book stores. They saw him buy thousands of dollars worth of books on every visit and even had to rent a self drive truck, a U-Haul, to get his purchases home. When asked what sort of books he liked, they mentioned history and science fiction in particular, saying that they themselves learned something new from Michael every day. He was “very big on knowledge,” they said and encouraged his children to read. They loved books too and were intelligent beyond their years.

To see part of the interview please click here.

Source: abcnews & MJWN

Glasgow Winner - Shirley-Anne Ferguson
St Albans Winner - Lisa Barnard
Wolverhampton Winner – Tina Jones

Congratulations to you all and well done for getting the correct answer which was: Joseph Bell and Taalib York.

If you didn’t win this time then please don’t worry. We will have another competition coming soon!

Source: MJWN

“We went to see Who’s Bad at our local theatre at the weekend and we had a great night out. The shows a lot of fun with a good concert atmosphere, we got an extra treat when a little kid got up on stage from the audience and did the moon walk perfectly.

I would definitely recommend you go see Who’s Bad if it comes to a theatre near you, the American Michael Jackson tribute band is currently touring the UK.”

Source: MjUpbeat & MJWN with special thanks to Joy

The hat is black felt, wide brimmed and had an inner leather hat band stamped “By Maddest Hatter… Made expressly for Michael Jackson…100 percent genuine fur.”  It was caught by an audience member at that concert, and it is now selected as one of the artifacts to be placed on display in the permanent collection at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

In five years, the museum is set to open up on the National Mall, just under the shadow of the Washington Monument. It will become the latest Smithsonian museum and the first national museum to celebrate the legacy of Americans of African descent.

Source: NPR & MJWN

‘History’ was Michael’s final concert tour of eighty-two concerts before 4,500,000 fans. It has never been seen in America and this is the first and only high definition recording of Michael performing his hits live.

The video quality is said to be extremely high, shot with fifty cameras and is two and a half hours in length. The app will also include five hundred rare pictures.

Joe Riehl, CEO of Metatron said of the product; “Michael Jackson is the most successful entertainer of all time and his music and videos continue to be top sales performers in all formats. This concert video is exclusive to our subsidiary i-Mobilize and has not been released in any format in the United States until now. We are proud to be the first to release this incredible video from one of the world’s truly great all-time performers.”

Source: Yahoo & MJWN

Chris’s new web site can be viewed by clicking here.

Source: MJWN