January : Janet shoots the video for “What’s it Gonna Be” with Busta Rhymes.
“Ask for More” is released as a promotional single by Janet Jackson for Pepsi.
The campaign is launched as a re-branding for Pepsi internationally.
Alternate versions of the campaign also co-stars Hong Kong singer Aaron Kwok for the Asian market and aired in China, and Latino singer Ricky Martin for the Latin market and aired in Latin America.
A duet version of the song performed in Spanish by Jackson and Martin was also aired in Europe as part of the commercial campaign.
A full length promotional music video of the version with Kwok was released in Asian markets. The original version of the ad features model and dancer Rob Vinson. Dancers Tina Landon and Shawnette Heard appear in all versions of the ad along with Janet.
January 6 : Janet gets together with Teddy Riely, of the music group Blackstreet, at Broadway Stages in Long Island City to shoot the video for “Girlfriend/Boyfriend”.
Janet flies from Los Angeles to Tokyo, Japan with Rene.
January 11 : Janet accepts an American Music Awards via satellite live from Tokyo.
January 12 + 13 + 14 : Janet gives three concerts at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.
January 13 : The Japonese pop group J-Friends releases the single “People Of The World” written and composed by Michael.
January 14 : Michael signs a four-concert deal that includes two December 31 millenium concerts: one in Sydney and, a speed jet ride later, one in Honolulu. Mama Concerts & Rau promoter Marcel Avram ultimately sues him on June 16, 2000 for not having two of the four mentioned concerts.
Michael arrives in Johannesburg, South Africa, with Prince, Paris & their nanny Grace Rwaramba. They go to Sun City.
January 15 : Michael travels to Sandton, a suburb of Johannesburg where the Cohen family resides, to attend the Bar Mitzvah of Dean Cohen, the eldest of the children. Dressed in a red military-style jacket, Michael surprises all the guests upon his arrival, accompanied by his children, Prince and Paris, and surrounded by bodyguards. After the ceremony, and as his children are escorted back to the hotel, Michael also attends the party held in honor of young Cohen. “He danced the hora and other traditional dances, shook hands with all the children, and signed autographs,” recalls a guest.
January 16 + 17 + 19 + 20 : Janet gives 4 concerts at the Osaka-jō Hall in Osaka, Japan.
January 21 : Janet gives a concert at the Nagoya Rainbow Hall in Nagaya, Japan.
January 23 : Janet gives a concert at the Hamamatsu Arena in Hamamatsu, Japan.
January 25 + 26 : Janet gives two concerts at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.
January 26 : On his way back home from South Africa , Michael stops by an hospital in Miami to be treated for a small fracture to his right wright.
January 27 : Janet, Rene & the Kids fly from Tokyo to Honolulu.
January 28 : Michael takes Prince to the emergency room of the Cedars Sinai Medical Center of Los Angeles because of a viral infection.
January 29 : LaToya is a guest on the Graham Norton Show in London, UK.
January 30 : Janet gives the 121st and last concert of the Velvet Rope Tour at the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.
February 10 : “Lisa Marie Presley danced till dawn to celebrate her 31st birthday with 300 guests at L.A.’s Argyle Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. Elvis’s little girl, in a sexy red Dolce and Gabbana dress, partied Friday (her actual birth date was Feb. 1) with Janet Jackson, who stuck close, Seal, Kirstie Alley, Marisa Tomei, Andy Dick, Jimmy Jam, David Foster and Glenn Ballard, who’s working with Presley in the studio on her forthcoming record. Juliette Lewis picked up a mike to sing Happy Birthday. Guests enjoyed backrubs and a photo booth. No sign of Presley exes Danny Keough and that Michael guy. But an unidentified beau supposedly hosted the event”.
February 12 : After 13 years of relationship and 8 years of marriage, Janet & Rene decide to split and soon file for divorce. Janet leaves their Malibu beach house
February 13 : Michael hosts a party at Neverland for Prince’s second birthday with Paris, Grace, Pia & Omer.
February 21 : Michael, Dr Freeze and Brad Buxer work on “A Place With No Name” at Record One.
Michael asks Carole Bayer Sager to work on his new album and she introduces him to Rodney Jerkins.
Rodney, his brother Fred and friend LaShawn Daniel (the Darkchild Team) join the MJ Team at Record One and start working on songs for MJ.
February 24 : Michael invites the Top Epic Records Executives (Cory Rooney, Tommy Mottola, John Doelp, Dave Glew & Polly Anthony) to the Marvin’s Room in Hollywood for a listening session and he plays only one song : “Break Of Dawn” produced by Dr Freeze.
February 27 : Michael attends Elizabeth Taylor’s birthday celebration at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas with Dr Arnold Klein. He presents Elizabeth with a football-size elephant handbag covered in jewels, inspired by Gipsy.
March 9 : “What’s it Gonna Be” is released as a single.
Janet is on the cover of Ebony magazine.
Mid March : Michael goes back to Sun City .
March 20 : Michael goes to Munich to announce the Michael Jackson & Friends Benefit Concerts during the German TV Show Wetten Dass.
March 21 : Janet attends the 71st Annual Academy Awards – Elton John AIDS Foundation Party at Pagani’s in Los Angeles with Shawnette & Lisa Marie Presley. She also spends time with Whitney Houston.
March 23 : Michael visits Nelson Mandela’s Cape Town residence where he gives a press conference to announce two charity concerts entitled “Michael Jackson & Friends – The Adventure of Humanity.”; one in Seoul, and one in Munich. He says the theme of the shows are “What More Can I Give”, a song he is working on at the time.
While in South Africa he visits Sun City.
Late March : Michael, Prince, Paris and Grace check in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
Michael starts working on new songs at the Hit Factory with Cory Rooney (“She Was Lonving Me”) and the Darkchild Team.
April : Elizabeth Taylors makes a photoshoot at Neverland for Talk Magazine. She talks about Michael in the interview. Michael talks about Elizabeth in a phone interview to the reporter Paul Theroux (the issue is released in October 1999).
April 03 : Michael hosts a party for Paris 1st birthday at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
April 10 : Michael arrives in London to spend the week end in London with Mohamed Al Fayed. He visits the Craven Cottage Football Ground in London
April 11 : Michael makes a surprise visit to Liberty Radio, a radio station owned by Mohammed Al Fayed. He gives an interview discussing his visit to Fulham Football Club with owner Mohammed Al Fayed, Elizabeth Taylor, collaborating with his brothers and 3T and his future plans.
At night, he spends one hour speaking to his fans outside Al Fayed’s apartment on Park Lane in London. Michael talks about the “immortalising work” he wants to do in films and explains he’s now channelling his efforts more towards this type of project.
April 12 : In the office of Harrods in London, Michael gives an interview to Piers Morgan for UK tabloid Daily Mirror. The interview is published front page on April 13 + April 14. In the interview Michael talks about new music : ‘I’m right in the middle of the album. I’m half way through and it’s just a calvacade of wonderful songs and I’m putting everything I have into it. I’m putting my heart into it because I’m not sure if I’m going to really really do it again. This may be my last one as far as an album. I may do – the next is doing soundtrack albums. Soundtracks and films but not just straight out pop albums. I want to touch the world. I want to touch the heart, the emotion of the entire world and every demographic from a child to older people, from the farmer in Ireland to the lady who scrubs toilets in Harlem, I mean I want to reach every demographic I can, through the love and joy and the simplicity of music.
During the interview, MJ reveals that he is working on a new charity song to help the the crisis in Yugoslavia : “I wrote a song What More Can I Give that I want to put all the stars together and if I could do it here in Britain it would be great. Maybe I should do it in Britain. I wrote it and I want to give the proceeds to the families of Yugoslavia. Maybe I should do it here instead of America and get all your celebrities in England and if the Americans want to fly down too. One of the things I didn’t like about “We are the World” song that I wrote was I didn’t like the idea “USA for Africa” it was like it was discriminating the rest of the world. I asked for the Bee Gees and I asked for other groups and they said “they weren’t born here” I said “I don’t care! I just want the world to show that they care”. I mean I am not into politics and I don’t talk about religion and politics but I think it’s totally ignorant and it’s wrong to hurt people, to hurt innocent children over some political issue? I think its genocide; I think it’s wrong. Ethnic cleansing? It’s ignorant, it’s stupid.”
April 12-14 : Michael stops by Paris before going back to London.
April 26 : Michael gives an interviews on a 4AM phone call with Paul Theroux, discussing Elizabeth Taylor, fame and isolation, hobbies, his childhood, and his children.
May : LaToya and her business partner Jeffre Philipps launch their joint company JATAIL Enterprise.
May 1 : Michael attends the Bollywood Movie Award held at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New York. He is dressed in a black Indian suit designed by Manish Malhotra. He accepts a special “Humanitarian Award” from London-based industrialist S.P. Hinduja for his role in promoting the cause of global peace.
May 5 : Janet goes to Monaco with Shawnette where she is presented with a Lifetime Achievment Award by Prince Albert at the World Music Awards.
May 10 : Michael attends a private screening of “Matrix” movie in Manhattan .
May 17 : In NYC Michael attends a private screening of “Star Wars Episode 1” in Manhattan with Prince and magician Uri Geller.
In LA Janet attends the ASCAP Awards where she is presented with an award and presents another to Joni Mitchell.
May 25 : “Girlfriend/Boyfriend” is released as a single.
May 27 : Janet attends the Commitment to Life XI Gala to Benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) at Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City where she is presented with an Award for her fight against Aids.
May 28 : A special presentation of the song ‘Seeing Voices’, sung by Michael, is unveiled at the Ventura Club in Sherman Oaks, California by Sidney Fine. The event is filmed by Michael’s personal cameraman, but he does not appear at the event.
June 1 : Due to Prince’s sickness, Michael cancels his participation in the Pavarotti And Friends Charity Concert in Modena.
June 9 : Michael is in Munich with Prince, Paris and Grace to hold a press conference for Michael Jackson And Friends.
June 10 : They stop by Paris.
June 11 : They stop by New York where Michael meets Sony executives.
June 12 : Michael purchases director David O. Selznick’s “Best Picture” Oscar award for “Gone With The Wind” at a Sotheby’s New York auction over the phone through an agent, paying $1,542,500, a record sum for Hollywood memorabilia.
June 13-20 : Michael rehearses for the concerts in Los Angeles .
June 16 : Janet & Swawnette attend the premiere of “The Ideal Husband” at the Paris Theatre in New York City.
June 21 : Michael arrives in Seoul with Grace and the kids.
Frank Cascio becomes Michael’s new personal assistant and he flies from NYC to Seoul.
Wayne Nagin becomes Michael’s manager and his brother Skipper new head of security.
Myung-Ho Lee becomes Michael’s new financial manager;
June 22 : Michael invites about twenty children from an orphanage in Namsan to spend the day with him. They have lunch together at his hotel, and in the early afternoon, Michael decides to do some shopping. So, accompanied by the children, he goes by bus to the Gangnam Tower store. In the afternoon, the King of Pop is at Everland Park, where he had the opportunity to visit the previous year. This time, he is not there as a tourist but as a guest of honor. Surrounded by the park’s mascots, he attends a reception where he inaugurates a copper plaque bearing one of his messages, in the Victoria Theater of the park and an imprint of his hand. Michael declares, “I really love Korea, and I will continue to love it in the future”. He then attends, in the Rose Garden of the park (now called the Four Seasons Garden, located in the European Adventure section), alongside children with disabilities, a children’s choir, and a traditional music performance. Between performances, he shows care and attention to the young disabled children.
June 23 : Janet & Shawnette attend a party hosted by Allure Magazine at Bottino in NYC.
Michael leaves his hotel to go to the Hyundai Department Store, a shopping center, in Apgujeong-dong, in the Gangnam district, south of Seoul. Around 5 pm, he goes to the Bennigan’s restaurant in Dogok-Dong, an affluent neighborhood in the Gangnam district. He will spend the evening with about fifteen children suffering from leukemia.
June 24 : Michael visits the U.S. Army base in Seoul to support the soldiers. He meets with base officials and signs autographs for the troops. This is the Eighth Army, a U.S. field army that commands all U.S. military forces in South Korea. In 1999, its headquarters was at Yongsan Garrison, in the district of the same name, in central Seoul. It has since relocated to Camp Humphreys, about ninety kilometers from Seoul. After taking some photos and signing autographs, Michael decides to make an impromptu visit to Lotte World Adventure with Franck Cascio. This leisure complex opened in 1989 and is located near Jamsil Olympic Stadium, south of the Han River.
Michael rehearses his performance for MJ & Friends in Seoul including the song “She’s Out Of My Life” cut from the final setlist. When he returns to the hotel, Michael joins the artists who will participate in the concert the next evening for a private gathering organized in one of the lounges at the Shilla Hotel.
June 25 : Michael performs performs at Chamsil Olympic Stadium in Seoul, Korea, for his “Michael Jackson & Friends” charity concert. He also speaks of Korea and its president at the time. He performs a medley (Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”/”The Way You Make Me Feel”/”Scream”/”Beat It”/”Black or White”/”Billie Jean”), “Dangerous”, “Earth Song”, and “You Are Not Alone”. The concert is broadcasted live on Koean TV. Backstage he spends time with Boys 2 Men and Mariah Carey.
June 26 : Michael, Frank, Grace and the kids arrive in Munich, Germany.
June 27 : Michael performs his second concert in Munich . During Earth Song, a technical problem occurs and the central section of The Bridge Of No Return collapses which hurts Michael’s feet and back (he’s taken to the hospital after the show). The show is broadcasted live on German TV.
June 29 : Michael, Frank, Prince, Paris and Grace arrive in Paris and check in the Plaza Athenée Hotel.
June 30 : Michael and his friends go to see the Matrix movie on the Champs Elysées.
July 3-4 : In the Studios Duran Duboi in Issy les Moulineaux, a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, Michael makes a top secret photoshoot with French photograph Arnaud Bani, his make up artist Karen Faye and stylist Michael Bush.
July 5-13 : Michael Grace and the kids stay at Disneyland Paris where they are joined by Debbie & Anton Schleiter, Omer Bhatti and the Cascios kids.
July 14-24 : Michael and his entourage go to Sun City .Dominic and Connie Cascio join them.
July 18 : Michael attends Nelson Mandela’s 81st Birthday in Johannesburg, South Africa.
July 25-27 : Michael and his entourage go to London where Michael meets Mohamed Al Fayed and Prince Naseem.
July 28 : Michael, Frank, Grace and the kids fly back to L.A.
Early August : After a few days at Neverland, Michael resumes the recording sessions of his new album in New York City . He moves into a beautiful Townhouse on the Upper East Side with Grace, the kids and Frank. The mansion is situated at 4 East 74th Street. It was built in 1898 when architect Alexander Welch was commissioned to design the Beaux-Arts townhouse. Welch served as the consulting architect on the restorations of Alexander Hamilton’s Harlem home Hamilton Grange and George Washington’s headquarters in White Plains.
Rabbi Scmuley Boteach pays a visite to Michael at this townhouse and they soon become friends.
August 15 : The Dalai Lama grants an audience to Michael Jackson. It is the first meeting between The Dalai and Michael. The meeting takes place at the Mark Hotel in NYC. The Dalai Lama and Michael speak for about 20 minutes.
August 18 : Janet attends the Source Hip-Hop Music Awards at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood Busta Rhymes and her are presented with the Award For Best Video for “What’s It Gonna Be”.
August 29 : Michael is back at Neverland to celebrate his birthday with Grace, Prince, Paris, the Cascios & the Bhattis.
Michael decides to cancel the Millenium concerts due to take place in Hawaii & Seoul on the 31st of December.
September 04 : Michael goes to Sun City with Grace, Prince, Paris, Omer and the Cascios. He accepts a Lifetime Achievement award and presents a 165 000 dollars cheque to Nelson Mandela during the Kora All African Awards.
September 5 : Michael visits Danie de Jager again in his Hartbeespoort studio with Prince & Paris. Later that day, Michael and his children are invited on a yacht with the De Jager couple. A few minutes’ drive from the sculptor’s studio, in Schoemansville, the company Waterfront No. 1 offers cruises on the luxurious catamaran De Jagter, anchored in the waters of the dam. The Cascio children and Omer Bhatti are also present that day.
September 9 : Janet attends the 16th Annual MTV Video Music Awards at the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center in New York City. Video Music Awards. She walks the red carper with Q-Tip and later she presents an award to Ricky Martin & Tina Landon.
Janet decides to delay the recording of her new album after learning that she got the part in Eddie Murphy’s new comedy “The Nutty Professor II”.
Michael & Elizabeth Taylor speak about their close friendship in Talk magazine
September 11-14 : Michael is in Disneyland Paris with Grace, Prince, Paris, Omer and the Cascios. Debbie joins them from Los Angeles.
September 17 : Michael is invited aboard the yacht of a prominent South African figure. Grace, Prince, Paris, Omer and the Cascios are onboard with him.
October 1 : Michael attends a jewish service in New York with Uri Geller & Schmuley Boteach.
October 5 : Janet starts to film the movie Nutty Professor II in Los Angeles with Eddie Murphy.
October 8 : Debbie officially files for divorce and sign a confidentiality agreement.
October 11-early November : Michael & the kids stay at Neverland.
October 23 : Birth of Royal Jackson, first child of TJ with Frances Casey, first grandchild of Tito and first great grandchild of Joe & Katherine.
November 12 : Michael plans to star as the lead actor in a film named “The Nightmares of Edgar Allan Poe” and starts working on songs for the soundtrack of the movie.
November 25 : Michael & Schmuley Boteach take their kids to see the movie Toy Story in New York for Thanksgiving.
Late November : To celebrate Thriller as the best video ever, Michael graces the cover of TV Guide (issue dated December 4, 1999) with an exclusive photoshoot + an interview given recently in a New York hotel. In the interview Michael talks about his new album : “I have a couple of things planned. I think it’s going to be totally different from what I did before. There’s a song on the new album called “I Have This Dream.” It’s a millennium song about the world and the environment that I cowrote with Carole Bayer Sager and David Foster.” MJ also talks about Lisa Marie : “Lisa’s sweet. I like her very much, and we are friends. And who knows what tomorrow brings? I have no idea how she feels today. I’ll just say that. She comes to my house and sees the children, and we talk on the phone, that sort of thing.”
December 4 : Michael attends Whitney Houston ‘s Fund Raising Event at the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York with his old friend Gregory Peck.
December 08 : Michael gives an interview to Alex Colletti for “MTV: 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made”, where he discusses his creative process, the Three Stooges, innovation, contributing to the “Billie Jean”music video, and the idea of becoming a panther.
December 20 : After recording over 75 songs for his new album, Michael leaves NYC and go back to Neverland for the holidays with Grace, Franck & the kids.
December 24/25 : Michael & the kids celebrate Christmas with the Cascios & the Bhattis at Neverland.
Jackson Dynasty 