Dee Dee finds out Tito is cheating on her. She files for divorce and custody of Taj, Taryll & TJ (3T).
January : Michael accepts the MTV Vanguard award of the decade by MTV CEO Tom Freston and Adam Curry, for his excellence in video and his inspiration to others.
Michael visits Disneyworld in Florida.
Michael’s recording team moves from Westlake to Record One studio in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles. DECADE 1979-1989 project becomes DECADE 1980-1990.
January 6 : Michael invites 82 abused children to Neverland.
January 26 : Michael is at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the unveiling of a painting of himself titled The Book made by Australian artist Brett Livingstone Strong.
January 27 : Michael attends the American Cinema Awards at Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. he receives the Entertainer Of The Decade Award from his guest Sophia Loren.
February 3 : Michael receives a Role Model Award from Japon which he accepts via satellite.
February 4 : ABC airs the Tribute to Sammy Davis Jr’s 60th year in Show Business.
February 20 : Michael attends a sit-down breakfast at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel organised by CBS Records to celebrate Michael as the Top Selling Artist Of the 8O’s.
February 21 : Michael and Paul McCartney meet for three hours before the “32nd Annual Grammy Awards”, resulting in Michael giving an extra four percent stake in Michael’s catalog. Michael’s “Moonwalker” film wins the award for “Best Long Form Music Video”, but he is not present at the ceremony,
March : Wade Robson and his family visit Michael at the “Record One” Recording studios in L.A. Michael invites the whole family to his ranch for the weekend.The following weekend, the family again stays at Neverland. Afterwards, Michael takes Wade and his mother to Las Vegas and they visited Siegfried and Roy.
March 20 : Adrian Grant (the editor of fanzine Off The Wall) presents Michael with the “Off the Wall Appreciation Award”, a painting by British artist Vincent McKoy, in Los Angeles where Michael is working on new songs, one of which is “Men in Black”.
Spring : Michael fires John Branca after 10 years with him as his lawyer. He replaces him with three seasoned law veterans : Bert Fields (for litigation), Alan Grubman (fpr negociations with CBS) and Lee Phillips (for music publishing) allo closeley associated with David Geffen.
The first commercials of L.A Gear ‘campaign “Unstoppable” featuring Michael Jackson are shown in cinemas across America, with only the soundtrack of some of Michael’s songs: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” and “The Way You Make Me Feel” (and Michael does not appear).
March 26 : Adrian Grant visits Michael at his Neverland ranch.
April 4 : Michael visits the Capital Children’s Museum in Washington DC with Ann Levin and Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
April 5 : Michael meets with President Bush at the White House Rose Garden ceremony to be honoured as Entertainer Of The Decade by the Capital Children’s Museum. Michael is received in the President’s Oval Office and spends some time in the Rose Garden with the First Lady, Barbara Bush.That same evening, MJ travels to McLean, Virginia, just about fifteen minutes northwest of Washington. He is invited to Merrywood, a sprawling Georgian-style estate on the banks of the Potomac River, built around 1919. The place is particularly renowned for having been the home where Jackie Kennedy, the wife of John F. Kennedy, spent part of her childhood. The house had belonged to her stepfather, Hugh D. Auchincloss II, since the 1930s. Michael attends a fundraising event in support of the Capital Children’s Museum. Organized by The Friends of the Capital Children’s Museum, the ceremony is also intended to honor Michael and his philanthropic efforts for children. Over 200 guests, who paid between $1,000 and $5,000 to attend the event, are present.
April 7 : Michael arrives as one of the first guests at the Taj Mahal Casino of his friend Donald Trump.
April 8 : Michael calls Ryan White’s mother at around 1AM for a status on his friend Ryan White’s health, and receives the sad news that Ryan will likely not make it through the night, and Michael will not be able to fly over in time to see him. In the morning, Michael leaves on a flight with business magnate Donald Trump to travel to Ryan’s home in Indiana.
April 10 : Michael attends Ryan White’s visitation at the funeral home.
April 11 : Michael attends Ryan White’s funeral service in Indiana along with 1500 persons including Barbara Bush, Elton John, Donald Trump & Ryan’s mother Jeanne.
April 20/21 : Janet gives two concerts at the Forum in Inglewood. Many members of the Jackson family attend the shows including Katherine and Michael.
April 25 : Martha Upshaw, Katherine’s mother dies. The whole family attends her funeral except LaToya who is abroad with Jack Gordon.
May : Joy & Wade Robson return to Los Angeles to participate in a photoshoot with Michael for the L.A Gear.
Fan force Michael to retreat while visting F.A.O Schwartz Toy Store with two young girls.
John Brown, a 14-year-old cancer sufferer is invited to Neverland to meet his idol in person.
May 8 : Michael is presented with the first ever BMI Michael Jackson Award at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Katherine, Joe & Jackie attend the ceremony.
May 16 : Sammy Davis Jr, a long time friend of Michael dies of throat cancer. Michael is named as an honorary pallbearer along with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin & Bill Cosby.
May 18 : Michael attends Sammy Davis Jr.’s funeral, named as one of the honorary pallbearers.
June : Michael fires John Branca after a dispute between Branca and Walter Yetnikoff about David Geffen’s effort to get Michael to perform for the soundtrack of the “Days of Thunder” film.
June 3 : Michael collapses while dancing at the Hideout. He is taken to St John Hospital of Los Angeles where he is treated for chest pains. He gets visits from the whole Jackson family (except LaToya) + Elizabeth Taylor who is treated in the same hospital.
June 8 : Michael leaves the hospital and goes resting in Neverland.
June 17 : Eliza gives birth to Steveanna Jackson but she files for divorce from Randy soon after.
June 25 : Michael starts recording the “Dangerous’ album at the Ocean Way/Record One Studio 2 in Los Angeles.
July : Michael attends the wedding of Berry Gordy to Grace Eaton in Santa Barbara.
The first publicity pictures of Michael ‘LA Gear campaign begin to circulate in magazines showing Michael dancing in the street with his niece Brandi and other children including Wade Robson.
July 21 : Michael welcomes children from the Dream Street Foundation and young people from the Make-A-Wish Foundation to his Neverland ranch. Forty-five children from all over the United States as well as England and Russia came to spend the day at Neverland and Michael was there with them. Michael indicated that he supported the Dream Street Foundation because he “values being a child and being able to have fun.”
August : Saga/Genesis releases the video game of “Moonwaker”.
Michael hires Sandy Gallin & Jim Morey as new personal Managers.
August 06 : LA Gear’s first advertisement, starring Michael and his 8 year old niece Brandi Jackson (Jackie’s daughter), premieres on ABC and in movie theaters. In 30 seconds commercial, we can see MJ dancing alone in the street by night.
August 18 : Michael invites 130 children from the LA & Santa Barbara YMCA summer program to his Neverlans ranch. The children makes a “We love you Michael” banner and Michael is made an honorary member of the 28th Street YMCA in Los Angeles.
August 21 : Michael confirms Sandy Gallin of Gallin-Morey Associates as his new manager.
September : Michael’s tribute to BET (Black Entertainment Television) in “Billboard” magazine, thanking them for their support, is published.
Teddy Riley joins the DECADE 1980-1990 project at the Larrabee Studio in North Hollywood. Michael records the background vocals for “Do The Bartman”, a song written by Bryan Loren; he also participates in creating the name of the song, and some of the lyrics.
September 12 : Michael attends the City Of Hope Gala in honour of CBS Record Division President, Tommy Mottola.
September 14 : The Los Angeles Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America presents Michael Jackson with the first “Michael Jackson Good Scout Humanitarian Award.” Disney Chairman Michael Eisner presents the award during a ceremony at the Century Plaza Towers in Los Angeles.
October : Katherine Jackson publishes her memoirs titles “My Family : The Jacksons” and gives an interview to Ebony magazine to promote it (Michael, Janet & LaToya appear on the cover of the magazine).
October 5 : Michael’s off-camera interview discussing Quincy Jones, included in the “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones” film, is released.
November 20 : Michael’s co-written song “Alright Now” is released on Ralph Tresvant’s self-titled album.
December : Michael has recorded so many new songs that the DECADE compilation is canceled and a whole new album named “Dangerous” is planned for 1991.
Jackson Dynasty 