Family’s Timeline : 1995

In order to avoid a new controversy, Michael decides to settle secretly a new lawsuit by Blanca Francia who claimed Michael touched her son Jason back in 1990. She accepts to withdraw her complaint against 2 millions dollars

“Stop In the Name of Love” is released as the ninth studio album by LaToya. The album, which was recorded and mixed in Sweden is a collection of dance-style well-known Motown covers, The entire album was recorded in one hour.

January 5 : LaToya and Jack Gordon give a press conference to announce “Jackson Family Secrets phone line” at Fashion Cafe in New York City.

January 11 : MJ releases a statement saying : “I will no longer stand by and watch reckless members of the media try to destroy my reputation.”….The statement is a response to unsubstantiated rumors of a video depicting Jackson fooling around with a young boy (his cousin) at Neverland.

January 16 : Janet is honored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, during its CORE  ‘Living The Dream’ Ambassadorial Reception Awards Dinner at the Sheraton Hotel in New York City.

Janet is on the cover of Ebony Magazine

January 20 : Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie welcome King Nana Amon Ndufu IV, ruler of Sanwi, on the Ivory Coast, at Los Angeles airport on a 4 day visit.

January 31 : Whoops Now”/”What’ll Do” are released as “Janet” ‘ eighth and ninth single, respectively. The songs reached number one in New Zealand and peaked within the top 20 in several countries. This double single is not released in the US.

The video for “Whoops Now” Is directed by Yuri Elizondo, the younger brother of René Elizondo, Jr., and depicts Janet and “The Kids” having fun in Jackson’s favorite vacation spot, Anguilla.

The video for “What’ll I Do” is a concert performance taken from the Janet. Tour.

February 6 : Michael & Lisa Marie visit lawyer Johnnie Cochran at his new office in L.A.

February 6 + 7 : Janet kicks off the Australian/Asia leg of the Janet Tour with two concerts at the Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Australia.

February 9 : Michael thanks German fans via video message at the Bravo Super Show 1995. He received the ‘Golden Otto Award’ of the teen music print magazine. Hosted by Kristiane Backer, the event took place in the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund & aired on RTL2 on 2/26/95.

February 10 + 11 + 12 + 15 : Janet gives 4 concerts at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney, Australia.

February 15 : A warrant is issued for Jermaine’s arrest after he was held in contempt by the court regarding his child support payments for Jeremy and Jourdynn. Jermaine hires Brian Oxman to defend him who declares Jermaine had no idea he was behind in child support..

February 17 + 18 + 20 : Janet gives 3 concerts at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia.

February 21 : Janet gives a concert at the Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, Australia.

February 23 : Janet gives the last concert of the Australian leg at the Burswood Dome in Perth.

Michael previews several new songs from his new album at the 37th annual NARM convention where he is presented with the Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award. Lisa Marie awaits backstage.

February 27 + 28 : Janet gives two concerts at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore

March 2 : Michael attends little Craig Fleming’s funeral.

March 3 : Janet gives a concert at the Folk Arts Theater in Pasay, Philippines.

March 5 + 6 : Janet gives two concerts at the Indoor Stadium Huamark in Bangkok Thailand.

March 8 : Janet kicks off the European leg of the tour at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway.

March 9 : Janet gives a concert at the Valbyhallen in Copenhagen, Denmark.

March 11 : Janet gives a concert at the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

March 13 : Janet Remixed is released in Europe.

March 14 : Janet gives a concert at the Velodrome Berlin, Germany.

March 16 : Janet gives a concert at the Sports Palace in Hambourg, Germany.

Janet performs “Whoops Now” on Wetten Dass in Germany (aired on March 18).

BBC UK airs Janet’s performance of “Whoops Now” on Top Of The Pops.

March 18 : Alejandra and Jermaine get married in a secret ceremony at the Hotel Bel Air causing Randy to leave Hayvenhurst!

Some time after, Joe brings a baby boy from Las Vegas to Hayvenhurst. Donte Williams, born on June 13, 1992 is adopted by Joe & Katherine but raised by Jermaine & Alejandra.

March 21 + 22 : Janet gives two concerts at the Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

March 23 : Michael announces to his team that the mastering needs to be finished by the end of the weekend, and they camp at Record One to do the final touches.

March 24 : Janet performs “Whoops Now” at Théâtre de l’Empire in Paris, France for French TV Show on TF1. While in Paris Janet is a guest on French TV show “Nulles Part Ailleurs”. She also tapes an interview for French TV channel M6. During this interview, she reveals that her duet with Michael is titled Scream and will be released in May.

March 25 : Janet gives a concert at the Palais des Sports in Toulouse, France.

Michael records the full ad-libs for the end of “Earth Song”, recording into the early hours of the next day. He completes “Earth Song” from the original recording in 1990.

March 26 : Janet gives a concert at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain.

March 27 : The mastering of the HIStory album is completed in time for the Monday morning deadline.

March 28 : Michael hosts a party at Neverland to celebrate the end of the recoding of his new album titled History.

March 29 : Janet gives a concert at the Dome in Marseille, France.

March 31 : Janet gives a concert at the Hallenstadion in Zürich, Switzerland.

April :  LaToya starts her Live Exotic Club Tour in Pensylvania and is booed by the male crowd when she refused to strip and remove her clothes…

April 1 : Janet gives a concert at the Olympiahalle in Munich Germany.

April 4 : Janet gives a concert at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England.

April 7 : Janet gives a concert at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England.

April 8 : Janet gives a concert at the Wembley Arena in London, England.

April 10 : Janet gives a concert at the Palais Omnisport de Bercy in Paris, France.

Michael and Lisa Marie visit Tower Records in Sherman Oaks, California.

April 11 : Janet gives a concert at the Schleyerhalle in Stuttgart, Germany.

April 13 : Janet gives a concert at the Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany.

April 15 : Janet gives a concert at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany.

April 16 : Janet gives a concert at the Flander’s Expo in Ghent, Belgium

April 18 : Michael and Lisa Marie host the World Congress of Children seminar, where they paid for 46 young ambassadors across 18 countries to fly to Neverland to attend the three day seminar to discuss drug abuse, homelessness, increasing violence, AIDS, and child abuse. The children presented issues with their perspective countries and worked with the Heal the World foundation on solutions, to be presented to the “World Summit of Children” as part of the United Nations golden jubilee in June. There, the children presented their findings to the Secretary of the United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Reverend Jessie Jackson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and several United Nations Ambassadors.

April 20 : Michael attends a meeting in L.A with the top executives from Epic/Sony to prepare the marketing plan of “History”.

April 19 + 20 + 22  : Janet gives the last 3 concerts of the Janet World Tour at the Wembley Arena in London.

May : Michael is on the cover of VIBE magazine with exclusive pictures taken at Neverland with Quincy Jones & his daughter Kidada.

May 9 : French journalists from Black & White magazine attend the world premiere listening party of the History album at the Sony Music headquarters in New York City.

May 11 : Michael makes a surprise visit to the very first E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in Los Angeles, where he was photographed playing Tekken on the newly launched Sony PlayStation—months before its U.S. release.

May 12 : Janet & Rene attend the Eighth Annual Essence Awards at Paramount Theatre, Madison Square Garden in New York City where Janet is presented with an award.

May 15-20 : Michael & Janet shoot the “Scream” short film, directed by Mark Romanek.

On set, Michael gives an interview to “Popcorn” magazine, discussing his “Artist of the Decade Award”, Lisa Marie, and his planned Germany visit.

May 19 : “Scream”, The first single from the album History is officially launched on radios worldwide.

May 22 : MTV and VIH premiere the HIStory teaser. Later the teaser is rolled out to cinemas across the U.S.

May 25 : Michael, Lisa Marie & her daughter Riley go to the Six Flags Amusement Park in Los Angeles.

USA Today aired MJ photos trying the new game console,the PlayStation. Geoff Keighley  (Canadian journalist) recalled the event : MJ showed up at the first PlayStation E3 party in 1995 as a surprise guest of Mickey Schulhof, the then-CEO of Sony.

May 27 : Michael attends the “Son of Famous Monsters of Filmland Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy World Convention” dressed as Nosferatu with his bodyguard. They are in disguise as Tom and Harry.

May 29 : “Scream”/”Childhood” is released worldwide. “Scream” would become the first single in the 37-year history of Billboard to debut in the top five on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number five. Elsewhere, it topped the charts in Italy, New Zealand, and Spain while reaching the top five in Australia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

May 30-June 02 : Michael shoots the “Childhood” short film directed by Nicholas Brandt in Los Angeles.

June : Janet goes to Minneapolis with Rene to record two new songs for a greatest hits album.

June 13 : The “Scream” short film is premiered on MTV & BET.

June 14 : Michael & Lisa Marie give an interview to ABC’s Primetime Live with Diane Sawyer. The “History” teaser and “Scream” short film are aired during the TV Special. Elizabeth Taylor’s taped interview is also feautured.

A new controversy arises about some lyrics to the song They Don’t Care About Us that would be anti-Semitic which Michael categorically denies.

June 16 : Huge statues of Michael are held in some European cities.

Both Life & Hello carry the same pictures of Michael & Lisa kissing (taken by Harry Benson)

Michael is on the cover of Entertainment Weekly.

Michael signs a consent letter to Jermaine Jackson, indicating the terms in which Michael will participate in a planned album “Humanity” for The Jacksons in 1995-1996.

June 19 : History’s official website is launched with an audio message by MJ.

June 20 : “HIStory: Past, Present and Future – Book I” is released.

June 22 : Michael attends the VH1 Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. He makes a surprise performance og “We Are The World” with Boys 2 Men and he is also presented with the “VH1 International Honors Award” from Morgan Freeman for his charity efforts.

July 4 : Michael launches a new website called “The Museum of HIStory” a virtual museum with audio commentary on various songs, as well as other behind the scenes information.

July 10 : Michael & Lisa Marie attend the opening of the Magic Johnson Sony Theatre in Los Angeles.

July 12 : Michael & Lisa Marie shoot the video for “You Are Not Alone” and they also appear on the cover of Jet magazine.

July 25 : In NYC, MJ attends a press conference at the Bryant Park Grill together with Mayor Rudolf Giuliani to announce the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards nominations + a special HBO concert planned at the Beacon Theatre on December 10. The same day, Michael tapes an interview with MTV’s Bill Bellamy for “Michael Jackson Changes HIStory” special (airs July 28), discussing his work with Janet in his nominated “Scream” music video / short film.

July 28 : ABC airs a special feature called “Michael Jackson Changes History” during which Michael gives an interview to Bill Bellamy and premieres the video for “You Are Not Alone”.

July 31 : Michael lands at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, with the Cascio kids. 

August 1995 : The MJJ Productions offices are moved from 10960 Wilshire boulevard in Westwood to Sunset Boulevard. The team is Bob Jones, Evvy Tabasci, Gary Hearne, Grace Rwaramba and Miko Brando.

August 01 : Michael and the Cascios check in the Disneyland hotel.

August 02 : Michael poses for pictures in his Disneyland hotel suite with Sidney Poitier, Mickey & Minnie.

August 3 : Michael and Lisa Marie are on the cover of the French weekly mag VSD with exclusive pictures from the “You Are Not Alone” short film.

August 11 : Michael arrives in Nice, France in a private place from United Saudi Commercial Bank. He is taken to Cannes where he checks in the Carlton Hotel as a guest of Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal. During this two days visit, Michael visits Kingdom 5KR, the yacht of Prince Al Waleed at least two times.

August 12 : Michael attends a private party at Kingdom 5KR, the yacht of Prince Al Waleed. He is photographed with a mike in his hands. To this day, it is unkownn if Michael sang at this party.

August 13 : Michael flies back to the US.

Mid-August : Michael shoots the video for Earth Song directed by Nicholas Brandt. The video Is filmed in four geographic regions (Americas, Europe and Africa). The first location was the Amazon Rainforest, where a large part was destroyed a week after the video’s completion. Natives of the region appeared in the video and were not actors. The second scene was a war zone in Karlovac, Croatia, with famous Serbian actor Slobodan Dimitrijević and the residents of the area. The third location was Tanzania, which incorporated scenes of illegal poaching and hunting into the video. No animals were harmed in the making of the “Earth Song”, as the footage came from documentary archives. The final location was in Warwick, New York, where a safe forest fire was simulated in a corn field.

August 15 :“You Are Not Alone” is released as the 2nd single from “History”. Commercially, “You Are Not Alone” remains one of Michael”s best selling singles and it is also his 13th number one song. It holds the Guinness World Record for the first song ever to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

August 17 : Michael chats with his fans via The Sony Music Internet at the Museum of Television and Radio in Manhattan. He spends 70 minutes answering over 100 questions about his career, music, and life. More than 25,000 fans worldwide tune in to watch the event

August 25 : In Los Angeles, Michael rehearses a medley performance with Lavelle Smith for the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards.

August 27 : Janet shoots the music video for “Runaway”, directed by Marcus Nispel and choreographed by Tina Landon.

August 29 : “Runaway” is released as the 1st single from “Design Of A Decade 1986-1996” along with the video. It peaks at #3 on Hot 100 Billboard.

September 7 : Michael & Janet attend the MTV Video Music Awards at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City with Lisa Marie & Rene . MJ opens the ceremony with a 20 minutes long medley (including “Dangerous” & “You Are Not Alone”) and accepts an award with Janet for Scream.

Lisa Marie tells Rolling Stone in 2003; She says that after about a month without any contact, his people started calling, saying that it was important that she show up at the MTV Video Music Awards. She agreed to show up if she didn’t have to go down the red carpet; they consented, and then led her down it anyway. “I was pissed. I just felt like I was being used at that point.” She was then told that he was going to sing to her and that he had a surprise for her. “I remember my whole look was: ‘Don’t you come anywhere fucking near me — we haven’t spoken in a month.’ And he got it. He didn’t come over. I talked to him later and he said, ‘I saw the look on your face, and I knew that if I walked up to you, I didn’t know what you were going to do me.’ ”

September 22 : Michael attends “BET’s 15th Anniversary Gala” in Washington D.C., performing “You Are Not Alone”. Robert L. Johnson, BET’s president, presents him a special plaque.

September 24 : Michael & Lisa Marie are spotted walking together at the Memphis Zoo. This is their last public appearance together as a married couple.

October 10 : “Design Of A Decade 1986-1996” is released by A&M Records as well as a VHS featuring all the videos from the “Control” & “Rhythm Nation” eras.

Janet goes to Australia to promote “Design Of A Decade”. She tapes an intervew on Rockp Pop Studio TV show.

October 23 : Michael calls “Los Angeles Times” writer Robert Hilburn to express disappointment over yesterday’s story, “King of Pop is Now a Commoner”.

October 31 : Michael tapes a performance of Dangerous & You Are Not Alone at the Soul Train 25th Anniversary Special taped at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena. The show airs on November 22.

November : Janet is on the cover of Jet & US magazines. 

November 2 : Michael is presented with the Africa Diamond Award from the President of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, during a dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. In return, Michael presents a gold sword to Jerry Rawlings on behalf of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. The sword represented the act of cutting through divisions that divide people. 

November 3 : Michael arrives at Cologne’s Airport in Germany.

November 4 : Michael goes to Rhein-Ruhr-Halle, the ZDF studio in Duisburg where he performs “Dangerous” and “Earth Song” on Wetten, dass..? TV show. Backstage, he meets Laurent Hopman and Anton Schleiter, of son of Hamburg-based Sony music exec Wolfgang Schleiter. Michael soon becomes friend with the Schleiter family. They will remain close until his death in 2009. 

Michael is presented with a Golden Otto Awards from “Bravo” magazine.

November 5 : Michael invites 150 fans to Phantasialand in Cologne. 

November 7 : Michael is spotted at Heathrow Airport in London, UK.

Michael announces the merge of his “ATV Music” song catalog with “Sony Music Publishing”. The new joint publishing venture is estimated at $600 millions!

“Brotherhood”, the debut studio album by 3T is released through MJJ Music and 550 Music. Produced by MJ , who also serves as the ecutive producer with Kenneth Komisar, the album features two songs featuring MJ : “Why” and “I Need You) + “Words Without Meaning”, a song co-produced by MJ.

Mid November : Michael starts reheasing for his upcoming HBO Special at Sony Studios in New York City with executive producer Jeff Margolis and several chroreographers (Jamie King, Barry Lather, Kenny Ortega, Travys Payne, Lavelle Smith Jr, Debbie Allen). Brab Buxer is the musical director and Michael Bush creates the costumes.

November 15 : LaToya is a guest on Geraldo with a blonde wig. Once again she accuses Michael.

November 22 : Michael’s performance of “Dangerous” on Soul Train’s 25th Anniversary special airs on TV.

November 27 : The single & video of Earth Song are released in Europe. In the United Kingdom, “Earth Song” debuts at number one on the UK Singles Chart, where it remains for six weeks throughout December 1995 — beating the U2/Brian Eno project Passengers to win the Christmas number one spot — and into early 1996.

December : During an interview with Inside Edition, LaToya is asked : “Is your borther a pedophile? and she replies : “In my eyes, definately yes!”

December 3 : Michael’s acceptance of the “Best Male Solo Artist Award” via video at the “Smash Hits Poll Winners’ Party” in London airs.

First day of dress rehearlsals at the Beacon Theatre : “We were at the Beacon for a total of about seven days. By the time we got the set in, and lit, and got all the technical equipment in. I think we rehearsed on the stage for four days, and Michael wasn’t there the first day as it was mostly a dance rehearsal for the dancers to find their spacing on the stage. And then Michael came in and rehearsed the second, third and fourth day. The first day that Michael was there he did a half-day, and the second and third days were full days for him.”

December 4 : Second day of dress rehearlsals at the Beacon Theatre. Michael is rehearsing his “Childhood” performance at the Beacon Theatre with French artist Mime Marceau and they welcome the press.

December 5 : Third day of dress rehearlsals at the Beacon Theatre.

December 6 : Fouth day of dress rehearlsals at the Beacon Theatre. Just before 5 P.M, during the second of several planned full-day dress rehearsals at the Beacon Theatre, and just two days after he and Marcel Marceau had fronted the media to promote the HBO special, Michael collapses on stage. Witnesses recall that it was during camera blocking for “Black or White” that Jackson’s collapse took place. Michael is rushed to Beth Israel Medical Center North at 170 East End Avenue on the Upper East Side of New York. Meanwhile, a meeting is called in the lobby at the Beacon Theatre.

Michael was scheduled to attend the 1995 Billboard Music Awards at the New York Coliseum that evening, where he was to receive the Special Hot 100 Award for his outstanding chart achievements. Janet cancels her appearance at the Billboard Awards after hearing that Michael had a stroke. She visits him at the hospital.

December 7 : The One Night Only cast and crew continues to run numbers and camera block at the Beacon Theatre. Michael’s personal physician Dr. Allan Metzger flies to New York from Los Angeles. Lisa Marie visits Michael at the hospital but they have an argument and Michael asks her to go back to Los Angeles. Michael decides to postpone the concert.

LaToya, phones the New York Daily News with the assertion that she knows “all of Michael’s little moves and his little schemes that he pulls when he thinks he needs attention,” adding that his collapse was “a publicity move.”

December 8 : Just hours before the first show is scheduled to take the stage with a live audience, the cast and crew at the Beacon Theatre is again asked to assemble themselves for a meeting, with Margolis delivering the news that no one wants to hear : The show will not go on.

December 9 : Earth Song debuts at #1 in UK It will become Michael’s best-selling single and  the UK’s 1995 Christmas number-one single.

December 12 : Michael leaves the Beth Israel Hospital in New York City.

Mid December : Janet shoots a video for “Twenty Foreplay” where she plays actress Dorothy Danthridge. On the set of the video she gives interviews to BET’s Conversation With Ed Gordon and her French fan-club Black Cat.

December 16 : Michael’s message of admiration to Quincy Jones is published in “Billboard” magazine for Jones’ cover issue.

December 18 : Michael arrives at Disneyland Paris with the Cascio kids and his cousin Anthony. They check in the Sleeping Beauty suite at the Disneyland hotel.

December 21 : Michael and his entourage fly back from Paris to Los Angeles.

December 24/25 : Michael celebrates Christmas at Neverland with the Cascios.

December 25 : Michael’s message on “Top of the Pops” airs, wishing everyone a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Previous year : 1994

Following year : 1996 
 
 
 
 

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