meeting Michael Jackson Part 1...

It was 1994, trouble was brewing in Kuwait, Kurt Cobain, from Nirvana died and the U.K charts were dominated by wet music like... Wet Wet Wet, Mariah Carey, and Take That, there were a few classics though like Baby D with their seminal early dance tune "Let Me Be Your Fantasy" and of course Blur’s excellent Parklife album. In the UK, it was also the year that witnessed the single most prejudiced ‘music law’ since the draconian bans on ‘the Blues’ many years ago. While people weren’t looking, the government introduced The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 with its nice little clause to stop people gathering in fields and dancing to a certain type of music – specifically music defined by a “succession of repetitive beats". What were they so scared of?

Meanwhile, while massive infringements on people’s personal liberty were being perpetrating by the government, I’d had about 20 limited edition Jammas built. They were the lovely hand crafted wooden versions shown in the images section with shiny new electronics and the idea was to get a few ‘named’ musicians using them to create some exposure for the Jamma. From there we could hopefully generate interest from the public and/or the retail outlets, the problem was who...

So one night in September 1994 I was at a dinner party in North West London chatting about this dilemma with a close friend (as we were then, another one I’ve lost along the way, sadly he doesn’t speak to me anymore). Suddenly, it occurred to me that Michael Jackson would be a really good person to approach. He was err, very famous, extrovert, loved weird ‘edgy’ stuff on stage and...

Doh! I remembered there and then, that years before when I was in the band recording an album in Germany, that I’d met Jermaine Jackson back stage at a live ‘Formula Eins’ show I was performing at - with the likes of ‘Survivor’ (remember that tune? Jung... jung jung jung ‘eye of the tigerrrrr’). Jermaine loved the Rhythm Stick and tried to buy it from me on the spot. This was in the early days and I only had a few so I said no! (Ho hum... me and my smart decisions eh. Actually I’m thinking about starting a section of this site purely dedicated to missed opportunities.... I’m gonna call it ‘Doh!’). Anyway, I remember Jermaine saying “my brother Michael would love this”... So in the middle of the dinner party as all these memories flooded back, I blurted out, “oh my god, I’m going to show the Jamma to Michael Jackson”.

I find it most revealing in social situations - when someone says something that’s perceived as ‘ridiculous’... who laughs? Who doesn’t? Who’s interested, who sniggers and looks at their partner with raised eyebrows. It says most about a person’s own perceived limitations than anything else. You can guess what most people did, but I knew that I would meet him and show him my invention. And, that he’d love it. I could see it all in my mind’s eye, so I smiled to myself, poured another glass of expensive wine and politely disengaged from the mockery and mildly embarrassed looks while I thought about how to best go about it.

Adrian; a good mate of mine and now the originator and Co-Producer of the phenomenally successful West End/global show ‘THRILLER Live’ - had known Michael since he was a young fan and had written a book and organised the UK fan club. He’d also met Michael a few times and was going out to America to hopefully meet with him again while he was recording his album ‘HIStory’... it was always a bit of a hit and miss affair hooking up with the ‘King of pop’ but Michael had been accused of child sexual abuse just the year before and in early 1994 he’d married Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie, it was a turbulent time for him. Getting to meet him would not be easy. Adrian’s trip was scheduled for November 1994 and he agreed to try to show Michael the Jamma and see if we could get a demo arranged so I decided that I should go with... How hard could it be?

I did a bit of thinking and asked Adrian what colours he thought Michael liked - he told me red was good because ‘he seemed a bit angry recently’ and he played me an ‘ahem’ ... ‘demo’ recording of the track ‘Scream’ from HIStory ... So I used my sales experience and thought an ‘alternative close’ would be the best strategy. So, not “would you like a Jamma Mike” but “which colour do you prefer Mike”. It was all a bit of a punt - no actually, it was a complete full-on punt. There was only a slim chance Adrian would even get to see him, let alone if he’d ever get the chance to mention the Jamma to Michael!

Meanwhile... a marketing company (The Trust Network) I believe they were called) had been hired to help get the Jamma into the right hands; they were great actually and had really helped to get things moving and get some attention paid to the Jamma. There were articles coming out in music mags all over the place and it was at this point that I thought; bollocks I need to just go balls out and see what happens... This was make or break time, and a good time to be ‘economical with the truth’.

So, I called the marketing company and told them I was off to the USA soon to meet Michael Jackson with the Jamma...

It’s funny how that changed things.

Within a short time I had meetings set up with all kinds of retail organisations, magazines, musicians and producers including David Morales, Frankie Knuckles and Satoshi who were part of Def Mix Productions. Mind you, to get to meet them I had to undergo an interrogation with the formidable label boss Judy, now I’m older she’s not scary at all, but yeah at the time, man, she made me sit up straight!

I had the pleasure of meeting David and Frankie in London a couple of months later... another fun story to be relayed... Oh and Moby – now he’s a nice guy as well and sharp, he came up with lots of very cool enhancements for the Jamma.

Back to the point though... I’d managed to set up meetings with the crème de la crème of key people in the emerging American dance music scene – heavily influenced by the fact that I was meeting Michael Jackson. The problem there was of course, that I didn’t actually have a confirmed appointment; I didn’t have an appointment at all. The best I could hope for was that Adrian would be able to show The Jamma to Michael... if he got to see him... if he had time... I remember thinking at the time “Yeah whatever, it’ll work out” I could sort of ‘see it’ in my mind’s eye.

So in November 1994 I booked into the New York Palace Hotel in Madison Avenue with Adrian and we spent the first evening in the hotel bar chatting and planning. I proposed a strategy where he told Michael of this wonderful new instrument and that I was in New York demonstrating it to the luminaries in the American dance scene and that if he’d like one I had a black or a red one and which colour would he prefer?... It was still just a complete punt, but you can see the strategy forming into something real eh!

So I set about doing demos all over New York to important people in the American dance scene and they were great fun and very fruitful, but in the back of my mind I was hoping for a call... I’d banked everything on this, I thought about the sniggers at the dinner party back in London a few months ago. They’d see... I knew Michael would love it - if I could just get to show him it.

On a chilly Friday afternoon in November 1994 I was scheduled to meet David Morales at Def Mix Productions to demo the Jamma, I jumped in a cab with my trusty Jamma on my back and shot off to meet him but... after a long wait, he didn’t show up. I did get to meet David, Frankie and Statoshi later, and very cool and friendly people they were, but at the time I returned to the hotel, very deflated and wondering if the whole trip was a waste of time effort and money. Even worse was as I arrived back at the hotel I received a message that is best portrayed in my fax back (no emails here kids!) to the marketing company later that evening where I said;

“I just heard that while I was waiting for David Morales, Michael Jackson wanted a demo, guess who was there – Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Janet Jackson... I hope you feel as sick as I do!!!!!!!!!!!! Probably get to demo it tomorrow (please god).”

Ho hum, so close and yet so far.

Getting or rather; creating the opportunity to meet Michael Jackson was one thing. Getting the chance to do so while he was in the middle of recording his next album, was very slim indeed... Getting a second chance was, shall we say, ‘unlikely’?

But you know what, my vision back in London that I would meet Michael and show him the Jamma became a reality. The next day I received a call that I should go to the recording studios where Michael would be pleased to see me and the Jamma.

The recording studios were none other than The Hit Factory, 421 West 54th Street, in New York; at the time a mega 100,000 square foot recording complex with five massive recording studios spread over five floors with private lounges for each studio and fully equipped with the latest recording technology.

I arrived at The Hit Factory on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 and jumped out of the cab with the Jamma on my back and sauntered up to reception where I said “hi, I’m here to meet Michael Jackson”. I was escorted into the elevator to the studio where HIStory was being created and entered what I can only describe as a world within a world; it was as if I’d entered the lair of some unknown secretive and very protective animal...

PART TWO COMING VERY SOON!