Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley: crossed destinies
Michael Jackson wanted more than just being a superstar. Like the "Beatles", he wanted to be the greatest, a king without question. He wanted to overthrow the then king, Elvis Presley.
By the end of his reign, Michael came to resemble Elvis in all their best and worst: cheeky and supreme talent but also self-defeating demons. And like Elvis, Michael died too young. “It's really weird. He even married Elvis' daughter, "notes music critic Greil Marcus, author of" Mystery Train ", a biographical story on the" King "of Memphis.
Elvis Presley died of a drug overdose in 1977 at the age of 42. Michael Jackson died Thursday at the age of 50 from cardiac arrest at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) hospital.
While endless glory seemed to swell Elvis' body, Michael's left him skin on his bones.
Like Elvis, Jackson was handsome and revolutionary, politely breaking down barriers and walls between black and white. Like Elvis, he had the successes, the style, the ego, and the talent.
He was the "King of Pop" and he simply needed to fill his life: he married Lisa-Mary, Presley's daughter. He bought the rights to some of "King's" songs. Elvis possessed "Graceland", symbol of a deliverance after which the singer chased until the end of his life.
Michael Jackson offered himself "Neverland", a magical domain for a man-child whose fortune made it possible to live in a world which belonged only to him.
Was Michael chasing after Elvis? Yes and no. In "Moon Walk", published in 1998, Michael Jackson insists that Elvis had no place in his musical education and he does not hide his displeasure when he learns that a song he had recorded with his brothers. , "Heartbreak Hotel", bore the same title as Elvis' first hit in the United States.
“I swear that expression came out of my brain and I wasn't thinking of any other song when I wrote it,” Jackson pointed out in his memoir. “As important as it was to the music, whether it was black or white, he (Elvis) had no influence on me. I imagine it had arrived too early for me ”.
