Michael Jackson’s coworkers claimed that in the days leading up to his death, he showed a new side during rehearsals.
The performer was getting ready to kick off his This Is It tour, a comeback that was supposed to start at London’s O2 Arena on July 13, 2009, and last all the way until March of the following year.
Sadly, Jackson passed away on June 25th at the age of 50 in his home in Los Angeles. This was less than three weeks before the show was set to begin, and all fifty gigs had been sold out.
The coroner ruled that Jackson’s death was a homicide on August 28, the day before his 51st birthday. His doctor, who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, had given him a cocktail of medications that ultimately led to his demise.
After the cancellation of This Is It, the last recorded film of Michael Jackson before his death was of him rehearsing 48 hours prior to his passing. Those who knew the singer well have claimed to have noticed a different side of him in the tape.
Time magazine quoted Jackson’s longtime collaborator and voice director for This Is It, Dorian Holley, as saying that the singer was “glowing” because “he was finally seeing it all come together.”
Although Holley acknowledged that Jackson’s ability to keep up with the backing dancers was remarkable, he did disclose that the singer would occasionally express discomfort due to the exertion.
What happened at the end of the final clip of Jackson, which showed him and backup dancers practicing the song “They Don’t Care About Us” at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, was the moment that most upset many.
As the song came to a close, the lights dimmed, and the red masks of the backup dancers disappeared, leaving only Michael Jackson visible onstage.
At one point, a voice instructed the performers to “hold for applause,” and as the lights went down entirely, all everyone could see was Jackson’s face, which he wore with his eyes closed, looking thoughtful until breaking into a smile.
While some have described the last smile as “priceless,” others have stated that it “puts a knot in my throat every time” when they watch the video.
According to a third, “it brings me to tears every time” as the lights go down and Jackson’s smile appears at the end of the song.
‘You couldn’t keep your eyes off him,’ Holley remarked during rehearsals. Meanwhile, the remaining crew members were left “jaws open” behind him.
The vocal director remarked that one perk of working on Jackson’s performance in isolation during rehearsals was the renewed respect he felt for “what a genius he was” as a singer.