Quincy Jones’ Candid Interview On Michael Jackson
Quincy Jones did an interview with Men Style that is getting him the side eye from some. The interview sound a little odd to me. Here’s an excerpt. What do you think?
Q: How have you been holding up since Michael Jackson’s death?
A: Oh, man. It’s surrealistic. I went to Shanghai for the movie festival over there—I took Halle Berry—and then went back to Luxembourg, and in three days I lost Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael. And Michael’s thing is still surrealistic to me. I can’t process it, man. I don’t know how to process it. It’s just unbelievable—him leaving before me. I can’t believe it.
Q: How did you learn that he had died?
A: Well, everybody in the world called me. I got 500 e-mails. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. At first they said they’d taken him to the hospital, then they said he’d had a stroke or a heart attack—it just kept going back and forth and we didn’t know what was really happening. And at first I thought he was just kind of freaked out by the coming concerts, because I was in London when they announced the 50 concerts and they sold out in four hours. . . We’d see each other all the time, and I just can’t believe he’s not here.
Q: Have you been crying?
A: Oh, man, it’s more than that. It’s way more than that. It hurts my soul, man. It’s just a lump down there.
Q: You were there to witness the strange evolution in Michael’s appearance. Did you ever step in and saying anything about it?
A: Oh, we talked about it all the time. But he’d come up with, “Man, I promise you I have this disease,” and so forth, and “I have a blister on my lungs,” and all that kind of b.s. It’s hard, because Michael’s a Virgo, man—he’s very set in his ways. You can’t talk him out of it. Chemical peels and all that stuff.
Q: Did you believe him about the disease?
A: I don’t believe in any of that bullshit, no. No. Never. I’ve been around junkies and stuff all my life. I’ve heard every excuse. It’s like smokers—”I only smoke when I drink” and all that stuff. But it’s bullshit. You’re justifying something that’s destructive to your existence. It’s crazy. I mean, I came up with Ray Charles, man. You know, nobody gonna pull no wool over my eyes. He did heroin 20 years! Come on. And black coffee and gin for 40 years. But when he called me to come over to see him when he was in the hospital on his way out, man, he had emphysema, hepatitis C, cirrhosis of the liver, and five malignant tumors. Please, man! I’ve been around this all my life. So it’s hard for somebody to pull the wool over my eyes. But when somebody’s hell-bent on it, you can’t stop ‘em.
Q: But it must’ve been so disturbing to see Michael’s face turn into what it turned into.
A: It’s ridiculous, man! Chemical peels and all of it. And I don’t understand it. But he obviously didn’t want to be black.
Q: Is that what it was?
A: Well, what do you think? You see his kids?
Q: Did you ever discuss it? Did you ever ask, “Michael, don’t you want to be a black man?”
A: No, no, no, please. That’s not the way you do it.
Q: But he was beautiful before?
A: Man, he was the most gorgeous guy.
Q: But he seemed to have some deep-seated issue with how he looked?
A: Well, that comes about a certain way. I’m not sure how it happens. I’m just a musician and a record producer. I’m not a psychiatrist. I don’t understand all that stuff. We all got problems. But there’s a great book out called Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart. Did you see that? That book says the statute of limitations has expired on all childhood traumas. Get your stuff together and get on with your life, man. Stop whinin’ about what’s wrong, because everybody’s had a rough time, in one way or another.
Q: At root, what do you think killed Michael Jackson?
A: I don’t know, man. I’m a musician. I’m not a psychiatrist. I would think that the pressure of the concerts and the debt and everything else . . . look, I’ve been in the hands of Nobel doctors for the last five years, in Stockholm, at the Karolinska hospital, which you can’t even pay to get in. I’ve learned so much about the human mind and the body, and the doctors talk all the time about how you become your thoughts. It’s true. With one thought it starts, you know, and if you sit there and just stay hung up on one negative thought, you will become that thought. I know that Lisa Marie Presley said that she always thought he was going to die like Elvis. You sit and think about that stuff, it’ll happen to you. If you start thinking about darkness instead of light, or fear instead of love, you’ll get in trouble. I really believe that.
Q: With so many people asking you about Michael Jackson, is it hard to find the private space in which to mourn his death?
A: Yes, it is. It’s surrealistic. I don’t know how to process it at all. Because everybody’s reacting to it, and making up their own answers.
Related Posts
There are 10 Comments to "Quincy Jones’ Candid Interview On Michael Jackson"
Michael Jackson, we will miss you..
Huh?????
WTF?!? did he just call MJ a crackhead junkie that never wanted to be black?
I think Quincy needs to go back to the Karolinska hospital and investigate why he wants to make such ill timed admissions. Have some respect for the family if you have actually said these things, at least let them have a breather before you launch this sort of candor.
Michael had Vitiligo! Quincy is obviously in the dark about the disease. What a shame to come out and say that he didn’t believe him when he said he had a disease
He still don’t believe it!!! I’m glad he didn’t go to the memorial, some friend Q turned out to be!!!
Quincy needs to look at the color of his own kids before calling another black man’s kids white.
Q’s a bitch. Nuff said.
I think the green eyed monster came out. His own children are mixed and he can have the nerve to make those statements. Glad he didn’t should his two faced self at the service. He worked with MJ but I think he’s jealous of him.
So what if Quincy had mixed kids? He’s tired of the denial, lies, and hero worship. Quincy cheated on all his women…michael hated black people and adults. It’s like the late great Bernie Mack said “the truth is a motherf***er! highly creative people can be highly destructive in private. it’s past time for young people to admit this.
Deepak Chopra: Michael Jackson Had Lupus
http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20287787_20288162,00.html