Remembering the King of Pop

He's gone.
Just like that.

Michael Jackson's passing brought back memories of Princess Diana's sudden demise, years ago. Both are icons in their own right. Both have legions of fans. I remembered a friend sobbing uncontrollably over the phone on the fateful morning and I thought her mom had died or something like that. Turned out, she was distraught by the Princess of Heart's tragic end. On Malaysia's 40th National Day celebration, 12 years ago, my phone (and hubby's) was practically jammed with countless SMSes from grieving Malaysians...

I didn't know about MJ's death until this morning at work. While I was "punching" my card (gomen lah katakan...:P), My colleague Ayong, told me the news. I was dumbfounded. Yeah, I know we'll all go THAT way eventually but this (news) was pretty unexpected. Farrah Fawcett succumbed to cancer on the same day but then, we all know that she was fighting for her life (still remembered her gorgeous hair in Charlie's Angel. She was THE HAIR long before Jennifer Aniston). RIP.

Opening my Facebook later in the day, was like opening a floodgate of emotions...

I was not MJ's greatest fan but have always been awed by his quirky dance routines and songs. Yeah, his legacy is his songs... If you grew up in the 60's and 70s you'd probably heard of his songs with Jackson Five. But MJ, the King of Pop, really arrived in the early 80s. The year was 1984. The place: Jenan. The songs: "Billie Jean" and "Beat It". Moonwalk was the craze and I remembered every Tom, Dick and Harry, trying to impress everybody with their versions of moonwalk. Back home, my younger brother who just came back from the US (after my dad completed his 1st degree and Master in a record time of 2 1/2 years :)), made me sick with his constant moon-walking (that, and his Sammy-Davis Jr. accent... Haha!). Yeah, he worshipped the ground MJ walked :).

1985 (or was it 1986?), sang "One Day In Your Life" with the choir girls for my school's "Hari Ucapan & Penyampaian Hadiah" (credit goes to Nae for suggesting the song :)).

9 years later, it was my Dangerous Minds-charges turn, to sing "Heal The World" for their English Day presentation. Those little devils were so angelic singing a song laden with moral values (sekolah lah katakan :P).

At the turn of the century, me and my colleagues sang "We Are The World" which was er... a bit outdated then, but the song was relevant for the occasion - some show of support for some oppressed nation.

My favourite video clip of all time: "Black or White", and I can go on and on... What can I say? He's one extraordinary person.

RIP, MJ.