Twenty-six years after the King of Pop electrified the world with 12 Grammy nominations and eight total wins off the seminal album Thriller, Jackson’s two eldest children, Prince and Paris, will accept a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
It will be the first public appearance by the children since the emotional worldwide homegoing services for Jackson, who died last June from an acute case of medicinal poisoning. Ironically, the homage to Jackson’s life and career will take place inside the same mammoth Staples Center where Jackson’s star-studded emotional funeral transpired.
Jackson’s youngest legal child, Blanket, is not expected to appear, according to reports flowing out of the Grammy Awards week of festivities and celebrations.
Jackson would have cast a large shadow over the entire Grammy Awards regardless. The Recording Academy, which produces the Grammys, is going to honor Jackson in a 3-D tribute ceremony during the Sunday night telecast that reportedly will include current stars Usher, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, and Celine Dion among others.
Also, the King of Pop co-wrote the “We are the World” song that fellow writer Lionel Richie and the twenty-five year old megahit’s producer Quincy Jones are working to remake in order to benefit the earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. For several years, “We are the World” was the fastest-selling pop single in American history and the biggest-selling song in the world.
–terry shropshire
