"YOU'VE GOT MICHAEL"

Beck’s memoir chronicles working with the King of Pop during a tumultuous time

The author, a music industry veteran, was a 41-year-old vice president at Epic Records when, in 1991, he became the product manager for Michael Jackson. Beck was experienced in coordinating artist development and shaping and implementing marketing plans for acts as varied as Cyndi Lauper, The Clash, and the Charlie Daniels Band, but working with the mega-star Jackson brought an exponentially higher level of intense pressure. As Jackson’s marketing contact at the label, the author’s task was “to create the plan and coordinate the timing, creation and completion of all the tools necessary to continue Michael’s phenomenal record-selling success.” Both Jackson and Epic expected each new release to set industry records. Jackson’s “disconnect with the cost of time and money that we mortals understood,” per Beck, created ballooning overruns on almost every project. The author states that “Michael was never demanding, but he was unrelenting” in pursuing his artistic vision, a subject Beck explores in detail when discussing the production of the 1995 HIStory double album. He notes Jackson’s vulnerability and shyness, his altruistic charitable work, his competitive drive, and his struggles with self-image. The author also details navigating the increasingly negative media coverage surrounding Jackson, including allegations of child abuse and the cancellation of the Dangerous tour for drug rehab in 1993. In addition to covering his experiences with Jackson, Beck provides a fascinating history of the music industry during a time when sales of a physical product (LPs, tapes, CDs), along with radio airplay, determined the success of musicians, highlighting the unseen promotional work of marketing departments. Throughout the narrative, the author deftly weaves in his own life story, charting his high-flying early success and the stresses of an outwardly glamorous career that kept him away from his wife and family. His writing is lively and empathetic, effectively communicating the experience of working in a high-stakes industry with a very gifted, groundbreaking, and flawed artist.

Michael Jackson fans will be captivated by this unique behind-the-scenes account.