“He thought it was a more humane approach towards taking care of him,” he says.Ībdulla enthused to the press about Jackson’s attitude. Abdulla’s incentive was never money, stresses al-Khan, so a charity record was a fitting way to launch their joint effort. A few days after the storm dissipated, Jackson’s publicist announced that he had written a song to benefit its victims. When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005, wheels were put in motion. "He wanted to be part of rewriting history." "'How do we get him back? How can I make people enjoy what this guy gave the world?' That was his thing," al-Khan says of Abdulla's hopes for Jackson. Jackson had not released a studio album since 2001's disappointing Invincible, and was out of contract after a spat with Sony. Abdulla said it was as if the two had already spent time together, while Jackson described his host as “the very best, amazing, so kind” to the Associated Press. In the months following, the King of Pop and the sheikh reportedly became fast friends, listening to music together and coming up with song ideas. They were provided with a luxury villa near the sheikh’s quarters as well as a chauffeured Rolls-Royce and security detail. Shortly after arrival, Jackson – then “a broken man”, says al-Khan – was joined by his three children and their nanny. The attitude towards him "wasn't negative at all", Rahimi adds. "I don't know if many people were interested in his court case here," says Arif Rahimi, a Bahraini businessman who gave Jackson an impromptu tour of his in-laws' house before the singer inquired about buying it. While Jackson's name was badly tarnished in the United States and elsewhere, Bahrainis still knew him as the genius behind Thriller, and he was welcomed to the country. "And I truly believe that he would be alive today if he had stuck with his word."
"The plan that Abdulla put together with Michael and myself was a really healthy, long-term, good thing," he says.
Had Jackson not reneged on his album deal with the sheikh, tragedy could have been averted, according to Guy Holmes, the English record executive who managed Jackson that year. Jackson acknowledges fans as he arrives at court in Santa Barbara, 2005. But Jackson’s friendship with Abdulla would end the same way as so many of his personal relationships: with a lawsuit. With a view to securing his finances, he also signed a contract that involved a collaborative album with the sheikh. In the ensuing 11 months Jackson called Bahrain home, gradually emerging from his reclusive shell to mix with locals and shop in malls, badly disguised in a woman’s abaya. According to news reports, he had flown in from Europe with Abdulla, who would celebrate his 30th birthday the following day.
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For nearly a year the singer lived in Bahrain, struggling with his mental health and staving off bankruptcy while making plans for a comeback album and indeed recording some of it, though the demos – some of the most sought-after Jackson rarities – have yet to see the light of day.Ībdulla spoke to Jackson several times during the trial, floating the idea of him living in Bahrain and making music there once he was free to travel, and on June 29th, 2005, just two weeks after his acquittal on all charges, a weary Jackson touched down at Bahrain International airport. It was crazy."īoth are accurate words to describe the time when Jackson lived on an archipelago off the Saudi Arabian coast. "There are so many adjectives to use," Shaheen says of what was to unfold. The request came from Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the second son of the king of Bahrain, who asked Shaheen to set up a state-of-the art recording studio on his grounds in anticipation of the star's arrival. "It is a pinch-yourself kind of moment when you get a call to say you're going to be working with someone who you idolise and is the biggest superstar of all time." "It was totally out of left field," he says. In early 2005 the young Bahraini was driving when he received a surreal job offer: the chance to work with Michael Jackson.
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