Interview: Stephen Davis, ghostwriter of Michael Jackson's autobiography, remembers the King of Pop. And his monkey.
On the Download
"In 1987, Stephen Davis -- the noted rock and roll biographer, and author of arguably the most notorious non-fiction rock tome of all time, the Led Zeppelin screamer Hammer of the Gods -- was living with his family in Malibu and working on a book about Fleetwood Mac when his agent called and offered him a plum gig: ghostwriting Michael Jackson's autobiography. That book, Moon Walk, became a #1 NY Times Bestseller, and broke the news of Michael's accusations that he'd been abused by his father.
Earlier this evening, about 45 minutes after the networks confirmed Jackson's death from a heart attack, we phoned Davis at his home in Milton, MA, as he watched his subject's demise unfold on CNN. We talked about the odd circumstances surrounding the book, his memories of what Jackson was like at the time, and how Michael saved Davis's seven year old daughter from the clutches of Bubbles the monkey. 'This was still a 30 year old black kid when I was working with him," Davis mentioned, still incredulous at Jackson's death. "And the guy who just died looked kind of like a 60 year old white woman in garish lipstick. Kind of like the Joker.' "
- Carly Carioli
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