Michael Jackson: The Boy Who Brought Me to Tears

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    Renowned photographer Henry Diltz, whose work has appeared in Life, Rolling Stone and the New York Times, captured the Jackson 5 multiple times in the 1970s. He reconnected with their lead singer Michael Jackson, who had since become the biggest pop star on the planet, in 1985 to document the famed 'We Are the World' charity single recording sessions. He witnessed Michael the boy, the man, the transcendent genius and the troubled superstar, from two feet away.


    Michael was always very quiet. His older brothers were a lot more loose and outgoing, always joking and laughing. But Michael came alive onstage -- almost like he lived for those moments.

    In the early '70s, I went to a small concert at a school for blind children in L.A. I was sitting cross-legged two feet away from Michael with all these kids in the front row. His voice had such a pure quality to it that it just released something in you. I could see all the kids listening and moving, so enthralled by the music. He just sang so amazingly beautiful. It was so joyful and such an outpouring of angelic sound that it released something in me, and tears started rolling down my face.

    At 'We Are the World,' he really isolated himself. Here was a whole room of the most famous singers in the world -- Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson, Paul Simon, Ray Charles -- and they were all shaking hands laughing and talking. Some of them had never met each other before. It was like the most amazing party, like a dream where you're surrounded by all the hero singers in the pop and rock world. But Michael kind of stood off in the corner behind a potted palm tree. It was quite odd; he didn't really come out and mix with everybody. He was off by himself, like it was overwhelming. That was the last time I saw him in person.

    He changed his appearance so dramatically from the shots I took when he was a little boy to the way he looked in the end you'd never know it was the same person. He was obviously always troubled by something. He had this heavy thing on his shoulders. He was very internal, very introspective, and he lived in his head. Life is meant to be joyful, we're supposed to have fun, and it was sad that he was so isolated.

    I'm sure that Michael is finally released from the torment that he had in this lifetime. He's free and he doesn't have to deal with that anymore. It's all of us who he left behind who are unhappy, because we don't have him here. But we certainly have all of his records and videos, which is fantastic.

    PhotoSynthesis With Henry Diltz

      Michael Jackson: Rolling Stone called me one day in Hollywood and asked if I would go to Motown Records and take photos of the Jackson 5, who were there for the afternoon answering fan mail. I think they told me to kind of concentrate on Michael, who was the lead singer. Now I photographed the Jackson 5 quite a bit in those days, and he was so young and he had just the voice of an angel, unbelievably pure, beautiful voice. And a very nice little boy, very quiet, very polite. I just said, "Hey, Michael, look this way for a minute," and that was it. I remember at one point he was playing with a lighter, he was kind of fascinated by the flame, you know, like young boys are. (Los Angeles, 1971)

      Henry Diltz, Corbis

      Ray Charles: This started with just a random call from a video company that was going to interview him at his studio in L.A. He had designed this whole building. He knew every inch of it. It was sort of like he could see in there, because he knew every room and step, and when you saw him sit at the board, his fingers were just constantly touching the knobs and the buttons and he just knew where everything was. We went out into the studio part of it and he just sat at the piano playing. I guess they were setting up the lights for this shot, 'cause I couldn't click while they were filming. Being a photographer on a documentary crew, you pretty much have to shoot pretty quickly just before and just after the camera rolls. (Los Angeles, 1980)

      Henry Diltz, Corbis

      Jimi Hendrix: He had just played at the Monterey Pop Festival, which was produced by John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas. So they had nabbed him to open their show at the Hollywood Bowl, which was soon after Monterey. So being good friends with the Mamas and Papas, I was in the green room right offstage -- the Mamas and Papas and Jimi and a couple other people and I pretty much filled the room up. I was in there for about a half an hour listening to them warm up, just taking pictures, you know, and then Jimi went out to open the show and we all kind of filed out into the wings. So this was taken from the wings at the Hollywood Bowl. It's looking across the stage sideways, so you can see that bass cord going across his leg. We had quite a vantage point to watch him play. (Los Angeles, 1967)

      Henry Diltz, Corbis

      Hendrix, Michelle Phillips, Mama Cass: This was taken probably a half an hour before that picture of Hendrix standing onstage. There we are in this little green room right offstage, and there was one couch in the room and everyone is just sitting around waiting. Mama Cass is drinking a bottle of Galliano. Jimi had whispered something to Michelle, and Michelle had turned and whispered it to Mama Cass, like a game of telephone. And then Mama Cass sat up and looked at Jimi with a big look on her face like "What?" And the thing is I have no idea what they were saying, and years later I asked Michelle and she does not recall [laughs]. (Los Angeles, 1967)

      Henry Diltz, Corbis

      The Doors: A lot of the really iconic album covers I did in the late '60s and early '70s were done with a partner named Gary Burden. He was a graphic designer. So one day the Doors called Gary and me to talk to us about doing their cover and we said, "Well, do you have a title?" They said, "No, not really." We said, "Do you have any idea?" And just then, one of them said, "The other day I was driving through downtown L.A. and I saw this hotel that said 'Morrison Hotel.'"

      We all trooped into the lobby, there was nobody there [but this] young kid behind the desk. I said, "We're just gonna take a couple of pictures. We'll just be a few minutes." He said, "Well, no you can't." I thought, "Well, I'll have them stand in front of the window." And just then, standing in front of the window looking through ... you see that light right under "-son"? That's the elevator numbers, and as the guy went in the little tiny elevator and pushed the button and disappeared, I just thought, "Whoa, quick, you guys -- run in there and just get behind the window and we'll just do this thing really quick." We took one roll of film and got out of there, and the guy never even knew we did it [laughs]! (Los Angeles, 1969)

      Henry Diltz, Corbis

      Elton John: This was backstage at Wembley Stadium, when the Eagles and the Beach Boys were playing. He was backstage, standing around, and I had a telephoto lens -- I didn't know him at all, and I took this picture. The next picture I took, he had raised a Heineken bottle up, and he noticed me right while he was taking a swig and gave me this sort of stink-eye look. "Who the hell are you?" -- you know. So I put my telephoto lens on and I sneaked a couple of portraits and got caught on the second one. He was looking at me, but this is the one before he noticed me [laughs]. I've never talked to him, don't know him at all. (London, 1975)

      Henry Diltz, Corbis

      David Crosby: I flew out just for this one concert, and in the afternoon I was up in David Crosby's room, and David was sitting on his bed talking on the phone. And suddenly the door opens a crack. Graham Nash leans in and says, "Hey, David, some fan made this for you," and tosses this little pillow American flag gun to him. Without a beat going by, Crosby just picked it up, held it up to his head and I just went click, click, click and the third click he brought the joint up. It all took 10 seconds. You might think we rented a studio, convinced him to take his shirt off and had a prop gun made, but it wasn't that way at all. This is photojournalism. (Minneapolis, 1970)

      Henry Diltz, Corbis

      Janis Joplin: Everything I saw her sing, it was nothing held back. This was at Woodstock, and being the official photographer, I had an all-access pass, and I was allowed to be up onstage as all this went on. In fact, there was a little catwalk built just under the lip of the stage, which was put there for the film crew, and I got myself on that little catwalk by virtue of the fact that I had this special pass. And all throughout the concert, the film crew kept trying to kick me off. I was literally feet in front of her while she was singing -- the absolutely best seat in the entire house of 400,000 people. (Bethel, N.Y., 1969)

      Henry Diltz, Corbis

      Keith Richards: This is at an airport somewhere in the Midwest, and I was on the road with the New Barbarians. Ron Wood had done a solo album for Columbia Records, and they wanted him to tour to promote the record, so he had put together a group, which included Keith Richards -- so they had a great, big passenger airplane fitted with couches and bars and stuff. What would happen is the big plane would land at the airport, there would be six or eight limos waiting there on the field, they'd pull up to the bottom of the steps, everybody would just saunter down the steps and find their limo. He's all set to jump in the limo, but he's just waiting for Ron to appear, and he's doing a Dr. Evil thing there with his finger. (1979)

      Henry Diltz, Corbis

      Joni Mitchell: This is at, I always say this is at her house in Laurel Canyon, which is a very, very, very fine house, you know, like in the song ['Our House,' by Crosby Stills & Nash]. She was a neighbor of mine, and every time I drove to Lookout Mountain Avenue I drove by her house. This one particular day, I had gone there to shoot publicity photos and she kind of went and leaned in the window to talk to my partner Gary, and I just started shooting pictures. When I took all these pictures it was just a simple thing -- just me and the camera, I mean there's no crew, there's no reflectors, there's no lights, just kind of a simple everyday thing. (Los Angeles, 1971)

      Henry Diltz, Corbis

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