Michael Jackson Lives: Investigating His Birth Time 1985-1989
Part six of an eleven-part series by Nick Dagan Best
1985
January-March 1985
Michael’s secondary progressed Moon in Pisces reached opposition to his natal Sun in Virgo sometime in early 1985. With Gemini rising, this progressed-to-natal opposition occurred in the 10th and 4th houses in January 1985. With Pisces rising, it occurred in the 1st and 7th houses in March 1985.
January 28, 1985
In late 1984, Britain’s top pop musicians gathered under the name “Band-Aid” to record a song called Do They Know It’s Christmas? in a bid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Not to be outdone, Michael teamed up with Lionel Richie to write a song for U.S. musicians to sing and record for charity.
“USA For Africa”, featuring the likes of Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen and Tina Turner, among many others, recorded We Are The World late in the evening of January 28-29, 1985, after that year’s American Music Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
The transiting South Node and Saturn in Scorpio were square Michael’s natal Mercury retrograde in Leo, opposite the transiting North Node and his natal Mars in Taurus. With Gemini rising, this transit spans the 6th, 12th and 3rd houses. With Pisces rising, it spans the 9th, 3rd and 6th houses.
Transiting Mercury and Jupiter in Capricorn were square Michael’s natal North Node and Jupiter in Libra. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit connects the 8th and 5th houses. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it connects the 11th and 8th houses.
With Gemini rising, transiting Uranus in Sagittarius is opposite the natal Ascendant, square Michael’s natal Moon in Pisces in the 10th houses.
March 7, 1985
We Are The World was released on March 7, 1985 in both a 7″ and 12″ format, and reached the top of the sales charts within a month, half the average time it usually takes for a single to do so.
Although Michael was present throughout the evening’s events, he recorded his vocal parts earlier in the evening, before the other group members arrived. Consequently, his appearance in the song’s video stands out for being the only instance where a singer is not surrounded by his or her peers. Even among the world’s biggest stars, Michael’s star power was at least equal to the rest of them combined.
The song quickly became an anthem for the 80s, and along with the Band-Aid single, inspired a wave of musical charity events, from Live Aid on July 17, 1985 (which, ironically, Michael did not participate in, due to being tied up in filming Captain EO) to Hands Across America on May 25, 1986.
The music-charity movement grew to become far greater than the sum of its parts, but Michael’s crucial contribution guaranteed him a special place in a mass movement that came to define the 1980s pop culture almost as much as Thriller had two years earlier.
The transiting North Node was conjunct Michael’s natal Mars in Taurus. With Gemini rising, this transit is in the 12th house, square the natal Midheaven in Aquarius. With Pisces rising, it is in the 3rd house.
Transiting Mars was conjunct Michael’s natal South Node in Aries. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit is in the 11th house. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it is in the 2nd house.
With Gemini rising, transiting Uranus pre-retrograde in Sagittarius was opposite the Ascendant, square the transiting Sun and natal Moon in Pisces in the 10th house
July 30, 1985
In July 1985, the same month the Live Aid concert was broadcast worldwide from London and Philadelphia, Michael was in Los Angeles filming Captain EO, a Walt Disney Productions science fiction musical, in collaboration with director Francis Ford Coppola and executive producer George Lucas.
On July 30, 1985, he sprained his right hand during the filming of a dance sequence, and was taken to Brotman Memorial Hospital in Culver City, the same place he had been rushed to eighteen months earlier when he was burned on the set of the Pepsi commercial.
Accompanying him was young Jonathan Spence, a boy (ten or eleven years old) who had been friends with Michael since about the fall of 1984. In 1993, Spence would tell police investigators that the friendship had never been inappropriate in any way. In 2004-2005, Judge Rodney S. Melville would deny Spence’s friendship with Michael to be used as evidence in his molestation trial.
Transiting Mercury retrograde was conjunct Michael’s natal Mercury retrograde in Leo. With Gemini rising, this transit is in the 3rd house. With Pisces rising, it is in the 6th house.
Transiting Saturn in Scorpio was opposite Michael’s natal Mars in Taurus. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit is also square the Midheaven in Aquarius, spanning the 6th, 12th and 9th houses. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it spans the 9th and 3rd houses.
With Pisces rising, transiting Uranus retrograde in Sagittarius was square Michael’s natal Moon in Pisces, connecting the 10th and 1st houses.
August 10, 1985
Michael’s decade-old friendship with Paul McCartney was brought to an abrupt end on August 10, 1985, when he spent $47.5 million buying ATV Music, the company that owned the Lennon-McCartney songwriting catalog. Ironically, McCartney had been the one to suggest Michael invest in music publishing a few years earlier, not suspecting how that advice would affect him personally.
McCartney, who along with Beatles partner John Lennon had lost ownership of their songs in 1969 due to bad business deals, had declined earlier opportunities to buy it back due to the high asking price, but was nonetheless incensed by Michael’s opportunism. Michael, who finalized the deal in Perth, Australia two months later, quickly put his new purchase to work, and soon sold the rights to Lennon’s song Revolution for a Nike shoe advertisement.
The transiting Sun and Mercury retrograde were conjunct natal Venus in Leo. With Gemini rising, this transit is in the 3rd house. With Pisces rising, it is in the 6th house.
Transiting Saturn in Scorpio was opposite natal Mars in Taurus. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit is also square the natal Midheaven in Aquarius, spanning the 6th, 12th and 9th houses. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it spans the 9th and 3rd houses.
The transiting Lunar Nodes in Taurus-Scorpio were square Michael’s natal Uranus in Leo. With Gemini rising, this transit spans the 12th, 6th and 3rd houses. With Pisces rising, it spans the 3rd, 9th and 6th houses.
Transiting Pluto was conjunct Michael’s natal Neptune in Scorpio. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit is in the 6th house. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it is in the 9th house.
Transiting Uranus was retrograde in Sagittarius. With Gemini rising, this transit is opposite the Ascendant in the 7th house. With Pisces rising, it is square Michael’s natal Moon in Pisces, connecting the 10th and 1st houses.
1986
September 12, 1986
After a long delay, Captain EO premiered at the Epcot Center on September 12, 1986. A 3-D special effects extravaganza, the seventeen-minute film cost $30 million to make, making it the most expensive movie ever produced on a per-minute basis at the time.
Designed specifically for screening at the Disneyland and Disney World amusement parks, Captain EO was more than a movie, it was a full-on sensory experience, created to provide a thrill equal to any rollercoaster. Michael starred as the movie’s namesake, a space hero who leads a ragtag assortment of cute creatures in a mission to unlock the despotic Witch Queen’s (played by Angelica Huston) inner beauty, armed only with the power of song and dance.
Also, during the same week, the National Inquirer published a bizarre photo of Michael resting in an oxygen chamber, fanning the already rampant rumors of his eccentric and puzzling lifestyle. The photo later turned out to be a mere publicity fabrication. Michael’s penchant for getting publicity was now starting to work against him, as he sought to maintain the high profile he had worked so hard to achieve.
Transiting Uranus was conjunct Michael’s natal Saturn in Sagittarius, square transiting Jupiter retrograde in Pisces and the transiting Sun in Virgo. With Gemini rising, this transit is also square Michael’s natal Moon in Pisces and Ascendant in Gemini, spanning the 7th, 10th, 4th and 1st houses. With Pisces rising, the transit is also conjunct the natal Midheaven in Sagittarius, and spans the 10th, 1st and 7th houses.
The transiting North Node was conjunct Michael’s natal South Node in Aries, and the transiting South Node was conjunct Michael’s natal North Node in Libra. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit spans the 11th and 5th houses. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it spans the 2nd and 8th houses.
1987
May-July 1987
Michael had a secondary progressed Full Moon in Aries-Libra sometime in early-mid 1987. With Gemini rising, this progression occurred in the 11th and 5h houses in May 1987. With Pisces rising, it occurred in the 2nd and 8th houses in July 1987.
May 18, 1987
Michael ended his uneasy lifelong association with the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion in the spring of 1987, which was officially anounced by the denomination in a letter published on May 18th that year. Although his mother and other members of the family remained, Michael’s break with them was inevitable in hindsight.
His growth as an artist, especially an adult artist, ultimately demanded he break with the group, for whom the very notion of stardom was antithetical to their beliefs. There had been signs of trouble, for instance, in late 1983, when they objected to the Thriller video for allegedly glamorizing occult subjects, prompting Michael to issue the famous disclaimer that preceeds it on every broadcast.
Also during this same month, stories began to appear in tabloids that Michael had offerred a London medical school a sizeable sum of money for the skeleton of John Merrick, a 19th century figure best-known as the “Elephant Man”. It was another publicity ploy gone awry, as Michael failed to appreciate how these antics, however superficial, began to affect his public image.
Transiting Saturn retrograde was conjunct Michael’s natal Saturn in Sagittarius. With Gemini rising, this transit is in the 7th house. With Pisces rising, it is also conjunct the Midheaven in Sagittarius in the 10th house.
Transiting Venus in Taurus was opposite Michael’s natal Neptune in Scorpio. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit spans the 12th and 6th houses. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it spans the 3rd and 9th houses.
With Pisces rising, transiting Mercury in Gemini is square the Ascendant, connecting the 4th and 1st houses.
August 31, 1987
Michael released his follow-up album to Thriller, titled Bad, on August 31, 1987. A hugely successful album in its own right, Bad sold 30 million copies worldwide and became the first (and still the only) album to include five number one singles on Billboard’s Hot 100 sales chart.
The album’s production had been a complicated affair, not least for the fact that, despite his status, Michael failed to convince the likes of Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and chief rival Prince to record duets with him.
Bad would be Michael’s last collaboration with co-producer Quincy Jones, ending pop music history’s most successful production team.
The Bad world tour began in Japan on September 12, 1987, with performances in Australia in November. Michael’s touring band included backup singer Sheryl Crow, who sang in a duet with Michael on I Can’t Stop Loving You at every performance. Crow, who would eventually become a star in her own right seven years later, became the subject of tabloid scrutiny as Michael’s rumored love interest, a fallacy Michael’s spin machine did little to discourage.
TransitingMercury in Virgo was square Michael’s natal Saturn in Sagittarius. With Gemini rising, this transit is also opposite his natal Moon in Pisces and square his natal Ascendant in Gemini, spanning the 4th, 7th, 10th and 1st houses. With Pisces rising, it connects the 7th and 10th houses.
Transiting Jupiter station retrograde in Aries was opposite Michael’s natal Jupiter in Libra. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit spans the 11th and 5th houses. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it spans the 2nd and 8th houses.
Transiting Mars and the Sun were conjunct Michael’s natal Sun in Virgo. With Gemini rising, this transit is in the 4th house. With Pisces rising, it is in the 7th house.
With Pisces rising, transiting Saturn in Sagittarius was square Michael’s natal Moon in Pisces, connecting the 10th and 1st houses, and transiting Venus in Virgo was opposite the natal Ascendant in Pisces, connecting the 7th and 1st houses.
1988
March 19, 1988
The U.S. leg of the Bad World Tour began at Kansas City’s Kemper Arena on February 23, 1988. A month into the tour, Michael – finally ready to leave his family’s Encino home – bought a property he had been looking at for some time, a 2,700-acre ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley near Santa Barbara that he would christen “Neverland”.
Although Michael’s tour would keep him away from his new home for most of 1988, the purchase gave him time to refurbish it into a magical space, complete with amusement rides and a petting zoo. It was a deeply symbolic move for the 29-year-old man who saw himself as a “Peter Pan” figure, a committed champion for the happiness of children.
Transiting Mercury in Pisces was opposite Michael’s natal Sun in Virgo. With Gemini rising, this transit spans the 10th and 4th houses. With Pisces rising, it spans the 1st and 7th houses.
Transiting Venus in Taurus was opposite transiting Pluto retrograde in Scorpio, both square Michael’s natal Uranus in Leo. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit spans the 12th, 6th and 3rd houses. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it spans the 3rd, 9th and 6th houses
June 16, 1988
The European leg of the Bad World Tour began at Flaminio Stadium in Rome, Italy on May 23, 1988.
The following day, three musicians (Reynaud Jones, Robert Smith and Clifford Rubin) filed a $400 million federal lawsuit in Los Angeles against Michael, Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones and others, alleging that songs like We Are The World, Thriller and The Girl Is Mine were pirated from their ideas.
Frivolous as the suit was, it would take almost six years to be settled in Michael and Lionel’s favor, by which time Michael would have more serious legal concerns to worry about.
On June 16, 1988 he performed a concert at St. Jakob Stadium in Basel, Switzerland, which was attended by Bob Dylan and close friend Elizabeth Taylor. The following day, he paid a visit to Oona O’Neill Chaplin, the widow of Michael’s biggest idol, silent film legend Charlie Chaplin, who told Michael he and her late husband had a lot in common since they both rose to success and distinction from poverty.
Michael said after the meeting, “I have just fulfilled my biggest childhood dream.” Twenty-one years later, Chaplin’s song Smile, Michael’s favorite, would be sung in tribute by his brother Jermaine at his memorial service.
Transiting Venus retrograde and Mercury retrograde in Gemini were opposite Michael’s natal Saturn in Sagittarius, square the transiting Lunar Nodes in Pisces-Virgo. With Gemini rising, this transit is also square his natal Moon in Pisces, spanning the 1st, 7th, 10th and 4th houses. With Pisces rising, this transit is also opposite Michael’s natal Midheaven in Sagittarius, spanning the 4th, 10th, 1st and 7th houses.
Transiting Jupiter was conjunct Michael’s natal Mars in Taurus. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit is in the 12th house. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it is in the 3rd house.
With Pisces rising, transiting Mars is conjunct Michael’s natal Moon in Pisces in the 1st house.
July 16, 1988
Michael performed five shows at London’s Wembley Stadium between July 14-23. Great Britain’s Princess Diana and Prince Charles attended his July 16th concert, where he donated $450,000 to the Prince’s Trust charity and the Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Michael returned for two more shows on August 26-27, bringing the total attendance for the seven sold-out Wembley performances to 504,000, earning Michael his third Guinness Book of World Records entry.
Transiting Venus post-retrograde in Gemini was square the transiting Lunar Nodes in Pisces-Virgo and Michael’s natal Moon in Pisces. With Gemini rising, this transit is also conjunct the natal Ascendant and spans the 1st, 10th and 4th houses. With Pisces rising, it spans the 4th, 1st and 7th houses.
1989
January 27, 1989
Michael’s feature-length movie, Moonwalker, was released to theaters in the United Kingdom and Australia on Boxing Day, 1988, and on home video in the U.S. and Canada on January 10, 1989. A collage of live performances, music videos, dramatized scenes and biographical flashbacks, Moonwalker effectively summarized Michael’s career up to what would turn out to be his commercial peak.
The Bad World Tour was supposed to end on December 26, 1988, but Michael was forced to postpone five concerts at Memorial Arena in Los Angeles after suffering from swollen vocal chords following his performance there on November 13, 1987. Those final five shows were held between January 16-27, 1989, bringing the massive 16-month odyssey to an end.
Between September 12, 1987 and January 27, 1989, Michael had performed 123 concerts to a total of 4.4 million people, grossing a total of $125 million, a sum that earned him yet another entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. Along the way, he made numerous large charitable donations and frequently invited underprivileged children to see the show for free.
The transiting South Node was conjunct Michael’s natal Sun in Virgo. With Gemini rising, this transit is in the 4th house. With Pisces rising, it is in the 7th house.
Transiting Jupiter post-retrograde in Taurus was square Michael’s natal Mercury retrograde in Leo. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit connects the 12th and 3rd houses. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it connects the 3rd and 6th houses.
Transiting Pluto in Scorpio was square Michael’s natal Uranus and Venus in Leo. With Gemini rising, this transit connects the 6th and 3rd houses. With Pisces rising, it connects the 9th and 6th houses.
February 13 1989
Just two weeks after the end of the Bad World Tour, on February 13, 1989, Michael fired manager Frank DiLeo, a former executive at Epic Records, who had been with him since 1984.
Despite his success at the helm of the Victory and Bad tours, and in negotiating endorsement deals with Pepsi, DiLeo had also failed to get Moonwalker into North American theaters, despite high demand. It is also thought Michael blamed DiLeo for being behind his wacky Tabloid image, despite the fact that subjects like the oxygen chamber and Elephant Man skeleton had been Michael’s ideas.
The firing had immediate repercussions when Michael was convinced by his family to perform concerts with his brothers in South Korea by the Moonie religious organization, who had literally offered a million-dollar reward to any family member who could convince Michael to do them.
The shows, scheduled for August 1989, never happened, and subsequent lawsuits and counter-suits proved to be more trouble than the deal was worth. DiLeo had been the one in the past to shield Michael from his family’s opportunistic demands, and had even turned down the same million-dollar offer from the Moonie’s representative to negotiate Michael’s part in the concerts.
Michael later rehired Frank DiLeo in 2009, not long before his untimely death.
A week later, on February 22nd, Michael performed two songs (The Way You Make Me Feel and Man in the Mirror) at the 31st Annual Grammy Awards. Despite bringing the crowd to its feet with his spirited performance, Michael lost the Record of the Year award (his only nomination, for Man in the Mirror) to Bobby McFerrin for Don’t Worry, Be Happy.
Transiting Venus in Aquarius was opposite Michael’s natal Uranus and Venus in Leo, square transiting Mars in Leo and transiting Pluto station retrograde in Scorpio. With Gemini rising, this transit spans the 9th, 3rd, 12th and 6th houses. With Pisces rising, it spans the 12th, 6th, 3rd and 9th houses.
Transiting Jupiter in Taurus was square the transiting Sun in Aquarius and Michael’s natal Mercury retrograde in Leo. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit spans the 12th, 9th and 3rd houses. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it spans the 3rd, 12th and 6th houses.
The transiting South Node was conjunct Michael’s natal Sun in Virgo. With Gemini rising, this transit is in the 4th house. With Pisces rising, it is in the 7th house.
December 28, 1989
Michael made a surprise appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show on November 16, 1989, to present comedian Eddie Murphy with an MTV Award, declaring him the “greatest comedian of all time.”
Murphy reciprocated with a similar award for Michael, citing Thriller as “the greatest video in the history of all videos.” Michael had only just recently started calling himself, “the King of Pop.”
Michael was among the celebrities who rallied to the cause of young Ryan White, an Indiana high school student and hemophiliac who had contracted AIDS in late 1984 from a blood transfusion he received while being treated for pneumonia. White’s battle with the disease was extended to being a fight to remain in school despite his condition, making him the poster child for AIDS awareness and education.
Michael bought White a red Mustang in June 1989, and then invited him to spend the X-mas holidays with him at Neverland from December 28 to January 2, for what turned out to be his very last New Year, where he rested and watched movies with the King of Pop.
Eighteen-year-old White succumbed to the disease on April 8, 1990, and Michael eulogized him in the song Gone Too Soon, released the following year.
Transiting Pluto in Scorpio was square the transiting Lunar Nodes in Aquarius-Leo and Michael’s natal Venus in Leo. With Gemini rising, this transit spans the 9th, 3rd and 6th houses. With Pisces rising, it spans the 9th, 12th and 6th houses.
Transiting Mars in Sagittarius was square Michael’s natal Sun in Virgo. Using the Gemini Ascendant, this transit connects the 7th and 4th houses. Using the Pisces Ascendant, it connects the 10th and 7th houses.
<< Previous Chapter: 1980-1984
Next Chapter: 1990-1994>> (coming soon)
Related posts:
- Michael Jackson Lives: Investigating His Birth Time 1980-1984
- Michael Jackson Lives: Investigating His Birth Time 1975-1979
- Michael Jackson Dies: A Jupiter-Neptune Life
- Michael Jackson Lives: Investigating His Birth Time 1961-1969
- Michael Jackson Lives: Investigating His Birth Time – Introduction and Synastry
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Michael Jackson Lives: Investigating His Birth Time 1985-1989 » The Celebrity Astrology Blog…
Part six of an eleven-part blog series investigating Michael Jackson’s elusive time of birth. Continuing the detailed transit chronology, this chapter covers important events in MJ’s life between the years 1985-1989….
Dear Nick, When can we anticipate Michael Jackson’s life between the years 1990 – 1994? I have been eagerly waiting the next blog showing his detailed transit chronology. Thanks for your effort.
Cheryl,
Sorry to keep you waiting, a recurring health problem has been holding me back from posting more frequently. The next chapter is nearly completed, I will have it up within a day or two at the most.
Thanks for your interest!
Dear Nick, Hope all is well with you. Are you still working on years 1990 – 1994? I am eagerly awaiting your next submission. – Thanks for all of your efforts.
Hi Cheryl,
I apologize for the delay, but I have every intention of completing the series. Thanks for your interest and patience!
Hi Nick,
I do hope you’re doing well.
I too, am hoping you’ll complete the series.
Best,
Maline
Here’s another one wishing you well, Nick. I look forward to reading the rest of the series and thank you for investigating/writing what you have so far. I keep going back and forth between thinking Michael was a Gemini or Pisces rising. It’ll be interesting to see your conclusion.
SALVE!
Although I have enjoyed the MJ series, and look forward to reading more, I am concerned about your health. Please concentrate on feeling better because your health is a priority. I will wait patiently until you feel well enough to continue the MJ series, and if you do not complete the series, I appreciate your generosity. I send you love, and a whirl pool of light!