The transformation is complete and the journey has begun; the one true incarnation of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan has taken flight on his eternal journey to Neverland. Micheal Jackson has died at the age of fifty and yet died not as a middle-aged man, but as an eternal child who was somehow never destined to grow old.

The exterior though betrayed the inner child; no longer the vibrant, blinding bolt of electricity he was when, at the height of his fame and talent, he recorded the landmark album ‘Thriller’  - Jackson died in the poorest of health, addicted to painkillers and in heavy debt. The years had caught up with his body even if it had left his childlike spirit intact, but anyone who has seen him lately in London just had to question the sensibility of the punishing concert itinerary he was signed to do in the coming weeks.

Obviously frail and surrounded by a huge entourage of shadowy figures including ‘doctors’, body guards, ‘advisors’, Micheal Jackson seemed to be propelling towards a fate he was not in control of.  Massive debts were waiting to be cleared by his return to performing. It was very clear that the man was not in any condition to turn back the clock and be the guy who moonwalked across the stage at the 1983 Grammy Awards to the music of ‘Billie Jean’. And sadly that is exactly what the thousands of fans were expecting to see…

Micheal Jackson has now entered that most exclusive  domain of all, one that now numbers four members; JFK, Princess Diana, Elvis Presley and Micheal Jackson. An ultra exclusive collection of icons whose deaths will be ingrained into the psyche forever more, of whose death people will always ask: “Where were YOU when you heard the news…?”

Micheal Jackson changed the landscape of popular music in the 1980′s and his influence is present today in the works of so many other performers. He pioneered the epic video performance i.e. ‘Thriller’ was not so much a song but an entire production – his unique choreography and use of backing dancers who performed in exciting formation, a style  that is copied by just about every performer today including Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake to name a few.

For me, I prefer to remember him as he was back in the 1980′s when he released ‘Off the Wall’ after he went solo from his brother’s The Jackson Five. That was the best Micheal Jackson to me; when he was young, handsome and just pure electricity to watch. The definitive Peter Pan.