Remember the Time

protecting Michael Jackson in his final days
Bill Whitfield, Javon Beard, Tanner Colby

'[A] measured and compassionate account that succeeds in teasing apart the mocking tag of Wacko Jacko that dogged the singer performer ... In the end [Michael Jackson], far from being "invincible" ... was beyond salvation.'

Thuy On, The Age/Sun-Herald

'Remember the Time foregoes sensationalism in favour of a sympathetic, but unsentimental examination of life behind the gates in Michael Jackson’s final years. Colby’s portrait — told through conversational accounts by Jackson’s former bodyguards, Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard — is by turns straightforward, humorous, absorbing and tragic. A single father facing enormous financial pressures and a vagabond existence while trying to find some peace and joy with his three young children, Jackson is revealed, not the as ‘freak show’ the media so often presented him, but as human. These recollections not only help fill in some of the biographical gaps in Jackson’s life but demonstrate with unflinching detail the real-life price of fame.

Joseph Vogel, author of Man in the Music: the creative life & work of Michael Jackson

'To say it’s captivating is an understatement … The stories Whitfield and Beard relay are startling to read now, but they’re also highly amplified by what fantastic storytellers they are … The book is strictly a fly-on-the-wall account of everything they saw in the world surrounding Jackson during one of the least understood, shoddily documented, rumor-filled periods of his life … It’s a simple notion, fair, but it’s rare in the telling of anything related to the life of Michael Jackson. It’s a fair account of what they saw and what they felt while seeing it, an account that truly separates it from the rest.'

Rembert Browne, Grantland

Michael Jackson’s former bodyguards reveal the amazing truths of the late superstar’s last years — his life with his children, his financial crises, and the weeks leading up to his shocking death.

Hounded by the tabloid media, Michael Jackson spent his final years moving from city to city, living with his three children in virtual seclusion — a futile attempt to escape a world that wouldn’t leave him alone. During that time, two men served as the singer’s personal security team: Bill Whitfield, a former cop and veteran of the security profession, and Javon Beard, a brash, untested rookie, both single fathers themselves.

Stationed at his side nearly 24/7, their job was to see and hear everything that transpired, making them the only two people who know what 60 million fans around the world still want to know: what really happened to the King of Pop?

Driven by a desire to show who Michael Jackson truly was, Whitfield and Beard have produced the definitive account of Michael Jackson’s last years: the extreme measures necessary to protect Jackson and his family; the simple moments of happiness in a time of great stress; the special relationship Jackson shared with his fans; and the tragic events that culminated in the singer’s ill-fated comeback, This Is It.

An indispensable piece of pop-culture history, Remember the Time is the story of a man struggling to live a normal life under extraordinary circumstances. It is the book that dismantles the tabloid myths once and for all to give Michael Jackson back his humanity.

Thuy On, The Age/Sun-Herald

Joseph Vogel, author of Man in the Music: the creative life & work of Michael Jackson

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 234mm × 153mm

Extent:336pp

ISBN (13):9781925106268

RRP:$32.99

Pub date:2 Jun 2014

Rights Held: UK & Commonwealth

Rights Sold: India (HarperCollins)

High-res cover:Download Image

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AUTHORS

Bill Whitfield

Experts in the field of private protection, Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard served for two and a half years as the personal security team for Michael Jackson and have worked with numerous other high-profile clients, including Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs, Alicia Keys, and Shaquille O’Neal.

Javon Beard

Tanner Colby

Co-author Tanner Colby is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Chris Farley Show: a biography in the acts, Belushi: a biography, and Some of My Best Friends Are Black: the strange story of integration in America, which was nominated for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction by the American Library Association. He is also a frequent contributor to Slate magazine.