Over Easy:It’s Michael

The Pacific Coast Highway was flooded and closed so my meeting with Miss Ross was moved from her home in Malibu to her room at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The secret password was, ironically it turned out, her husband’s name. Diana welcomed me and offered me a vodka which I turned down for some reason. As I settled in, she stood by the window, glass in hand, with the rain streaming down from an ominous California sky. As I always did, I waited for her to begin. Then I looked over and saw her looking back at me in profile.

“I don’t think my husband loves me anymore, “ she said quietly. A single tear made its way over that famous cheekbone and as a long silence followed, I had a choice to make – consoler or collaborator? I chose the latter and asked if she wanted to write about it. She nodded yes and began to talk, still at the rain-drenched window, while I took notes as I always did at our meetings. The conversation veered into other topics, including plans she had for starting a record label. I was nervous about presenting the demo that I’d brought for our latest song. At our previous meeting she’d said she wanted to do a song about ‘Michael’, leaving no doubt as to who that was. She wanted to say that she was there for him, no matter what. This being 1998, with the attention being paid to Michael Jackson’s personal life, I thought this was a very bad idea, but as always, Diana was determined and of course, she was the boss. My collaborator, Tim Tickner and had I worked on something that was more or less the opposite of what we had been asked to do. The music was playful and funky and the lyric, while it had a message, was far from the supportive friend theme Diana wanted. But she loved it and did record it; although in the end, “Drop the Mask”, an oblique reference to Jackson’s habit of wearing a surgical mask in public, only came out on the Japanese version of the album.

As I was packing up at the end of our lengthy session, the phone rang, so I made for the door and waved goodbye. Diana said, “Hello?”, and then shot me an impish smile while she mouthed the words “It’s Michael”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KihJKXvkhzk

Listen for my cameo at 4:20!