Pop icon Michael Jackson, who has a solo album in the works and a reunion concert with his brothers planned for this fall, has severed ties with his powerhouse management company, both parties said Thursday.
The Firm, which has represented Jackson’s solo interests for the past year and a half, parted ways with the Gloved One this week.
“All I can say is that it didn’t work out,” Jackson publicist Cheri Fein told Reuters. Both she and The Firm declined to give any specific reasons for the separation.
But the music news Web site Hits Daily Double quoted one source as saying Jackson “was too unpredictable and didn’t follow directions.”
The Web site also said Jackson’s announcement earlier this week of plans for a reunion concert with his five brothers on Sept. 7 at New York’s Madison Square Garden came as a shock to executives at both his management company and his record label, the Sony Music imprint Epic Records.
The show is mainly designed to celebrate Jackson’s 30 years as a solo artist and also will mark the first time in 15 years that he has performed live in the United States. The self-proclaimed King of Pop will be joined for a medley of songs by the four other original members of the Jackson 5 – Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito – plus younger brother Randy.
News of the planned concert and Jackson’s departure from The Firm comes as he works in Virginia Beach, Va., to complete his first album of new material since 1995. “He’s close to wrapping it up,” Fein said. No release date has been set.
The Jackson brothers still have plans for a separate reunion album, their first as a group since 1989, but no further details have emerged since that project was announced in January, a spokesman for the family told Reuters.
