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Michael Jackson Autograph - a In-Person story |
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Written by Autograph Collector's Daily
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Sunday, 28 June 2009 |
 When one local woman heard about Thursday’s untimely death of recording artist Michael Jackson, it brought back a time in history when she got to meet the “King of Pop” face to face.
Laurel Councilwoman Willie L. Evans said her brush with the mega recording artist and entertainer occurred in August of 1991.
Evans and her husband, Paul, were managers of a local anti-drug, anti-violent rap group called 2 Hard 2 Handle Group.
The couple’s involvement in the local group would lead to a lasting memory of meeting the child star that transformed the music industry.
The 2 Hard 2 Handle Group competed in a local Pepsi radio Rap Up the Summer Contest here in Laurel and won it. The group went on to win the state contest, which included an all-expense paid trip to Los Angeles, Calif.
It would be there that Evans would get her moment in time.
“We all went to Los Angeles where the group was to compete with other groups from across the nation. (Recording artist) M.C. Hammer was there and had been designated to make the final decision as to the winner of the contest,” Evans recalled. However, it was not the contest outcome that Evans remembers most.
It was a short span of time that resulted in Evans meeting one of the greatest recording artists of all time.
“We were all staying at the Hollywood Hilton in Los Angeles and while there we got a chance to meet Michael Jackson,” Evans said. “By luck, we just happened to be standing outside the hotel and someone yelled here comes Michael Jackson’s limousine.
“I didn’t believe it at first, but then the car pulled up and he and a body guard got out,” Evans recalled. “I was so nervous. I didn’t know what to say. So, I asked him for his autograph.”
Surprisingly, Evans said, the star politely granted her wish.
“I asked him for his autograph and he said ‘sure,’ and as he started to write the autograph, I remembered I had a camera in my hand so I snapped a picture,” she said. “Then, I told him that I had two children, so I needed another autograph and he signed the back of one of our business cards. It was great.
 “I told him that we loved him and that he should come to Mississippi sometime. ... He was just nice and the whole thing shocked me,” Evans added. “It was wonderful. I got the autographs and was able to hold a brief conversation with Michael Jackson.”
Evans said the experience was so overwhelming that she forgot to give someone the camera so she could get her photo with the talented artist.
“It was a short meeting,” Evans admits, “but it is something I will remember forever.”
Evans said although her time with Jackson, her childhood idol, was brief, it was a moment in time that she remembers like it was yesterday.
“Michael Jackson was famous when I was growing up. He was a child and I was a child,” Evans said adding that her and the pop star are only separated by a five-year age difference.
Jackson, the seventh child of the Jackson family, made his début to the professional music industry in 1969 at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5.
“We just loved Little Michael Jackson,” Evans said with a smile. “My mom liked him and we watched the group all the time. We watched him when he first came on the Ed Sullivan Show.
“Whenever a new song came out, we got it,” she recalled. “The song, ‘I’ll Be There,’ is my favorite song.”
Evans said when she heard the news on Thursday that Jackson had died at a Los Angeles hospital, she “just sat there.”
“It just didn’t seem real,” Evans admits. “I just started to look at the photos I had of him and began reminiscing.
“What a lost it is,” she added. “He did something no other musician has been able to do. He was an asset to the music world. ... It makes you sad to know that a person with his outstanding talent is gone.”
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 28 June 2009 )
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