MJ look-alike for anniversary show in city

It is three years since pop icon Michael Jackson died in the US, and the world is preparing to mark the anniversary on June 30.

This year, Michael Jackson’s estate will release a reworked version of his chart-topping album, Bad.

The CD will include new music and a never-before-released concert video, according to his estate and his record label, Epic/Legacy Recordings.

The release will feature two CDs, two booklets and a DVD from a concert of the Bad tour. The release will hit the music stores by September 25.

The world over, many people have been making a living out of being Michael Jackson look-alikes.

Demand for their services often peaks at around this time, when his anniversary is due.

One such look-alike will make a tour of Nairobi for a Michel Jackson concert on June 30.

The concert, to be staged at the Carnivore grounds, will feature a whole repertoire of Michael Jackson’s music through the years, with the added flavour of the look-alike on stage.

Though Jackson died on June 25, 2009 in Los Angeles, California, the closest he ever came to Kenya was a fleeting tour he made of Dar es Salaam in 1992, during which he met with, among others, former Tanzania President Ali Hassan Mwinyi. His African tour took him to Gabon and Senegal.

Jackson, though, was always a hugely popular figure in this part of the world. In fact, many of his older fans followed his career from his days with his brothers in the Jackson Five.

Organisers of the Nairobi concert are promising to go back to the days when he, as a little boy, was the lead singer of the group that made up of brothers Tito, Marlon, Jermaine, and Randy.

Michael Jackson’s look-alike in the Nairobi concert will be Mikki Jay, a solo artiste from the Philippines who has perfected the art of imitating his idol.

Mikki Jay will be in Nairobi courtesy of a Kenyan promotion company, Ranee Productions, which specialises in hosting shows for top Asian artistes.

The look-alike bears an extremely close physical resemblance to Jackson.

According to Rani Jamal of Ranee Productions, the concert intends to keep Michael Jackson’s legacy alive.

Among Michael Jackson’s most popular songs are Wanna be Starting Something, Beat it, Earth Song, Human Nature and Thriller, off the Thriller album, the biggest selling album of all time.

As Nairobi-based DJ Sweet Njoro, a Jackson fan, puts it, there will never be an artiste like him.

“MJ was unique and we will remember him for his unique dance moves,” he says.

Only younger artistes like Usher Raymond have ever tried to copy his dance moves.

Starting next weekend, radio stations across the world will be playing Jackson’s music.

Says Rani: “The special guest artiste, who performs MJ’s amazing signature dance routines, not only looks, but also sounds and dances exactly like him. He will leave you believing that it is, indeed, the king of pop performing live on the stage.”

Also on stage will be Kenyan artistes including Wyre ‘the Love Child’ backed by a live band and a dance troupe.

Part of the proceeds will go to HIV victims under the famous MJ theme “Heal the World”.

Ranee Productions were also involved in organising the Kenyan tours of Jamaican superstar Sean Paul, UB40, Wayne Wonder, TOK, Adnan Sami, Rahul Sharma and Manish Malhotr.

Sean Paul, who performed in Nairobi in 2004, was by then doing well with songs like “Ever Blazing”, “Get Busy” and “Baby Boy” (featuring Beyonce).