Dead Man Rocking!

The King of Pop, who was down by US $395 million that he owed to his creditors while he lived, has almost cleared his debt now. It is reported that royalties from his music as well as box-office collections from the film, This Is It, have earned his estate almost half a billion dollars. And this figure does not include earnings from the sale of Jackson’s souvenirs and memorabilia.

The Forbes’s list of ‘delebs’ (deceased celebrities) that make the most money, ranks The Gloved One in third place for the US $90 million, that he has earned since October 2008. In fact, 80 per cent of this money – US $72 million – was earned after the fateful day when the MJ died! Within five days of his death, Michael Jackson’s albums, including Number Ones, a 2003 release, had brought him revenue worth US$20 million.

Even though Jackson did not finish the 50-day This Is It tour in London, he left behind a catalogue of 200 unpublished songs for his three children, Paris, Prince and Blanket, in his will. The unpublished songs are touted to be worth US $60 million.

The US $72 million that MJ’s estate has earned includes royalties from the sales of albums, from the rights to his name and by his stake in the Beatles’ music catalogue, owned jointly by him and the record label Sony.
Fans from across the world are now putting their hands on the easiest MJ memorabilia – his music. This is evident from the 5.9 million MJ albums that have sold in the US and 4.5 million albums worldwide since June. The release of This Is It, a docu-movie capturing the last few days of MJ’s life, has also added to the coffers of the deceased singer’s estate. The movie made US $71 million nationwide and US $200 million globally. US $60 million were paid in lieu of the rights to use Michael Jackson’s name, clippings, unreleased rehearsal footage and clippings to his estate. In the coming year, the estate can also look forward to money coming from the release of the This Is It DVDs, in time for the Grammys.
Money making could be in the man’s DNA, literally. My DNA Fragrance, a company which claims to be able to make fragrance for a person capturing their DNA blueprint, has made a Michael Jackson fragrance from his tresses! The company’s website declared that a portion of the profits from the sale of the perfume will go to MJ’s estate.

P.S. I AM RICH
MJ is ranked as the third richest dead celebrity.

Leading the pack of delebs is Yves Saint Laurent with US $350 million, earned since his death in June last year, thanks to the auction of his possessions, collected art works, antiques and furniture.

The designer is followed by music composer duo Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, famous for works like The Sound of Music. The money, to a tune of US $235 million, was generated by the sale of their music rights.

Following The King of Pop at number four on is Elvis Presley, with US $55 million against his name.

JRR Tolkien, the creator of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is at fifth place with earnings worth US $50 million from royalties of his books, and the movie adaptations.

MJ’s sparkly white gloves, which he wore for his first Moonwalk in 1983, recently sold for a whopping

US$350,000 (Rs 1,63,67,400 approx) in New York

Items including the animal fangs used in MJ’s Thriller video, sold for US$16,000 (Rs 7,48,200 approx)

The black fedora worn by Jackson at the 1995 MTV music awards was sold for US$60,000 (Rs 2,805,800 approx)