Feb. 6 in history

16 Years Ago --- Up and Walking Houston Chronicle February 06, 1990 Sammy Davis Jr., who was treated for throat cancer last year, was up and walking in his hospital ward Monday after watching stars such as Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson pay tribute to him in a television special, a hospital spokesman said. Davis re-entered Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles 10 days ago for treatment of a tooth infection, possibly caused by radiation treatment he underwent after having the cancerous growth removed in September, the spokesman, Ron Wise, said. Davis thoroughly enjoyed the television program Sunday celebrating his 60 years as an entertainer, Wise said. Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Gregory Peck and Goldie Hawn were also among the stars who paid tribute. Davis has been able to leave his bed and appears to be making progress, Wise added. --- 15 Years Ago --- Kup's Column Chicago Sun Times February 06, 1991 Is our Michael Jordan becoming another Michael Jackson? Jordan makes his acting and music video debut for CBS/Fox in "Michael Jordan's Playground." The video consists of the Bulls' franchise imparting the lessons he's learned in life to a teenager discouraged after being cut from his high school team. Jordan speaks from experience. He, too, was cut from his high school basketball team... And Michael Jackson is in the news, too. Columbia Pictures is planning to star him in a movie, still untitled. --- 14 Years Ago --- Michael Jackson Signs Deal With Pepsi, Announces Tour Christian Science Monitor February 06, 1992 PEPSICO Inc. said Monday that it will turn to pop icon Michael Jackson for the third time in eight years in an effort to reach the teenage consumers who are the target market in its ongoing battle against Coca-Cola. Under a new sponsorship agreement, Pepsi will underwrite a four-continent tour by Jackson beginning in June, and the pop singer will star in a new series of commercials for the soft-drink company. Pepsi called the arrangement the largest sponsorship deal ever between a corporation and a musical entertainer, but an official declined to say how much the agreement was worth, other than to say that Jackson will be paid "a lot." The tour, in support of the singer's album "Dangerous," will kick off in Europe and travel to Asia, Australia, and Latin America. A Pepsi official said there are no plans yet for a US tour. Jackson's new single, "Remember the Time," was released Sunday with a national broadcast of the song's video. {The 9-minute video, directed by John Singleton (who made the film "Boyz N the Hood") stars Eddie Murphy, super-model Iman, and Magic Johnson, according to the New York Times.} The singer, who appeared at a contract-signing ceremony in Radio City Music Hall in New York, said the only reason he is touring is to raise money for Heal the World, a charity group he is founding to benefit children and the environment. "My goal is to gross $100 million by Christmas 1993," said Jackson. Tommy Mottola, president of Sony Music, said Jackson's new album on the company's Epic label has sold 10 million copies in its first two months. That is an even faster pace than "Bad" and "Thriller," the entertainer's two best-selling albums of the 1980s, Mottola said. --- 13 Years Ago --- Jackson Heights; Sporting Diary The Times February 06, 1993 Well, no prizes for guessing the name of the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player: step forward, Michael Jackson. His performance in the half-time show meant that, despite the blow-out of a game, there was no nationwide reaching for the remote control. In fact, this last Super Bowl drew the biggest American television audience ever. Of the all-time top ten shows, nine have been Super Bowls. The only programme to disrupt this sequence is the final edition of MASH. But really, the only question remaining is: how can you follow that next year? The consensus is that there are only two stars that might possibly be big enough: Madonna and Elvis. --- 12 Years Ago --- Jackson Jailing The Guardian February 06, 1994 A man who sprayed paint on Michael Jackson's star on Hollywood Boulevard, Jose Gomez, 33, was sentenced to 100 days in jail... --- 10 Years Ago --- Elizabeth Taylor Files For Another Divorce The Guardian February 06, 1996 Seven was not a lucky number for Elizabeth Taylor. She's getting another divorce. The Academy Award-winning actress filed for divorce Monday in Los Angeles from her seventh husband, construction worker Larry Fortensky. She cited irreconcilable differences. "The whole thing is going to be handled privately," Taylor's lawyer said. "Everyone is cooperating. I think it will be handled well and in a fashion that will be pleasing to everyone." Taylor met Fortensky in 1988 at the Betty Ford Clinic, where both were being treated for substance abuse. They married in 1991 in a lavish ceremony at Michael Jackson's ranch in Santa Barbara and separated in August. Taylor turns 64 on Feb. 27; Fortensky is 20 years younger. It will be Taylor's eighth divorce -- she was married to actor Richard Burton twice -- and Fortensky's third. --- 9 Years Ago --- Michael Jackson Fires News & Observer February 06, 1997 Michael Jackson has fired his longtime personal managers and put his career in the hands of Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Daily Variety reported Tuesday. Sandy Gallin-Jim Morey Associates, which has managed all phases of Jackson's business since 1991, was notified that it will be replaced by Alwaleed, who met Jackson in 1994 at Euro Disney, the trade paper said. --- --- Hogan's a Hero The Sun February 06, 1997 Bizarre's super snapper Dave Hogan is Britain's No 1 showbiz photographer. He was named Arts and Entertainment Photographer Of The Year at the coveted 1996 British Picture Editor's Awards on Tuesday night. Hogie won for his ace pic of Michael Jackson belting out Earth Song at last year's Brit Awards... --- 4 Years Ago --- ToolTrust Corporation PR Newswire February 06, 2002 ...Recent engagements for ToolTrust include strategic relationships with Heart Of A Champion (HOC), and Michael Jackson's Neverland Valley Entertainment. ToolTrust will help bring HOC's unique new Character Education program to school systems throughout the country by serving as Heart of a Champion's exclusive Internet distribution and marketing channel partner; ToolTrust will electronically bring HOC materials to the nation's 54,000 public middle and high schools, and approximately 45,000 private schools. Program launch is scheduled for the 2001-2002 school year in the Texas counties of Dallas and Tarrant, with an eventual national roll-out intended to reach all 52 million public school students within two years. Additionally, ToolTrust, along with strategic partner BlueCar Partners, has been hired to work with Michael Jackson's Neverland Valley Entertainment in conjunction with the release of the upcoming single "What More Can I give". The single, the video, and the "making of" special involved Mr. Jackson, along with over 40 of the biggest names in music, including Mariah Carey, Carlos Santana, Tom Petty, Nick and Aaron Carter of The Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion, Ricky Martin, and Gloria Estefan. ToolTrust and BlueCar Partners will be working together with the goal of raising $50 million in corporate sponsorship dollars, to go to various charities benefiting victims of the September 11th attacks on America... --- 3 Years Ago --- Oasis Star Stands Up For Jackson; Documentary Was 'Typical Journalism' Belfast Telegraph February 06, 2003 Oasis star Noel Gallagher has hit out at the controversial television documentary on Michael Jackson. Speaking on a radio station in the Republic, the outspoken singer said that the ITV programme in which Jackson admitted sharing his bedroom with children was "typical British journalism." Gallagher told Ian Dempsey on Today FM: "I was quite annoyed at the fact that one of the biggest stars that ever was or ever will be they managed to get access to him for how many months and there was an hour and half programme on him and they mentioned his music and his art for maybe two or three minutes. "He's as big as Elvis was. It's total British journalism where they concentrate on his celebrity. "I mean so what if he climbs trees. Any man that has got a fairground in his back garden and can say to a child well I'm going to build a water park behind that mountain, I mean give him a round of applause. "Did you learn anything new about Michael Jackson that you didn't already know? He's off his nut, he's got a huge house, he's got a lot of money, we all knew that anyway. "I would rather have had an hour and a half programme telling me how he wrote the album Off the Wall and the one after that. I mean it's just typical British journalism," he added... --- --- Jackson Says Program 'Betrayed' Him Charleston Daily Mail February 06, 2003 Michael Jackson said today that a TV documentary about him was unfair and he felt "more betrayed than perhaps ever before" by the program, in which the King of Pop revealed he sometimes lets children sleep in his bed. In a statement issued by his London representative, Jackson said British journalist Martin Bashir broke the trust placed in him. Bashir spent eight months making the 90-minute program, which will be shown tonight in the United States on ABC's "20/20." "I trusted Martin Bashir to come into my life and that of my family because I wanted the truth to be told," Jackson said in the statement, released by his London representative Stephen Lock. "Martin Bashir persuaded me to trust him, that his would be an honest and fair portrayal of my life and told me that he was 'the man that turned Diana's life around.' " Bashir is well known for an interview with Princess Diana, during which she admitted being unfaithful to Prince Charles. "Today I feel more betrayed than perhaps ever before; that someone who had got to know my children, my staff and me, whom I let into my heart and told the truth, could then sacrifice the trust I placed in him and produce this terrible and unfair program," Jackson said. "Everyone who knows me will know the truth which is that my children come first in my life and that I would never harm any child." No one was available for comment this morning at Granada, the TV company which made the documentary. Jackson said he had received many messages of support from fans in Britain since the documentary was aired on Monday night... --- --- Documentary Boosts Jackson's Sales Western Mail February 06, 2003 ...Some of Jackson's most famous albums have seen notable rises in sales since Monday night's screening of his grilling by Martin Bashir... Sales of Thriller shot up by 500 per cent on Tuesday and his greatest hits package HIStory rocketed by 1,000 per cent. --- 1 Year Ago --- Illness In Attorney's Family Delays Jackson Jury Selection Houston Chronicle February 06, 2005 Jury selection in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial will be postponed for at least several days due to the grave illness of his lead attorney's sister, a court spokesman said Saturday. The case had been scheduled to resume Monday, with detailed questioning of 250 would-be jurors by the judge, prosecutors and Jackson's lawyers. The court spokesman said the serious illness of lead defense attorney Tom Mesereau's sister has delayed that process at least until Thursday and possibly into next week. Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville is expected to briefly take the bench Monday to consider legal motions by several news organizations. The prospective jurors also were ordered to report to the courthouse for processing, but will then go home until Thursday morning at the earliest. Jackson is charged in a 10-count Santa Barbara County grand jury indictment with molesting a young boy at his ranch and with conspiring to commit extortion, false imprisonment and child abduction. He pleaded not guilty. ---