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“Invincible” Album Cover Photoshoot

Date range assessed from the fact that Jonathan Margolis’ account was “In November, [where Jonathan] had spent a week around Michael in New York”. This visit was within a week before/after November 25 (Thanksgiving dinner - Jonathan mentions eating with Michael at Shmuley's home). The fact that the bully incident takes place at Shmuley’s home in New Jersey confirms that it was during Jonathan’s November 2000 visit, not his March 2001 visit in London.

Jonathan Margolis, journalist (visit was Mid-Late November 2000)

I witnessed the extent of what I think is Jackson's real commitment to children. Rabbi Shmuley's eldest daughter, Mushki, had complained tearfully to Michael on one of his frequent visits to the Boteaches' home that she was being bullied by a boy at school.

Michael proposed hosting a peace conference, chaired by him, with the boy's parents to sort it out. This was no idle promise, either.

For a week, Michael phoned Shmuley and Mushki daily demanding to know how arrangements for the summit were going. When the day of the meeting came, Michael discovered it clashed with the photographic session for his new CD cover.

So rather than change the date, he began the session at 5am to get it over with. In the event, ironically, the boy and his family failed to turn up.

Albert Watson, “Iconic” magazine (December 2011), From Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro”

Standing in front of a red curtain $12,000 Albert Watson designed the album’s cover.

...Michael made arrangements to meet him at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York two weeks later. Michael told Watson, “You are the artist so you have complete freedom.”

The idea Watson had was to shoot Michael with mirrors with a dance floor and pole. Speaking to Iconic Magazine in December, 2011 Watson said Michael had seen and liked the photo he had done with mirrors with Jack Nicholson.

“He had seen that shot and liked it and I suggested we do full length images as the mirror is very nice to fragment him and to make the shooting more artistic which he loved. He said the more artistic the better.”

According to Watson, Michael had been a delight to work with during the two day shoot and had thanked everyone who worked on it.

Karen Faye, make-up artist, “Twitter” post (March 28, 2012) (archived)

Twitter user: Look at this Albert Watson photo: [Image of “Golden Boy” by Albert Watson] Was MJ like this?

Karen Faye: Yes. That was the photo that inspired the shoot with Michael. You can see why MJ liked it.

“Twitter” post (March 27, 2012) (archived)

Twitter user: On the full, uncut cover of "Invincible", Michael wears a highly unusual hairstyle. How did this idea come about? Did he like it?

Karen Faye: The Invincible cover (the head shot) was retouched into something that was nowhere near the original photo shot by Albert Watson. I had painted Michael gold and he was wearing a hairpiece that was completely gold. I was very disappointed at what Sony did to the photo. The original photo was quite amazing.