About Charles...
Michael Jackson
Charles Thomson is regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on the life and times of Michael Jackson. Having written about the star for various publications and contributed to two best-selling biographies, Thomson's vast knowledge about the King of Pop has seen him interviewed by television and radio stations including BBC News 24, BBC World Service, Blog Talk Radio, KPFA-FM and Sky News.
At just 20 years old Charles began using his network of insider sources to provide Michael Jackson scoops to the UK's biggest newspaper, The Sun. It all began when a member of Jackson's camp gave the young reporter an invaluable tip-off.
On Tuesday 3rd March 2009, Charles received word from an inside source as to where and when Michael Jackson would be landing in the UK to announce a string of comeback concerts at London's O2 Arena. Using the young writer's information, The Sun was able to snap exclusive pictures of Jackson disembarking his private jet at a secluded airstrip in Luton.
Two days later Charles was invited to attend Jackson's press conference at the O2, which would become the star's last ever appearance before an audience. Charles was also present at Jackson's last public performance, when he appeared at the World Music Awards in London in November 2006.
In the months after Michael Jackson's press conference Charles continued to work for The Sun as a Jackson expert. During this time he provided stories, sourced pictures and scoured court documents pertaining to Jackson's many legal disputes.
On the night of Michael Jackson's death, Charles was interviewed live on air by Sky News, BBC News 24 and BBC World Service.
In the weeks and months after Jackson's sudden death Charles continued to work for The Sun, providing stories, pictures and background information. His work included facilitating an interview with Jackson's former manager Dieter Wiesner, providing information about the star's entourage and obtaining pictures and videos of his concert rehearsals.
Most notably, Charles instigated a Sun investigation which proved that old vocals had been dubbed over the concert film 'This Is It', casting doubt on producers' claims that they had no idea Jackson was unwell or using drugs in the lead-up to his death.
More recently, Charles has become internationally known for challenging the media's unfair coverage of the embattled star. When he was contacted to work on a story concerning the suicide of Evan Chandler, the man who accused Jackson of molesting his son, Charles was disappointed to find all of his research not only ignored but replaced with inaccurate information.
Charles wrote about the incident on his blog and the article became an internet sensation, at one point generating almost 2million hits on Google. Consequently, Charles was awarded a blogger position at the Huffington Post, where he has continued to highlight poor journalistic standards.
A June 2010 article for the Huffington Post, titled 'One of the Most Shameful Episodes in Journalistic History', saw Charles delve into newspaper archives and court transcripts in order to write a scathing account of the media's shambolic coverage of Jackson's trial.
Charles has also written about Jackson as part of his ongoing work with celebrity news website SawfNews.com. In early 2010 he conducted in-depth interviews with the star's tour guitarist of 10 years, Jennifer Batten, and 'This Is It' dancer Kriyss Grant, who spoke for the first time about his misgivings over the controversial concerts.
In November 2010 Charles again covered Jackson for Sawf News, publishing an in-depth article about the making of the star's final music video, 'One More Chance'. For the article he interviewed Jackson's colleagues, collaborators and co-stars, exploring not only Jackson's on-set performances but also the context within which the video was produced and the shocking raid on Neverland Ranch which caused the project to be abandoned. Jackson's former publicist Stuart Backerman called the article 'one of the best written, truest and most emotionally balanced articles on Michael Jackson's legacy'.
Charles has also contributed to two best-selling Michael Jackson biographies.
In July 2009 Charles was approached by Headline Publishing to contribute to the book 'Michael Jackson - Life of a Legend'. Charles provided a half-page article on Jackson's fame and influence, focusing on how the star had helped to shape his own career as a music journalist. The book topped the UK chart for three consecutive weeks and became an instant international bestseller.
In early 2010 Charles was contacted by internationally renowned biographer J Randy Taraborrelli, who asked to quote the young writer's coverage of Jackson's FBI files, commenting that nobody had covered the event more eloquently. He also asked Charles to write additional contributions about the FBI files and about his experience attending Jackson's final press conference at the O2 Arena. Charles's contributions were featured in the Summer 2010 re-issue of 'The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story'.
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