UNTOLD STORIES BEHIND THE VICTORY TOUR
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The Victory Tour was a concert tour of the United States and Canada by the Jacksons from July to December 1984. It was the only tour with all six Jackson brothers.
Most came to see Michael, whose album Thriller was dominating the popular music world at the time. Many consider it to be his Thriller tour.
King, Sullivan and the Jacksons' father Joe Jackson came up with a way to generate additional revenue from ticket sales. Those wishing to attend would have to send a postal money order for $120 ($300 in modern dollars) along with a special form to a lottery to buy blocks of four tickets at $30 apiece, ostensibly to curtail scalpers. Upon receipt the money was to be deposited into a standard money market account earning 7% annual interest; it would take six to eight weeks for the lottery to be held and money to be refunded to the unsuccessful purchasers. Since only one in ten purchasers would win the lottery and receive tickets, there would be more money in the bank for that time period than there were tickets to sell, and they expected to earn $10–12 million in interest. On July 5, 1984, after receiving a letter from eleven-year-old fan Ladonna Jones, who accused the Jacksons and their promoters of being "selfish and just out for money," Michael held a press conference where he declared the ticketing system would be a fairer distribution system through Ticketmaster & also announced, : "I want you to know that when I first agreed to tour, I decided to donate all the money I make from our performances (an estimated $7.5 million) to charity."
Three charities benefited from Michael's generosity: Camp Good Times for terminally ill children, the T.J. Martell Foundation for leukaemia and cancer research, and The United Negro College Fund, which went on to establish the 'Michael Jackson scholarship fund'. Michael also donated a further 3 million dollars to the 'Mount Sinai New York medical centre'.
On July 1984, after the first concert of The Victory Tour, Michael and his brothers met eight ill children backstage. All the children received gifts and autographed photos. Fourteen-year-old Malanda Cooper, a young terminally ill child who had only a short time to live, wrote to the Mayor, asking to meet Michael. Michael invited her backstage before the concert where he posed for a photo with her and wished her welI. Over 700 disadvantaged children were treated to the shows for free on The Jackson's Victory Tour. The Jacksons also donated 1200 tickets, valued at $39,000 to unprivileged children to their concert at Texas stadium in Dallas.
There are meny more stories to tell about, such as Leroy Robinson Jnr who was just eight years old when was given weeks to live by doctors because of brain tumour. While The Jacksons were in Texas, Michael arranged for bed-ridden Leroy and his family to be transported in an ambulance to the concert, where the boy watched the show from an ambulance stretcher side-stage. After the concert the whole family was also transported back to Michael's hotel where Michael met & chatted with them and gave Leroy a signed white glove. Michael kept in touch with the family for the next two years and Leroy's health improved dramatically. Another story is about Catina Scharf, a 11-year-old girl with an inoperable brain tumour. Her wish was to meet Michael and thanks to the effort of a small group of volunteers, Catina's wish was granted. Michael spent more than 15 minutes with her giving kisses and hugs and the autographed tour program. The young girl's health improved and she lived 30 years more until she died cause of a bike accident.
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