On September 16, 1992, Michael Jackson electrified the Toulouse Stadium during his “Dangerous” tour. That evening, Mélissa, then aged seven, was one of the children selected byThe Midday Newspaperto go on stage with the American star. More than thirty years later, the Toulouse woman remembers.
The memory remained intact. More than thirty years after Michael Jackson’s visit to Toulouse, Mélissa still preciously preserves several traces of this extraordinary evening: a “guest” badge and press clippings from the time. In recent years, she also found images of the concert published on YouTube. Because in 1992, at just 7 years old, this Toulouse woman experienced what thousands of fans dreamed of: going on stage with the “King of Pop”.
At the time, she didn’t even know that she was participating in a competition organized by The Midday Newspaper and Sony. “My father’s best friend asked for photos of me without explaining why,” she says. “And a month before the concert, my name appeared in the newspaper among the selected children.”
The “Dangerous” tour then stopped at the Municipal Stadium. Around fifteen children are to join Michael Jackson on stage during “Heal the World”. “There were between 25,000 and 30,000 applications, apparently,” remembers Mélissa. “And I, at the age of 7, was told that I was going to go on stage with Michael Jackson…
“We couldn’t see anything of the show”
On the evening of the concert, the children are taken backstage several hours before the show. “We were made to rehearse, we were told to smile and hold hands. But we saw absolutely nothing of the show.”
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Dressed in black, they wait while the Stadium roars with the cries of the fans. “I especially remember the noise. We were given earplugs.” Then comes the big moment. Mélissa goes on stage for the first time during “Heal the World”, around the giant globe installed in the middle of the set. But the surprise doesn’t stop there.
“They kept coming to get me backstage. They measured me, they made me try things… Then they told me that I would be back on stage a second time.”
During “Will You Be There”, the little girl then crosses the stage with a huge book in her hands, passing in front of Michael Jackson in full choreography. “My family didn’t even know it. They saw me appear a second time during the concert,” she smiles.
“There were a lot of people”
His only real contact with Michael Jackson remains this appearance in front of him on stage. “Before the concert, we never saw him. The first moment I really see him is when I walk across the stage.” In the stands, thousands of lighters illuminate the Stadium. “That’s when I realized there were a lot of people.”
Even today, Mélissa regularly listens to Michael Jackson. His almost 10-year-old son recently discovered images of the concert on YouTube. “He said to me: ‘Ah, lucky you, mom!’” she says, laughing. However, she rarely talks about this story. “Some people around me only found out this week.”
