Ex-bodyguard for Michael Jackson recalls a mischievous man and a loving family

Share Email Print

TED JACKSON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNEAndre Menzies shows off a collection of memorabilia at his home in Gentilly on Tuesday, including a jacket from the Apollo All Star Revue. Menzies was one of a handful of locals who worked for Michael Jackson and his family.

Related Links

• Photos from the Michael Jackson memorial
• Dave Walker: Michael Jackson memorial and coverage (mostly) transcended the event's surrounding hype
• Complete coverage of Michael Jackson's death

As thousands of people gathered for a memorial service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday to mourn the King of Pop, Andre Menzies was at work in New Orleans, reminiscing about his days as one of Michael Jackson's bodyguards and remembering the superstar as a prankster, a perfectionist and a consummate performer.
"Just being with Michael was one of the best things I've ever done, " said Menzies, 55.
"When he would go sing 'Human Nature' or 'I'll Be There, ' it would be incredible, " Menzies recalled. "The whole entire stadium would be waving their arms."
Menzies, chief of security at Dillard University and a reserve officer with the New Orleans Police Department, started working with the Jackson family in 1984 for its "Victory" tour. Much of his memorabilia from those days was destroyed in the flooding after Hurricane Katrina.
"If it wasn't for Katrina, I would have had all kinds of stuff, " Menzies said. "I stayed friends with them (the Jackson family) until now. I still can't believe Michael's dead."
Menzies is one of a small coterie of New Orleanians with connections to the Jackson family. Marlon Jackson is married to Carol Parker, a New Orleanian. Wayne and Skip Nagin, cousins of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, worked security for various members of the Jackson clan.
"I'm really just very distraught, " Skip Nagin said. "We all know Michael was a great entertainer, but I'd rather not speak on it right now."

Video: Michael Jackson's former bodyguard remembers the "King of Pop"

It seems that Jermaine Jackson is the central figure in the Jackson connection to New Orleans. He hired Menzies and helped bring Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett, a New Orleans drummer, to his brothers' attention. Moffett has become a fixture in the bands of all the Jackson brothers as well as those of pop stars Madonna and Elton John.
Jermaine Jackson also helped New Orleans twins Lolita Minor and Tarita Walker land roles in the 1992 television biography "The Jacksons: An American Dream."
Though Menzies was hired specifically to work as a bodyguard for Jermaine Jackson, roles on the "Victory" tour were fluid. Often Menzies would be reassigned to accompany Michael Jackson to a news conference or other events.
Jackson the prankster
While on that tour, he said he saw the Jackson family as warm and friendly, an image that is at odds with tabloid coverage.
Michael Jackson would often enlist his younger brother, Randy, as well as Menzies in one of his favorite pranks. Late at night, the trio would gather the room service trays left by guests in the hotel's hallway. Then they would target one of the other brothers and stack all the trays in front of his door.
"In the morning, when they had to run out, they would run into all those dishes, " Menzies said.
In later years, Jackson was dogged by allegations of child molestation, and the Jackson family has been accused of being dysfunctional.
From his limited vantage point, Menzies said he saw no evidence of either.
"The man was not a child molester, not a freak. He was just a genius that we will never find in an artist again in life, " Menzies said.
"Those guys didn't drink. They didn't smoke, they didn't use drugs. They were the best people in the world to work for. They made us feel like a million dollars, " Menzies said.
Pork and sweet potatoes
The Jacksons have another New Orleans tie: They ate at Dooky Chase restaurant on Orleans Avenue in the 1970s.
"At that time, they loved pork chops and they loved sweet potato pies, " chef Leah Chase said. "But as they grew older, they didn't eat pork chops anymore.
"I remember so well when they got to be about 14 or 15, they wanted wine. They wanted Fratelli Lambrusco, " she said, laughing.
Menzies, who said Snickers candy bars were another Jackson staple, recalled other light-hearted details. At one point on the "Victory" tour, Menzies said, Jermaine Jackson was supposed to place Michael's fedora on a microphone stand as his younger brother did his trademark moonwalk dance across the stage.
But one night, Michael Jackson finished his dance only to find Menzies' New York Yankees baseball cap on the stand where his own hat should have been.
"You should have seen Michael's face when he turned around and saw that hat, " Menzies recalled, laughing.
The dance that Michael Jackson made look so easy was a product of hard work as well as talent, Menzies said.
"He used to practice every night after the show, " Menzies said. "Everywhere we went, he would have to have a hardwood floor in his room so he could practice."
Another time, Menzies remembered, "we were in New York doing a show and Marlon took off his jacket and Michael threw it in the audience.
"That night, Jermaine said 'Michael, I love you. I love you to death. But if you take my jacket and throw it into the audience, I'm going to throw you right behind it.' "
Though the six-month "Victory" tour was the last time Menzies worked directly with Michael Jackson, he continued to work with Jermaine Jackson off and on for years.
"The last time I talked to Michael, it had to be years ago, " he said. "But I was keeping in touch with Jermaine. I kept up with them, where they were."