Hardcore fans left wondering how to fill void left by death

By Matt Williams

Monday, June 29, 2009

FOR those who appreciated Michael Jackson’s music his death was greeted with sadness, but for the hardcore fans that dedicated their life to following him, the death has been devastating.

Donna Green, a 44-year-old casino hostess in Las Vegas, was one of those fans. She happily admits that Jackson was "her life".

Having spent countless hours camped outside the singer’s homes and with a series of now useless tickets to his forthcoming London shows, the self-confessed hardcore fan is left wondering how she will fill the void left by his demise.

In the short term she has only one plan: to be as close to the Jackson family as possible. Which is why for the past three days she has visited their home in Los Angeles. It was, Ms Green said, the only place she could think of going after news of her hero’s death hit.

"I love Michael Jackson and have been a huge fan my whole life.

"When I found out about it at work, I just collapsed. They had to get security and call my family to take me home.

"I just had to come here, I had to be close to where Michael was. Not that I can do anything, but it was the only way I could find some sort of comfort, if that is possible."

Hayvenhurst Avenue – the home of the Jackson clan – is a place Ms Green is familiar with. On many occasions she has waited by the gates hoping to see members of the musical family.

She has even been inside the gated property. In 1999 her hours of patience paid off when Jackson’s mother Katherine invited her in. The pair played Uno on the lawn.

No such privilege was awarded to her yesterday , the Jackson family had more important matters than card games to discuss.

Instead, Ms Green had to make do with making sure her poster display dominated the impromptu shrine that has developed outside the property’s main gates.

She brought two posters along with her, both with pictures of the casino hostess and the internationally acclaimed pop singer in close embrace.

Ms Green, as well as being a fan, ran one of Jackson’s fan clubs – an act for which she was rewarded with occasional phone calls from Jackson himself.

She also met the star at his former Las Vegas home – a place that she was often to be found.

"I would go over to his house in Vegas and just wait for him. He would come home and get the driver to stop the car and talk to us for sometimes five minutes, sometimes 30 minutes."

After a while, the singer began to recognise Ms Green, she said.

"He knows about the hardcore fans. He can point us out in a crowd because we have been there for years and years."

She admitted to devoting much of her life and a lot of her money on the star.

"For me, he was my life and I loved it, I loved him.

"It became more than just a fan thing, I got to know a little bit of him as a real person."

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, June 29, 2009