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Orianthi Panagaris remembers final weeks working with her icon, Michael Jackson



ORIANTHI Panagaris is all cried out. The grief and regret about what might have been isn't as gut-wrenching as it was four months ago when Michael Jackson died.

Now when the Australian guitarist, singer and songwriter talks about those weeks she spent with the King Of Pop, rehearsing for his This Is It tour, she sounds grateful for the brief opportunity and happy to celebrate the memories.

Ori, as she is known to friends and family, recalls her disbelief when Jackson's musical director Michael Bearden sent the 24-year-old guitarist a message on her MySpace page, asking if she would be interested in auditioning for the pop icon's band.

Of course she thought it was a joke. How else would a young Australian woman asked to play solos made famous by Eddie Van Halen, Slash and Steve Stevens respond? But Bearden and Jackson had checked out her credentials online and liked what they saw in the striking and talented guitarist.

"I didn't think it was for real at first," Panagaris says from her Los Angeles home.

"Mike Bearden told me to learn Beat It, Dirty Diana and Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'. I don't think I've ever been that nervous before.

"You know, walking into that audition and thinking about all the amazing guitar players who have played with MJ, it becomes really daunting. I wasn't even thinking about meeting him."

It took the same steely resolve which saw her confidently open for Steve Vai on tour when she was a teenager and trade licks with Carlos Santana when MJ, as the band and dancers called him, walked into the audition room.

"Michael came in and sat on the couch and I was told to play Beat It. He was sitting there just looking at me, staring into my face, watching every single thing I was doing."

Her next test was to keep up with the man himself.

"He was walking up and down at the front of the stage and asked me if I could play the Beat It solo while I followed him around at the pace he was walking at. He hired me that night," she says.

Panagaris saw Jackson the night before he died. They had rehearsed until after midnight and everyone was buzzing. The tour was due to start in less than three weeks and the close-knit group of musicians and dancers had hit their stride.

"We were all together for three months; it felt like family. All of us were big fans of MJ; the first time he danced in front of me I freaked out. He was a musical icon, yes but he was so nice, encouraging us, wanting us all to shine."

Panagaris gets her chance to shine both in the Michael Jackson's This Is It documentary which coincides with the release of her debut record Believe.

The album was always scheduled to be released now, in a break between the run of 50 concerts at London's O2 arena.

Panagaris can't wait to come home and celebrate the release and may do so sooner than later with reports she is being courted to perform a tribute to Jackson at this year's ARIA Awards.

"I want to come back and play shows," she says. "I spent three years making the record and three days ago, I finally got a copy of it in my hands. It's been a big journey."


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