Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk Hat up for Auction 

A Fedora hat that belonged to US singer Michael Jackson, made of wool and lined with silk, is displayed before being put on sale at auction, in Paris, on September 12, 2023. (AFP)
A Fedora hat that belonged to US singer Michael Jackson, made of wool and lined with silk, is displayed before being put on sale at auction, in Paris, on September 12, 2023. (AFP)
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Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk Hat up for Auction 

A Fedora hat that belonged to US singer Michael Jackson, made of wool and lined with silk, is displayed before being put on sale at auction, in Paris, on September 12, 2023. (AFP)
A Fedora hat that belonged to US singer Michael Jackson, made of wool and lined with silk, is displayed before being put on sale at auction, in Paris, on September 12, 2023. (AFP)

Just before performing his famous moonwalk dance for the first time, Michael Jackson tossed his hat to the side of the stage. Four decades later, it's up for auction in Paris.

The sale at the Hotel Drouot in Paris takes place on September 26. The black fedora is expected to fetch between 60,000 and 100,000 euros ($64,000-$107,000).

Though it is the star among some 200 items of rock memorabilia, organizer Arthur Perault of the Artpeges gallery admitted that valuations for Jackson items had fallen lately due to "the sale of fakes and the accusations against him".

Jackson has long been accused of child abuse, which his heirs still contest and which the singer denied up to his death in 2009 at the age of 50.

The King of Pop whipped off the hat while breaking into his hit "Billie Jean" during a televised Motown concert in 1983, at the height of his fame.

Moments later, Jackson showed off what would become his trademark move -- the moonwalk -- a seemingly effortless backwards glide while appearing to walk forwards.

A man named Adam Kelly picked up Jackson's hat, "thinking the singer's staff would come to collect it but they didn't", said Perault.

He held on to it for several years, but it has since passed through a couple of private collectors on its way to Paris.

Also being auctioned are a guitar owned by the legendary bluesman T-Bone Walker that could fetch up to 150,000 euros; a suit worn by Depeche Mode's Martin Gore; and one of Madonna's gold records.

A chunk of wall from the Bus Palladium, a Paris venue that shut down last year, signed by numerous rock stars including members of The Libertines, Air and The Dandy Warhols, is valued at between 5,000 and 8,000 euros.

"Personally, I hope this wall stays in France. It is part of our heritage for all lovers of music and rock," said Perault.

Music memorabilia has become big business.

Co-organizers Lemon Auction made a splash last year with the sale of a guitar smashed by Noel Gallagher on the night Oasis split up in Paris following a fight with his brother Liam. The instrument went for 385,500 euros.

This month, a series of auctions for items belonging to Freddie Mercury -- including the piano on which he composed "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- have made a total of 46.5 million euros at Sotheby's, attracting bidders from 76 countries.



Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson Get Songwriters Hall of Fame Nods

Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
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Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson Get Songwriters Hall of Fame Nods

Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)

Eminem, Boy George, George Clinton, Sheryl Crow, Janet Jackson, the Doobie Brothers, N.W.A. and Alanis Morissette are among the nominees for the 2025 class at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an eclectic group of rap, rock, hip-hop and pop pioneers.

Joining them on the ballot are Bryan Adams, with radio staples like “Summer of ’69” and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?,” and Mike Love of the Beach Boys, hoping to get in 25 years after band founder Brian Wilson. David Gates, co-lead singer of the pop-music group Bread, is also looking for entry.

The Hall annually inducts performers and non-performers alike, and the latter category this year includes Walter Afanasieff, who helped Mariah Carey with her smash “All I Want for Christmas Is You;” Mike Chapman, who co-wrote Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield;” and Narada Michael Walden, the architect of Whitney Houston's “How Will I Know″ and Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love.”

Eligible voting members have until Dec. 22 to turn in ballots with their choices of three nominees from the songwriter category and three from the performing-songwriter category. The Associated Press got an early copy of the list.

Several performers are getting another shot at entry, including Clinton, whose Parliament-Funkadelic collective was hugely influential with hits like “Atomic Dog” and “Give Up the Funk,” and The Doobie Brothers — Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons and Michael McDonald — with such classics as “Listen to the Music” and "Long Train Runnin.’” Steve Winwood, whose hits include “Higher Love” and “Roll With It,” has also been on the ballot before.

Hip-hop this year is represented by Eminem — whose hits include “Lose Yourself" and “Stan” — and N.W.A. members Dr. Dre, Eazy E, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella. Already in the Hall are hip-hop stars like Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliot. Tommy James, with hits including ”Mony Mony,″ ”Crimson and Clover″ and ”I Think We’re Alone Now,″ has also earned a nod.

If Jackson, whose 1989 album “Rhythm Nation” was a landmark, gets into the Hall, it will be more than two decades after her late brother Michael. The Canadian songwriter Morissette, whose influential “Jagged Little Pill” has won Grammys, Tonys, Junos and MTV awards would also add to the Hall's rocking women. (Glen Ballard, who helped produce and write the album, is already in.)

As would Crow, the “All I Wanna Do” and “Everyday Is a Winding Road” singer-songwriter, is having a critical resurgence after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. Boy George lifts the flag for '80s New Wave with the Culture Club hits “Karma Chameleon” and “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.”

Other nominees for the non-performing category include Franne Golde, who co-wrote Selena’s ”Dreaming of You;″ Tom Douglas, who wrote country hits for Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert; Ashley Gorley, fresh off his co-writing smash “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen; and Roger Nichols, who co-wrote The Carpenters’ ″We’ve Only Just Begun.″

They join Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, who contributed to the hit ″The Boy Is Mine″ by Brandy and Monica; Sonny Curtis, former member of the Crickets who wrote and performed the theme song for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show," ”Love is All Around,” and British composer Tony Macaulay, who wrote “Build Me Up Buttercup.”

The Hall also put forward three songwriting teams: Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan, who wrote “Secret Agent Man;” and Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, who penned the Four Tops hit “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got);” and Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, who wrote the Percy Sledge tune “Out of Left Field.”

The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honor those creating popular music. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.

Some already in the hall include Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Lionel Richie, Bill Withers, Neil Diamond and Phil Collins. Last year saw R.E.M., Steely Dan, Dean Pitchford, Hillary Lindsey and Timbaland inducted.