Julien’s Auctions, the world’s premiere entertainment and celebrity auction house announces a two-day summer event representing  the single most historic collection of music memorabilia ever to be offered to the public  on  Saturday, June 25, 2011 and Sunday, June 26, 2011 at the Julien’s Auctions Gallery in Beverly Hills.

Over 600 items representing the biggest names in rock-n-roll, Motown, jazz, country, pop and other genres are represented and include such legendary greats as Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Kurt Cobain, Madonna, Frank Sinatra, Garth Brooks, The Grateful Dead, Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Ramones, Elvis Presley, Fleetwood Mac, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and more.

The most significant highlight of the sale is the Michael Jackson Red Thriller Jacket (estimate $200,000-$400,000). The iconic jacket was worn by the great Michael Jackson during the filming of the epic video Thriller which went on to become the top grossing single and the highest selling album of all time makes its debut on the auction block.  The black and red style of the jacket became so identifiable with Jackson’s groundbreaking extended short film video for the single that he continued to use jackets of the same design when performing the song “Thriller” for the duration of his career.  This jacket was given by Michael Jackson to his longtime costume designers Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush.  Jackson brought this jacket to Tompkins and Bush to be used as reference for all of the subsequent concerts.  The jacket is a black and red calf leather jacket with “Marc Laurent Paris” label featuring silver buckle, red silk lining, trapunto stitched collar, snap front closure and signature winged shoulders. It is inscribed on the inside lining “To Bush and Dennis, All My Love, Michael Jackson.” The sleeve is also signed “Love Michael Jackson.” Among the most recognizable and famous garment of the 20th century, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” jacket sparked a 1980’s fashion craze like none other.

Thriller, the sixth studio album by multi-platinum recording artist Michael Jackson was released in 1982 and cemented Jackson’s status as the most prominent and influential pop artist of the century.  Thriller ranked as one of Rolling Stone’s Greatest Albums of All Times and remains the best selling album of all time with sales estimated by various sources of 110 million copies worldwide.  Thriller also won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards.   In an ironic twist of fate, the announcement of Michael Jackson’s iconic jacket offering on June 6th falls on the same date in which he began his career with the now famous Jackson 5 single, “ABC.” It was on June 6th, 1970 that the Jackson 5 released this first single.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” jacket will benefit The Shambala Preserve current home to Michael Jackson’s two Bengal tigers, “Thriller” and “Sabu”. The two tigers have been living at The Shambala Preserve since 2006 when Jackson left Neverland Ranch. Shambala translates to “a meeting place of peace and harmony for all beings, animal and human.”

Among the many Michael Jackson items being offered are his stage worn fedora (estimate $2,000-4,000), a wig worn by Michael Jackson at his London press conference announcing the “This is it Tour,” (estimate $4,000-6,000), a Michael Jackson original signed sketch (estimate $2,000/-$3,000) and a Michael Jackson American Music awards glove (estimate $20,000-30,000).

Other highlights of the two day sale include stage worn Denim Jacket from Bruce Springsteen Born to Run tour and he also wore this jacket on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine December 1984 (estimate $2000 to $4000 thousand),Frank Sinatra’s exclusive 1986 Jaguar, items from the career of Madonna, Ringo Starr’s wool cape from the classic “Help”,  handwritten lyrics from Johnny Cash, clothing worn by Slash, Andy Warhol’s invitation cards to the 1975 Mick Jagger exhibition, items from producer Phil Spector, property  from the career of Madonna and several personal items of Elvis Presley.                                                                                                                           

The Marquee Club Stage played on by Jimi Hendrix is a once-in-a-lifetime offering and will be presented during the two-day sale.  The two piece wooden stage extracted from the club at 90 Wardour Street in London where on Jan 26, 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience played.  This is the first time this stage is offered and is accompanied by a door from the now closed club (estimate $10,000-20,000). In addition   Jimi Hendrix once wrote “Here Comes the Sun” which was never professionally recorded. The unprecedented offering of two pages of handwritten lyrics and guitar instructions are accompanied by a recording of the song performed in Jimi’s New York apartment.  (Estimate $25,000-30,000)

Other highlights include a John Entwistle signed bass guitar (estimate $1,000-1,500), a broken guitar neck and smashed guitar stand which did not survive Kurt Cobain’s antics at a Nirvana concert (estimate $2,000-3,000), an Eric Clapton signed Blackie Fender guitar (estimate $1,000-1,500),  A Janis Joplin signed contract rider (estimate $200-300), an MTV Moonman award for U2’s “With or Without You,” (estimate $2,000-3,000),  Madonna annotated sheet music (estimate $1,000-2,000),  Prince handwritten lyrics for “Electric Intercourse,” (estimate $400-600),  Steven Tyler signed harmonica (estimate $300-500), Fleetwood Mac Platinum Record Awards (estimate $500-700), A Les Paul signed guitar by the late inventor (estimate $5,000-7,000),  and an Elvis Presley original TCB necklace (estimate $20,000-40,000)

Guitar legends, women that rock, iconic songwriters, country/pop performers and legends in every sense of the word make the Music Icons event more like a complete history of music and will go down in auction records as one of the most important music collections to be offered. For more details and to view the entire catalog go to www.juliensauctions.com

The Exhibition of Music Icons for Julien’s Auctions, Beverly Hills is designed by Rush Jenkins and Klaus Baer of WRJ Design Associates, who have designed exhibitions for The Collection of Michael Jackson, The Estate of Johnny Cash, The Collection of Cher and more recently The Collection of Barbra Streisand.

JULIENS AUCTION’S MUSIC ICONS EXHIBITION:

Monday, June 13- Friday, June 24, 2011

10am-5pm PDT, Monday through Saturday
Free to Public – Closed on Sundays

AUCTION SCHEDULE:
Sunday, June 25, 2011

Session I – 10am PDT
Session II -  2pm  PDT

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Session III – 10am PDT Sunday June 26th,2011

Julien’s Auctions

9665 Wilshire Blvd.

Suite 150

Beverly Hills, CA  90210