The nursery had six teddy bears tucked into an antique African cradle. There was a Humpty Dumpty poster on display, a Mickey and Minnie mobile and a quilt with Daddy’s picture on it.
Daddy, in this case, was Michael Jackson.
In late 1997 LIFE magazine was invited to Neverland for a look inside the world of Michael’s first child, Prince. The story ran in the December 1997 issue. Prince was 9 months old and, as LIFE put it, “a bruising 22 pounds.”
Fans had sent gifts too. One of them came from ventriloquist Shari Lewis, and if you grew up watching her on TV, you’ll smile at this one. She sent a Lamb Chop puppet.
What LIFE found was a dad who was very hands-on. Michael and Prince “share meals, afternoon naps and story hour,” the magazine reported. In Michael’s dance studio he joked, “This is his first step into the spotlight.” Prince answered by grabbing a toy microphone and shoving it straight into his mouth. He was teething.
Was the boy going to be moonwalking by next year? Michael wasn’t worried about that. “As long as he’s healthy, smart and brilliant, he’ll be O.K.”
This fan upload is labeled as Michael singing to his son in 1997, the same year LIFE came to visit.
Michael and baby Prince in 1997
Here’s the catch. Michael’s job meant concerts, and concerts meant nights away from home. So what happened to story hour when Dad was on a stage somewhere?
He found a way to be there anyway.
“I put my voice on tape, reading poems, stories I’ve written,” Michael told LIFE. “When I’m out at concerts, [his nurses] play it for him.”
So on the nights Michael was gone, baby Prince still drifted off to his father’s voice, reading poems and stories his father wrote.
LIFE quoted one line from one of those tapes. It tells you how Michael saw that little boy in the crib:
“Not the stars, not the farthest solar systems, not the millions of different species of animals, but the child is the greatest of God’s creations.”
Look at how he built it. He worked his way up from the stars to whole solar systems to every animal on Earth, and still put a child above all of it.
Michael had pet names for Prince too. LIFE reported that Michael sometimes called him Baby Doo-Doo (it seems “Doo-Doo” was a family favorite) or Apple Head, “for his plump countenance.”
When he was home, bedtime was his job. LIFE described him cradling Prince in the crook of his arm, his T-shirt “mottled with faint baby-food stains.” His own bedroom had a spare crib for “those nights when Prince needs his dad.”
Want to see the baby LIFE was writing about? This fan upload is titled as the very first baby pictures of Michael’s son, from 1997.
The first baby pictures of Prince
Michael also told LIFE he’d written more songs because of Prince than because of any other inspiration. Albums’ worth, by his count.
“He’s complete inspiration,” he said.