Michael Jackson fan channels the pop king in dance tribute

Charlynn Struckhoff

On the afternoon of June 25 of last year, before the news had spread that Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, was dead at age 50, Memphian Charlynn Struckhoff received a call from a friend in Los Angeles, acclaimed Jackson tribute artist E’Casanova.

Charlynn Struckhoff

E’Casanova’s uncanny ability to evoke all aspects of the singer had led Jackson himself to hire him as a body double over the years. Struckhoff, a huge Michael Jackson fan, met E’Casanova on the Internet after seeing him perform in Houston. Blown away by his Jackson-like talent, the Memphis College of Art graduate offered E’Casanova her graphic design and photography services, and the two became close friends — so close that E’Casanova had arranged for Struckhoff to come to a Jackson event he was producing in Las Vegas in October where the 28-year-old would finally get to meet the performer who had meant so much to her since childhood.

Then E’Casanova called that day from the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with the news that Jackson, the Guinness Book of World Records’ Most Successful Entertainer of All Time, was gone.

“I was devastated,” says Struckhoff, who works in the admissions department at her alma mater. “I lost it and had to take a week off work.”

Though she never got to meet the gloved one, Struckhoff will conjure his spirit, as well as, in a way, his body, when she presents her all-dance tribute to Jackson this Friday at Nocturnal, 1588 Madison. The one-woman show, which starts at 10:30 p.m., will feature Struckhoff reinterpreting some of Jackson’s signature dance moves accompanied by video of the iconic performer. Local musician Davy Ray Bennett and his combo will open the show at 9 p.m. with a set of acoustic versions of Jackson songs.

Originally from a small town in southern Illinois, Struckhoff early on found in Jackson’s work a refuge from her despairing home life.

“He was everything to me,” says Struckhoff, who has counted herself a fan since she was 2 years old and saw Jackson’s performance on the “Motown 25” television special. “I grew up in an alcoholic home. My parents, I loved them to death, but it was not the greatest environment sometimes. And Michael’s music and dancing took me to a place where I felt safe, comfortable, happy. He made me realize there’s a life outside of whatever life you’re in. He gave me hope to be whatever I wanted to do, do whatever I wanted to do, and make people happy.

Though her own gifts led her into the graphic arts, Struckhoff never lost her enthusiasm for Jackson. With little formal training, she studied his dance moves obsessively until she had them down pat. Mostly, though, this talent was used to entertain herself and friends at social gatherings like her birthday party last March.

“She was just playing around with her friends and doing some movements,” says local promoter Cheryl Payne, a new friend and party guest who discovered Struckhoff’s dancing ability that night. “It was just so cool. She had every step down.”

Payne approached Struckhoff about developing her moves into an actual Jackson show. The two began planning the event while Jackson was still alive and plotting his own comeback with a series of concerts in London. But after the events of June 25, the project came to a standstill.

“I didn’t know if she would have any interest in doing it after he died,” says Payne. “She’s a huge fan, and she went into mourning. So I just left it alone until she contacted me and said let’s do it.”

Struckhoff admits the death of Jackson, coming on the heels of the loss of each of her parents in 2008 and 2007, was a crushing blow that took some time to recover from.

“To have Michael die, it was kind of like the nail in the coffin for me,” she says. “It was like, ‘God, how much more can I take?’ My mother, my father and Michael Jackson. Essentially, that’s my entire childhood right there.”

But now that the grief has passed, Struckhoff is looking to use this opportunity — whether it becomes a regular thing or is just a one-off performance — to honor her departed loved ones.

“This night is really meant for three people,” she says. “I wish my mother and father could see it. I wish Michael could have seen it. I wish I could have met him, but he will live on long after you and I are in the dirt.”

Tribute To Michael Jackson with Charlynn Struckhoff and Davy Ray Bennett

9 p.m. Friday at Nocturnal, 1588 Madison Ave. Admission: $5. For more information, call (901) 726-1548.

© 2010 Go Memphis. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.