"What most people don’t know about Jackson", Bush said, "is he was a joker – a playful prankster who loved to laugh and often teased those closest to him the most."

Bush tells of meeting Jackson for the first time in 1983, when both men were 25. The King of Pop hadn’t retained a costumer yet, and Bush was up for consideration. Jackson had been holed up for hours in his trailer on the set of Captain EO. Bush could hear a monkey squealing as he approached. It was dark inside and like 120 degrees. Jackson was snacking.

Eager to please as he prepped the pop star’s clothes, Bush felt something hit him gently in the head. A cherry stem. A few seconds later, it happened again. When it happened a third time, Bush lobbed a cherry at the rising superstar. Jackson tossed a handful back, and thus began a close professional and personal relationship that spanned the remainder of Jackson’s life.

"I think he wanted someone he could play with. He just wanted to see, ‘Am I going to have fun with this person?'" said Bush, now 54, an almost sheepish, informally trained clothier from Ohio who learned his craft from his mom and grandmother, who made wedding gowns, prom dresses and quilts.

"And I laughed every day until he died."