Career
Furthermore Abdullah has a personal love of music, and has fitted his palace in the Kingdom with a recording studio. He also has homes in Kensington, London and has a cottage in Devon, England. Musically he enjoys Led Zeppelin and Bob Marley, owns a vintage Gibson electric guitar, and rides a Harley Davidson.
Abdullah is also chairman of the Bahrain Motor Federation and the Commission Internationale de Karting.
As part of a plan to revive Jackson"s career with the release of a new album, after Hurricane Katrina Sheikh Abdullah suggested that Jackson record a song Abdullah had written as a charity single at a recording studio in London, "I Have This Dream." Jackson undertook the recording session in London, but the single was never released through the co-owned record label 2 Seas Group. Jackson left the Kingdom in May 2006 for Ireland.
In November 2008, after trying to recover £4.7 million costs from Jackson which the singer said were gifts, Abdullah sued the singer through the mutually agreed High Court in London. Abdullah claims that despite having paid the $2.2m (£15m) cost for Jackson to record a song intended to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the singer failed to attend the studio for the final recording and the song was never released.
Bankim Thanki Queen's Counsel, representing Abdullah, told the High Court that the day after Jackson"s criminal trial ended in California, that he recorded one of the songs which Abdullah wanted released as a charity single to help victims of the Indian ocean tsunami, and that Sheikh Abdullah felt "a strong sense of personal betrayal" after forming "a close personal relationship" with the singer.
Titles and styles 30 June 1975 - 14 February 2002: His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad First Rate (at Lloyd's) Khalifa. 14 February 2002 – present: His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad First Rate (at Lloyd's) Khalifa.