“When I’m up there, in front of all our fans, and I’m into a song I can really feel, like ‘Ben’ or something, the thing that drives me is my love for singing.” says 14-year-old Michael Jackson, when we asked him about his sensational stage performances.
“When I say ‘love for singing,’ I hope that doesn’t sound corny or anything. Because I really mean it. Singing is one of the most important things in my life. It’s the way I’ve found to get all my deepest feelings across to the people I love.”
Watching Michael do his thing onstage, you quickly realise that no amount of money or fame could make anyone give so much! It could only be love that drives Michael. His engery is just too great, too open, too beautiful to be anything else.
“I know when we’re finished with a show, when I’m backstage and all that music and yelling is suddenly over, I sometimes feel a little lost. It takes me a few minutes to get my head back together. The whole thing is so overwhelming, it just takes time to return to normal.” (Right On! 1972)
When the title track “Dangerous” was being recorded, Michael was injured in the studio and had to be rushed to the hospital! A temporary recording booth that we had built for him collapsed and knocked him on the head just as he started singing.
He ended up being just fine, and for a long time, we used to play an early mix of the song which started with a sample of him screaming in pain as the walls came tumbling down!
He was amazing in the studio. He has the equivalent of a photographic memory for music. He could sing something 40 different ways, and then two weeks later, remember that takes # 6 and 27 were the best ones.
We recorded so much music for Dangerous, that it was nearly impossible for MJ to pick out what was going to end up on the album. At one point, it was going to be a double album, as he had well over two hours of music chosen for the release.
When Sony decided they wanted it all to fit on a single CD, Michael kept coming back with lists of his his “final” selections, but they almost always added up to over 74 minutes—the maximum running time for the disc. I remember them going back and forth on this for weeks.
On February 7, 1984, Michael Jackson - along with 15,000 invited guests attend the New York Metropolitan Museum of National History to receive awards from CBS and The Guinness Book Of World Records. To date, ‘Thriller’ had sold over 25 million copies worldwide - more then any other album in recording history. Jackson is presented with the first edition of the 1984 paperback version of The Guinness Book Of World Records, which he receives from Norris McWhirter. On receiving the distinction, he declares:
“I’ve been performing for twenty years. I started at 5 years old touring with my brothers, The Jackson 5, and still I haven’t – you know, I feel like I’ve just begun, you know… And I’ve always wanted to do great things and achieve many things, but for the first time in my entire career I feel like I’ve accomplished [this], because I’m in the Guiness Book Of World Records”.
Clouds are important-you know they give us moisture, oxygen. They didn’t have to be beautiful when you look up. They didn’t have to be inspiring. It’s that extra little touch.
Love Never Felt So Good - Michael Jackson
Back in 1969,when Michael was 10,Motown sent security agent Bill Bray,a 30 year veteran of the LAPD,to Richmond,calif. to guard Jackson 5 during a promotional trip.Bray has been the family’s security chief ever since and has seen to the mammoth protection necessitated by the Victory Tour,even going undercover occassionally to follow a lead.
Durindg these 16 years,Bray has seen Michael grow from child star to superstar,at a price.”He had to be sheltered and he sacrificed what a youth of his age would normally do.” says Bray with a kind of emotion you’d expect from a family member.”The things he missed along the line he’s seen that other behind him won’t miss.” But the jacksons got what they wanted - “They always had the idea that they would become superstars.” - and it hasn’t been all work.”We’ve had fun”,Bray says.”My God,we’ve had fun.I love’em,you understand.In a way,I grew up with’em.”
“I usually am happy.I don’t let anything get me down,no matter what.I like to hear the sound of water and birds chirping and laughter,you know.I love all the real natural,innocent things.I would never go to a party or a club.I did that when I was a kid,and I don’t care to do it anymore.I always have felt that I can’t live without children,’cause I would feel I have nothing to live for.I wouldn’t care living for myself or my creativity.Everything I create is inspired by that kind of innocence.And nature,it’s eveything.It has to be.I mean,that’s it.” Michael Jackson
