Michael + Quincy = Magic

Quincy Jones found the experience working on "The Wiz" difficult, because he didn't feel the public would accept a black version of "The Wizard of Oz." But,"Out of that mess came my association with Michael Jackson."
Michael and Quincy's relationship jelled from the beginning because Quincy gave the artists only the best songs and musicians to work with, and then let them do as they please. Michael was so happy to work in this capacity because he always felt held back from creating the kind of music he envisioned. Quincy admitted that he wasn't sure if Michael could deliver because he found Michael to be "very, very introverted, shy, and unassertive. He wasn't at all sure that he could make a name for himself on his own. Neither was I."
However, before long, Quincy found Michael to be quite versatile. "He can come to a session and put down two lead vocals and three background parts in one day," he said at the time. "He does his homework, rehearses and works hard at home. Most singers want to do everything in the studio- write words and music, figure out harmonies, try different approaches to a song.That makes me crazy. All I can see is dollar signs going up. Studio time is enormously expensive, and that's why someone like Michael Jackson is a producer's dream artist.He walks in prepared, We accomplish so much in a single session, it stuns me. In my opinion, Michael Jackson is going to be the star of the eighties and nineties."
Their relationship extended outside the studio. In Quincy, Michael would confide in Quincy the way he should have with his father, and also take direction willingly.Michael also learned about the quality of a song. Quincy always was looking for the best songs, and if he found some that were better, he would use those instead. Though Michael submitted his own songs and some were dismissed, the end result justified the frustration of losing songs in the project.
The final product was the album Off the Wall, which was released in August 1979. The public and critics were amazed at the craftsmanship and care to deliver the finest performance that Michael could give. Engineer Bruce Swedien mixed Quincy's tracks with Michael "new" adult voice in a way that fans could fully appreciate the album's sophisticated style.
The album was successful, with "Rock With You" reaching number one, and both "Off the Wall" and "She's Out of My Life" reaching number ten. The album itself sold a mind-blowing six million copies, impressive even today for a first album.
However, Michael was disappointed, especially after winning only one Grammy Award. "It bothered me. I cried a lot." he said. "My family thought I was going crazy, because I was weeping so much about it."
But, he vowed, "You watch. The next album I do, you watch...I'll show them."

Thank you, J.Randy Taraborrelli, Michael Jackson - The Magic and the Madness" pages 230-233.

No Wonder, He IS Like A Kid !!

Michael had an interview with J.Randy Taraborrelli on August 22, 1978, at the Jackson's estate. The comments and actions seem to show the stunted growth of Michael socially, and educationally. One would start to think that they were conversing with a fourteen-year-old rather than a twenty-year-old. He wore a Jaws t-shirt, black jeans, safari hat, and bare feet. He was very thin, and spoke with a falsetto whisper. He had to be reminded by his mother to offer his guests something to drink. She was bothered that she found it difficult to get him to eat. But she did reveal that his favorite foods were hot apple turnovers and sweet- potato pies.
Michael seemed to be uninformed about the current events at the time, which showed the isolation he had from the world. "I don't know much about politics," Michael admitted. "Nothing , I guess. Someone told me recently that Gerald Ford was president. I remember when he was vice-president. But president? That I missed." He laughed at that, but he was serious.
Taraborrelli asked, "How do you keep up with current events? Do you read newspapers? Watch T.V.?"
"I watch cartoons, I love cartoons," he said as his eyes lit up. "I love Disney so much. The Magic Kingdom. Disneyland. It's such a magical place. Walt Disney was a dreamer,like me. And he made his dreams come true, like me. I hope."
He said that he did not read newspapers. "See, I like show business. I listen to music all the time. I watch old movies. Fred Astaire movies. Gene Kelly, I love. And Sammy [Davis]. I can watch these guys all day., twenty-four hours a day. That's what I love the most. Show business, you know?"
He finds that his biggest challenge professionally is to live up to his father's expectations. But, his professional and personal challenges are the same because,"I just want to entertain."
He expressed that he really didn't have any friends to confide in. However, it was clear that he did have a crush on one person in particular. Miss. Diana Ross. "...I can tell my deepest, darkest secrets to [her] because I know she won't tell anyone, not another living soul." Whether that was true or not, anyone who has had a crush on someone knows fantasy can be a replacement for reality.
When joined by his brothers, Michael talked about the strange incidents that have occurred on the property. Girls getting cut just to get a glimpse of the superstars , fans jumping over the gate and coming into the house. One did this and sat down in the den, where the the brothers found her, and said that God had sent her.
Once an entire family got into the house and took a tour of the house. Helping themselves to looking at their private things.
But then the interview took a turn to becoming uncomfortable for Michael, when nicknames came up.
"Mike has a nickname, Jackie mentioned. "It's a real good one."
"Don't, Jackie, " Michael warned.
"We call him....Big Nose!" The brothers all laughed, uncaring that Michael was embarrassed.
"Yeah, Big Nose," Marlon repeated. "What's happenin', Big Nose?" Michael seemed to curl up inside and hardly said anything for the rest of the afternoon.
But the brothers weren't the only family members clueless about the devastating effect that name calling does to a person. Joseph was just as brutal, though he didn't , on this occasion , say it to Michael to his face.
"Marlon told me about what happened. You're not gonna write about Michael's nickname, are you?" he asked. "He doesn't like that nickname they gave him. Liver Lips."
"Liver Lips? They told me his nickname is Big Nose," Taraborreli replied. He said he didn't know how he was going to handle the situation.
"Oh, yeah," Joe said "That boy's so sensitive about his nose. Do you see anything wrong with his nose?"
"No., not at all."
"Me neither," Joe said. "But that's all he ever talks about. His damn nose. Threatened to have it fixed. What can he do with it? I told I'd break his face if he ever had it fixed." he laughed. "You don't fix something that ain't broke. He's got a great nose. It looks like mine."
Michael summed up his life later with these revealing words. He was talking about his character the Scarecrow in The Wiz.
"What I like about my character is his, I guess you can call it, his confusion. He knows he has these, uh, these problems, I guess you can call them. But he doesn't exactly know why he has them or how he got that way. And he understands that he see things differently from the way everyone else does., but he can't put his finger on why. He's not like other people. No one understands him. So he goes through his whole life with this, uh..." he paused, "confusion."
"Everybody thinks he's very special," he concluded thoughtfully. "But, really, he's very sad, He's so so sad. Do you understand? He asked urgently, "Do you understand his sadness?"

Thank you, J.Randy Taraborrelli - "Michael Jackson -The Magic and the Madness" pages 215-222.

Has He, Or Hasn't He? Is He Or Isn't He?

There has been much speculation over the sexual orientation and sexual experience of Michael Jackson. I find the interest amusing, particularly because his sexuality seems to be to be quite obvious. Because Michael, from a very young age, was exposed to sex and sexual situations, he seems to be quite sensitive to the subject. When one is inundated to something to the point where it becomes offensive or repulsive, one tends to stay away from such a thing. While his brothers, and his father were very active sexually, Michael saw the effect that activity had on the females. So, rather than sharing himself in bed, he did so through song and dance.
"I think it's fun that girls think I'm sexy," Michael said. "But I don't think about that myself. It's all fantasy, really. I like to make my fans happy that I might pose or dance in a way that makes them think I'm romantic. But really I guess I'm not that way."
I personally think that Michael was straight. Just listen to his music, or even better, read the lyrics of his songs. They have always been directed to a woman, not a man . When one observes the music of Elton John, George Michael, Freddie Mercury, or other gay men in the music business, they never refer to a female. The lyrics are never directed to either sex, making them attractive to both. Michael's music and lyrics are CLEARLY towards a woman. Women wonder, therefore, what would he be like sexually, if he could move and sound that way. Men want to know how to move and sound that way to get the girls!
Michael was a very religious man, and because of the mistreatment he saw towards women, desired to get to know women from the inside out. Let's look at an encounter Michael once had to prove my point.

"I was hanging around backstage, working Madison Square Garden's dressing area, when someone who introduced himself as an employee of the Jacksons came over to me and asked me if I wanted to spend an evening with Michael," the source said. 'Hell, yeah,' I said. He asked me how much, and I told him I would do it for free. I wanted to have sex with Michael Jackson. Who wouldn't." She was brought back to Michael's dressing room where he was alone. He told her to close the door. "The first thing that came out of his mouth was, 'Why are you a prostitute?' Immediately, I was insulted- I don't know why- but I answered, 'because I need the money,' He said to me, 'Would you like to have sex with me?' and I said,'Yes, of course I would." He asked me how much. I told him, 'No charge.' He seemed interested." She started to undress and showed him her breasts. 'Stop. I can't have sex with you. Please put them back,' he said.
When I asked him why he told me, 'I just can't,' I thought he meant he couldn't have an erection,he looked so sad. Then he said,' Can we just talk about you and your life?' I didn't want to talk, that's not why I went there. So I gave him my telephone number.
" 'Anytime you want to get off, you call me, ' I said. Michael looked at me and asked,'What does that mean, to get off ? I swear he was totally sincere. 'It means @$%&, Michael,' I told him. 'Anytime you want to @$%&, you call me. Get it?'
"He said,' Oh, okay. Maybe I'll call you someday. I doubt it, though.' And then I left."
"He struck me as so pitifully lonely and naive," she concluded. "Just a nice, mixed-up, good-looking guy who wanted some female companionship. No way was he about to have sex that night, though. He seemed scared to death."
Note, Michael didn't say he didn't want to have sex, he said he "can't " have sex. Michael was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and a believer in the Bible's teaching. Michael found a way of expressing himself sexually on stage, through dance, and through song, rather than performing the actual act.

Thank you J.Randy Taraborrelli "Michael Jackson - The Magic and the Madness" pages 186,192, and 193.

On This One, Joe Was Right

The CBS Records Group seemed to be attractive to Joe Jackson because of the black artists in its Epic label. Their distribution and promotion reputation was also highly regarded as top-notch. Ron Alexenberg, president of Epic, was interested in the Jackson 5 since he worked under Motown's Ewart Abner. He felt that Berry Gordy had not utilized the full potential of what the Jackson 5 had to offer. He and Joe began to negotiate for the Jackson's toward signing on to Epic and Alexenberg went to Walter Yetnikoff, president of CBS Records. Yetnikoff felt that the group was not hot property, but Alexenberg assured him, "Trust me. This group isn't finished. It hasn't even begun yet."
The deal was struck. The group receive a "signing bonus" of $750,000, plus an additional $500,000 "recording fund," used to produced the group's albums. They were to be paid $350,000 per album. The advance money from CBS was to be paid from royalties, but the royalty rate was 27 percent of the wholesale price for records in the United States. At Motown, they were paid only 2.7 percent, and the group's expenses and studio time was deducted from that, leaving them with almost nothing. To show what a significant deal this was, in 1975, an album retailed for $6.98 , $3.50 wholesale. The Jacksons at Epic would make 94.5 cents per album sold in the United States. At Motown, the group made 11 cents worldwide! Do the math! After each of the group's albums sold over $500,000, the royalty rate increased to 30 percent, or $1.05 a record.
Of course, there was a catch. Yetnikoff would not allow the brothers to write, produce, or choose their material. After much debate, the agreement was that the brothers could choose three songs per album, and an unwritten clause that if the group submitted three good songs, they could be up for consideration.
Michael was amazed that the group was worth so much, that this is the kind of contract that other well known acts were used to. He admired his father's courage and strength to come up with what was best for their careers and future. "I have to admit it. This is one incredible record deal. My father has done an amazing job for us."

'Michael Jackson was not my father,' says man at centre of lovechild rumours - mirror.co.uk

'Michael Jackson was not my father,' says man at centre of lovechild rumours - mirror.co.uk

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"Mr. Gordy, I Think You and I Need To Talk. Alone."

Michael was concerned about the business side of their relationship with Motown Records, particularly with Berry Gordy. None of the other brothers seem to have the backbone to confront Gordy with the plain truth about their value to the company. Michael called Gordy to have a meeting at Gordy's mansion on May 14,1975. "It was one of the most difficult things I've ever done," Michael would say later.

" We're all unhappy, Mr. Gordy. Do you really want is to leave Motown , or what?" Michael asked courageously. Berry's response was the kind of response many artists from Motown would have gotten from Gordy when confronted like this. "Someone as smart like you should know that without Motown, The Jackson 5 would still be in Gary, Indiana, today."

"That does not exactly answer my question, Mr. Gordy," Michael responded. Michael laid the facts on the table. Motown never let the brothers write or produced their own music, or have publishing rights. Their royalty rate was only 2.7 percent. If Gordy had only allowed them one song an album, it would restore their faith in the company. But this is something that Gordy heard before from other artists in the past. He mentioned Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross as examples of him working out some sort of agreement. "I don't want you fellows to leave Motown. How can you do that? After all we've done for you. If you feel you can get a better deal somewhere else, then you have to go somewhere else."

Michael recalls Berry asking him, "Let me ask you a question. What makes you think you can write and produce your own hit?"

"I just know it, " Michael answered. Berry replied, "I don't think that that is good enough."

"What made you think you could build Motown into a giant company?" Michael asked. After receiving no response, Michael said, "You just knew it, right?"

"He just nodded at me as if to say,' You're going places, kid, '" Michael would remember.

Thank you, J. Randy Taraborrelli "Michael Jackson - The Magic and the Madness" pages147-149.

"How Do You Mend A Broken Heart? Ask Michael.

There was a occasion when Michael seemed to be more mature than his brothers, and more kind and gentle than they were to the opposite sex. Jackie Jackson had an encounter with a eighteen -year -old in August of 1972. Apparently, the young girl caught Jackie's eyes during a performance in which she was sitting in the first row with her sister and boyfriend. Her sister pointed out during the concert that Jackie was staring at her. She dismissed her, but after the concert, she was approached by a representative of the Jacksons, saying that Jackie Jackson wanted to meet her. After upsetting her boyfriend and wondering how she was to return home, she was taken backstage, where she saw all of the brothers. She felt a tap on her shoulder, turned around, and and found it was Jackie. He gave her a slip of paper with an address on it and asked to meet him at the location in one hour.

While trying to figure out whether to meet him, she was then approached by Michael, who saw the piece of paper. He asked if Jermaine gave it to her, and she said, "No, Jackie." He then asked if he wanted to meet her and she said she wasn't sure if she should. "Don't, I don't think you should meet him." Michael continued to to convince her not to go. She did not heed the warning. Michael had expressed to her that his brothers did not treat girls very well and he couldn't understand why.

She met with Jackie at the location, and according to her, they had sex. He was very gentle and kind, being that it was her first time . He let her know that they would not see each other again, which made her feel confused and ashamed. A driver came to take her home after dropping off Michael and Marlon. When Michael saw her, he asked what she was doing there and was she with Jackie. "Yeah, I was," she answered. He wanted to know what they did and she said they were on a date. Michael then asked point blank, "Did you have sex with my brother?" She then began to cry, and Michael replied, "I'm sorry. Did he make you do it?" She answered that she wanted to, and Michael was astonished. He couldn't understand why she would do that.

As she was about to leave, Michael asked her not to do that again, and wondered if she was alright. She said she was, and drove off into the night with Michael, with tears in his eyes, waving goodbye.

Thank you, J.Randy Taraborrelli, "Michael Jackson-The Magic and the Madness" pages 101-105