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From the category archives:
MJ Duet Partners
Director John Landis and wife Deborah Nadoolman attend the party for First Annual MTV Video Music Awards on September 14, 1984 at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City.
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Ben is a number-one hit song written by Don Black and Walter Scharf and recorded by Michael Jackson for the Motown label in 1972.
Originally written for Donny Osmond, “Ben” was offered to Jackson as Osmond was on tour at the time and unavailable for recording.
The single, theme of a 1972 film of the same name (the sequel to the 1971 killer rat movie Willard), spent one week at the top of the U.S. pop chart. It also reached number-one on the Australian pop chart, spending eight weeks at the top spot. The song also later reached a peak of number seven on the British pop chart.
The song became the first of 13 number-one pop hits for Jackson in the United States and his first number-one as a solo artist; it was later included on Jackson’s album of the same name.
“Ben” won a Golden Globe for Best Song. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1973; Jackson performed the song in front of a live audience at the ceremony.
Although Jackson had already become the youngest artist to ever record a number-one (“I Want You Back” with The Jackson 5, in 1970), “Ben” made him the third-youngest solo artist, at fourteen, to score a number-one hit single.
Only Stevie Wonder, who was thirteen when “Fingertips, Pt. 2″ went to number one, and Donny Osmond, who was months shy of his fourteenth birthday when “Go Away Little Girl” hit number one in 1971 were younger.
Click Here to see all the SONGS recorded with MOTOWN
Source: Wiki
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Mick Jagger didn’t hesitate when Michael Jackson told the Rolling Stones singer to warm up his vocal cords before recording their duet “State of Shock” in 1983.
It was a classic recording session a year after “Thriller” had cemented Jackson’s reputation as the King of Pop, according to an Ocala resident who worked alongside Jackson for two decades.
“Mick didn’t hesitate,” said Bruce Swedien, who recorded and mixed many Jackson albums, including “Off the Wall” and “Thriller” – considered among the best all time.
“By then, everyone knew how good Michael was,” he continued. “If Michael Jackson says warm up, you warm up – even if you are Mick Jagger.”
Swedien, 75, lives quietly at his Ocala horse farm and still records albums for young local talent in his elaborate studio.
Swedien, who has worked with many legends, from Paul McCartney to Duke Ellington, talked about the short life of Jackson, who at age 50.
The sound engineer even shares songwriting credit with Jackson on the song “Jam,” a No. 3 hit on the R&B charts in 1992.
Swedien said he normally records a singer about a dozen times before getting enough to mix together a perfect vocal track for an album.
With Jackson, it only took two to four takes. And one of those takes would be perfect on its own. But hours of preparation preceded recording.
They would change lyrics, tempo and pitch, working for days and hours on getting the song just right before finalizing the track. Swedien said Thriller was recorded and completed in six months.
He credits music producer Quincy Jones for creating the sound of Michael Jackson.
“‘Off the Wall’ and ‘Thriller’ showed Quincy’s kaleidoscopic approach,” said Swedien, who described Jones as a musical genius.
However, it was Jackson’s talent and drive for perfection that kept the singer practicing all night before a recording.
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“State of Shock” is a 1984 hit single by The Jacksons featuring frontman Michael Jackson and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.
“State of Shock” was the biggest hit from The Jacksons’ Victory album, reaching number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 4 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. The song is written by Jackson and guitarist Randy Hansen.
The final version featured lead vocals by Michael Jackson and Jagger. “State of Shock” was the last top ten hit for The Jacksons, as well as their last single to be certified gold.
The song was later revised by Jagger when he performed it with Tina Turner during their legendary 1985 performance at Live Aid.
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Bruce Swedien In the Studio with Michael Jackson
The inside secrets of Michael Jackson’s greatest records by the Grammy-winning engineer who captured and enhanced their sound. Multiple color photos of Jackson, producer Quincy Jones, and all the talents who collaborated to make pop history with Jackson’s albums. Plucked from a job at legendary Universal Audio in Chicago, Bruce Swedien entered into a fruitful and historic 30-year relationship with producer Quincy Jones.
That partnership culminated in the groundbreaking recordings of Michael Jackson, beginning with The Wiz, continuing with Jackson’s breakout solo debut Off the Wall, and triumphing with Thriller, which revolutionized music and video and fixed Jackson in culture as the King of Pop.
Now Swedien reveals the technical details of creating those albums (along with Bad, Dangerous, and HIStory) and offers personal remembrances and anecdotes about working with the pop icon. Swedien’s book provides an insider’s look that will thrill anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of hit making and the history of some of America’s most influential recordings. *
Large collection of photographs from Michael Jackson recording sessions * Forewords by producer Quincy Jones and writer/producer Rod Temperton
CLICK HERE: Buy the Book Moonwalk
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The short film for Jackson’s “Billie Jean” is considered the video that brought MTV, a fairly new and unknown music channel, into mainstream attention. It was one of the first videos by a black artist to be played regularly by the channel, as it had felt that black music was “not rock enough.”
Directed by Steve Barron, the video shows a trench-coated photographer following Jackson through city streets. The paparazzo never catches the singer, and even when photographed, Jackson fails to materialise on the developed picture. Dancing his way to Billie Jean’s hotel room, Jackson walks along a sidewalk and causes each tile to light up at his touch, symbolizing the singer’s fame being recognized wherever he goes. Performing a quick spin, Jackson jumps and lands, freeze framed, on his toes. Upon arriving at the hotel, Jackson climbs the staircase to Billie Jean’s room. Each step illuminates as he touches it and a burnt-out “Hotel” sign illuminates as he passes. Arriving at the scene, the photographer watches as Jackson disappears under the covers of Billie Jean’s bed. Trailed by the police, he is then arrested for spying on the couple.
Jackson sported a new look for the video; Jheri curled hair and a surgically sculpted nose. Jackson’s look, a black leather suit with a pink shirt and bow tie, was copied by children around the US. Imitation became so severe that despite pupil protests Bound Brook High School banned students from wearing a single white glove like Jackson had on Motown 25.
Walter Yetnikoff, the president of Jackson’s record label, CBS, approached MTV to play the “Billie Jean” video. Yetnikoff became enraged when MTV refused to play the video, and threatened to go public with MTV’s stance on black musicians. “I said to MTV, ‘I’m pulling everything we have off the air, all our product. I’m not going to give you any more videos. And I’m going to go public and tell them about the fact you don’t want to play music by a black guy.’”
MTV relented and played the “Billie Jean” video in heavy rotation. Following the airing of the video, Thriller went on to sell an additional 10 million copies. The company later denied claims of racism in their broadcasting.
The short film earned Jackson the Billboard Video Award for Best Overall Video and he was inducted into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame in 1992.
In a 2005 poll of 31 pop stars, video directors, agents and journalists conducted by telecommunications company 3, the music video was ranked fifth in their “Top 20 Music Videos Ever”. The video was also ranked as the 35th greatest music video in a list compiled by MTV and TV Guide at the millennium.
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Steve Barron (born 4 May 1956) is a director and producer, best known for directing the films Coneheads (1993), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and the innovative music video for a-ha’s “Take on Me”.
He was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of filmmaker Zelda Barron. He attended St Marylebone Grammar School.
He made his directorial debut in 1979 and directed many of the 1980s’ most memorable music videos, including “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson, “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits, and “Take on Me” by a-ha.
Barron made only 8 music videos in early 90′s and made his last music video in 1993 for David Bowie’s “As the World Falls Down”. In 1984, he directed the sci-fi comedy Electric Dreams, and then went on to direct several episodes of the television series The Storyteller before returning to the big screen, directing films such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990, The Adventures of Pinocchio in 1996, Rat in 2000 and Mike Bassett: England Manager in 2001.
He told Cinefantastique that The Adventures of Pinocchio is his favorite book and that the film version, which he both wrote (with assistance) and directed, was his dream project.
Barron has also directed several award winning miniseries, such as Merlin (1998), Arabian Nights (2000) and DreamKeeper (2003) for Hallmark Entertainment.
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Quincy Jones also wanted to change the track’s title to “Not My Lover”, believing that people would think the song referred to the tennis player Billie Jean King. Michael Jackson refused to change the title.
Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California) is a tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.
She is known for the “The Battle of the Sexes” in 1973, in which she defeated Bobby Riggs, (picture above) a former Wimbledon men’s singles champion.
King is the founder of the Women’s Tennis Association, the Women’s Sports Foundation, and World Team Tennis, which she founded with her former husband, Lawrence King.
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Jackson stated in his autobiography, Moon Walk, that the song was based on the groupies he and his brothers encountered while part of The Jackson 5.
“There never was a real Billie Jean. The girl in the song is a composite of people my brothers have been plagued with over the years. I could never understand how these girls could say they were carrying someone’s child when it wasn’t true.”
Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli promoted the theory that “Billie Jean” was derived from a real life experience the singer faced in 1981. The Magic & The Madness documents how a young woman wrote a letter to Jackson, informing the singer that he was the father of one of her twins.
Jackson, who regularly received letters of this kind, had never met the woman in question and ignored it. The woman sent more letters to Jackson, claiming that she loved him and wanted to be with him. She wrote of how happy they would be, bringing up the child together. She pondered how Jackson could ignore his own flesh and blood. The letters disturbed the singer to the extent that he suffered nightmares.
Following the letters, Jackson received a parcel containing a photograph of the fan, as well as a letter and a gun. Jackson was horrified—the letter asked that the pop star kill himself on a certain day and at a specific time. The fan would do the same once she had killed their baby. She wrote that if they could not be together in this life, then they would be in the next. Afterward, the Jacksons discovered that the female fan had been sent to a psychiatric hospital.
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