Michael Jackson – Legend, Hero, Icon: A Tribute to the King of Pop - James Aldis

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would all try out scales and chords, trying to emulate the sounds their father made and the tunes they had heard on the radio. Then one day Joe returned to find a string broken on the guitar. Initially angry, he said to Tito, ‘Let me see what you can do.’ When Tito then showed how adept he’d become, Joe realized that the kids hadn’t just been fooling around and were taking music seriously. The three oldest brothers were determined to show their dad their ability and, over time, with the encouragement of their mum, Joe let them start spending time together rehearsing.

      As much as the band was a tight unit of five, they were always part of a larger clan.

      Above, younger brother Randy joins his older siblings while below they are joined by Janet.

      Michael the child and Michael the young man. Perhaps a way to keep his childhood self alive, Michael frequently sported a Mickey Mouse design on his clothes.

       A BAND OF BROTHERS

      Michael was still just three or four years old when the band was formed, but there was no question over his eventual inclusion within the line-up—his talents shone as brightly as any star in the sky. His precocious vocal talent and ability to play the bongos meant that he was a surefire member of the team. The band’s first incarnation in 1964 consisted of brothers Jackie, Tito and Jermaine, under the name The Jackson Brothers, but the following year Michael, aged five, and brother Marlon joined the group, establishing a set-up that would remain in place for the following decade. Initially, the band covered popular soul and R&B songs of the day, absorbing influences from James Brown to Sly and the Family Stone.

      ‘I’ve always joked that I didn’t ask to sing and dance, but it’s true. When I open my mouth, music comes out.’

      —Michael Jackson

      Seeing their potential, Joe began to spend less time with The Falcons and more time developing his children’s fledgling act. He began putting them forward for performances at talent contests and amateur nights, and before long they were developing both a reputation and a well-practised edge. Soon their live performances would be captured for posterity as Joe clinched a deal with a local recording studio and label named Steeltown. Their first release, a single entitled ‘Big Boy’, featured nine-year-old Michael on vocals, and helped them gain a foothold with larger concert venues, such as the Apollo Theater in New York and some of Chicago’s biggest talent shows.

      Michael as a freshman in 1973 at Montclair College Preparatory School in Van Nuys, California.

      The kids pose in front of a huge J5 sculpture graffitied with their names.

      The band at one of many awards ceremonies. Here they are at the NAACP Image Awards, established for the advancement of coloured people within the arts.

       A STAGE EDUCATION

      They began touring venues on the ‘chitlin’ circuit’ of black nightclubs throughout the east and south of the country, and were regularly billed alongside major acts of the day, such as James Brown. For young Michael, watching from the wings, this became his school. Deprived of a normal classroom education Michael would instead carefully watch James Brown’s performances: he would absorb every single step, every single movement, every twist, turn, grind and emotion, packing it into his memory, mesmerized by its brilliance.

      Having worked the ‘chitlin’ circuit’, The Jacksons were already familiar with life on the road by the time a phone call came out of the blue that would mean a long journey to Detroit. They had been invited to go to Motown.

      ‘The greatest education in the world is watching the masters at work.’

      —Michael Jackson

       MOTOWN

      Perhaps it was fate that Michael became the performer he ultimately grew into, but his father’s drive to secure a recording contract to marry success to his children’s talents almost inevitably led them to one of the most famous homes of popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s—Motown.

      LIST OF MOTOWN NUMBER Is…

       1960s

       1970s

       1980s

       1989s

      The very word ‘Motown’ has become synonymous with great music thanks to the almost constant stream of hit songs the label produced. But it was also the first label to end the segregation within the music industry—for the first time music by black musicians and groups was being sold outside their traditional markets and across the world. It effectively ended a period of musical apartheid on the strength of the songs themselves and the genius of their performers, and no act typified this more than The Jackson 5, who would go on to become one of the label’s most popular acts and the first group of teen idols to appeal widely to both black and white kids.

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