Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon Page #4

without very many edges to buff off.

With the rest of the brothers, now,

Jermaine stuttered.

And he always thought

that if he stuttered when he talked,

that he would do it when he sang.

So I had to push Jermaine more than I had

to push anyone else.

And that's all I used,

Jermaine, Michael and Jackie.

I did not use Marlon, did not use Tito.

They couldn't sing, right?

And I told them. "Learn. Listen and learn."

The complete group

was not just those five boys.

The complete group

had two other ones with them,

one was Johnny Jackson, the drummer,

one was Ronnie Rancifer; the pianist,

which made the music for the group.

Without them,

there wouldn't have been this Jackson 5.

Every producer

has their own method to the madness,

and Bobby's was pretty cool.

He had the old-school roughness on that,

you know.

You have to have

a certain kind of roughness,

a certain kind of discipline.

He felt Michael had something so special,

and he told that to him.

But he said,

"Do not think

just me telling you makes it happen.

"It does not.

"You've gotta work and continue to work

for what you achieve.

"It will never be easy."

He wasn't always patient.

He wasn't always saying things

that you wanna hear,

or saying it right.

But what he said and what he was doing

was just trying to make them stars.

Our last day at the Regal Theater

is when I went to Joe, I said,

"Say now, why don't you let me

put these kids at Motown?"

And Joe said those words to me,

"Man, I thought you'd never ask."

We were in New York City.

Tito Jackson MICHAEL'S BROTHER.

And we had just finished

performing with James Brown.

We were opening up for him.

Bobby Taylor had been begging Berry

to check us out.

Berry Gordy - FOUNDER,

MOTOWN RECORD CORPORATION.

And he wouldn't do it

because he had another kid on his label.

And he was catching a lot of flak

from the state

about working this kid who's underage.

Berry would say, "l never wanna have

anything to do with kids in this business.

"It's too much problems.

"I can't even handle one.

What am I gonna do with five?"

And the one kid was little Stevie Wonder.

I drove Michael, Marlon,

Tommy Chong, who was in my band,

from Cheech and Chong,

from Chicago to Detroit.

I take Michael directly to Motown.

So I said, "Berry, I've got these kids here

"and they're number one coming

out of the block."

I said, "The lead singer's eight.

He can out-dance anybody you ever saw.

"Jackie Wilson, James Brown.

"If you close your eyes and listen to him

after I finish teaching him,

"the best singer you ever heard in your life."

It was not easy to get a children's group

signed to Motown.

And Bobby Taylor knew

that when he called Berry

and said, "I've got something so special,

you gotta see it,"

that Berry would jump once he did.

Because he would not have taken them

to Berry to waste his time.

TAYLOR:
The next morning, Berry Gordy

called me from Los Angeles, and he says,

l want you to bring them out here..

That's how they got to Motown.

Going to California,

the happiest day of my life.

Katherine Jackson MICHAEL'S MOTHER.

Joseph had promised me that one day

we would go to California.

I'd tell him, "No,"

I said, "Your promise came true,

"but you didn't bring me there,

the children did." (CHUCKLES)

Berry Gordy was having a party

for Diana Ross.

It was her birthday.

So he asked us to perform

at this party for Diana,

and of course we did.

And at that party was, like, the Temptations,

Smokey the Vandellas,

the Supremes, Four Tops.

And here we are performing

their songs to them.

So we was quite nervous.

Dionne Warwick SINGER

I first met Michael, he was,

I think he was 10 years old.

He was flown out with his brothers

to sing for Berry Gordy, Jr.

Berry had invited a bunch of people

up to his home.

This little bitty thing came in

and he sat down next to me

and he looked at me and he says,

"And who are you?"

I said, I'm Dionne Warwick. Who are you?

I'm Michael Jackson.

I said, "Nice to know you, Michael Jackson.

And what do you do, Michael Jackson?"

He says, "Oh, I sing."

I said, "You sing? Can you sing?"

He said, "Yes, I can sing."

I mean, little feisty, beautiful young boy.

I said, "Well, that's what We're here for.

We're gonna see if you can sing."

(UP-TEMPO SONG PLAYING)

Watching them perform was excitement.

Brenda Holloway ARTIST, MOTOWN RECORDS.

Everyone in the group was an individual.

And I feel that every one of them

could have gone on their own.

But Michael was the star.

SMOKEY ROBINSON:
They came in

(CHUCKLES) and they sang a few songs.

They sang a couple songs

by James Brown, you know,

Smokey Robinson ARTIST, MOTOWN RECORDS

and Michael did the James Brown dances,

and he really did them.

He's 10 years old and he was dancing

like he was about 30.

How in the world could this little boy,

and he was a kid,

be so talented?

That's what everybody went away

talking about.

I think all of us

Motown artists were astonished.

Kim Weston ARTIST, MOTOWN RECORDS

because here's a kid that, you know,

seemed to have no fear.

You know, when the music nit, he was ready,

you know, or ready before the music nit.

He said,

"I want you to Know something, too."

I Said, "What's that?"

"You sang a song about my name, Michael."

I said, "Yeah

You think that song was for you'?"

He said, "Wasn't it?"

(LAUGHS)

He was an adorable child.

It was a wonderful meeting.

They loved it. They enjoyed it.

That was our audition.

So I'm very proud of that moment in our life.

There was another world about to open.

David G-est

MICHAEL'S CLOSE FRIEND

and he was ready to delve into it.

Marvin Gaye.

Junior Walker.

When you went to Motown, it was...

Everyone was there.

The Isley Brothers.

Kim Weston.

Edwin Starr.

Jimmy Ruffin.

It was like Disneyland. You saw Smokey,

you saw Mary, you saw Diana Ross.

But everybody was trying

to perfect their artistry.

The feeling at Motown was it was a family,

a musical family.

Valerie Simpson & Nickolas Ashford.

SINGERS / SONGWRITERS,

'ASHFORD & SIMPSON'

And we all were a part of excellence

and greatness, musical greatness.

And we so were fans of each other's work,

so that when we saw each other;

It was just instant love.

We got, "We knew what you were doing.

I heard what you're working on."

And it just... We kept pushing each other.

When you start working

with the best in the business.

Russell Thompkins, Jr.

LEAD SINGER, 'THE STYLISTICS'

that are teaching you how to dance,

how to play this

and teaching you now to sing this,

putting you at the piano,

vocal coaches, dancing coaches,

people who teach you how to talk.

When you work with that from the time

that you're a young man,

you grow up with so much influence.

So it wasn't just the fact

that Michael Jackson

was born with so much great talent.

He always had it around him.

Michael Jackson studied all the artists,

all the great artists.

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