Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon Page #9

the boys first start writing, too.

GEST:
Their first record

produced by Gamble and Huff

even though it went gold,

wasn't a really huge album for them.

It mid-charted in around the 50s

and he wanted something

that was number one.

When they did their second album,

Goin' Places,

the album was really a flop.

He was used to selling

a million or so albums on Motown.

And he really in no disrespect to them,

wanted to produce and write

all his own material.

He wanted to be in charge.

Released in 1978 'Destiny' was the

first album produced by the Jacksons.

When I first heard Destiny,

I liked it very much.

I was very proud of them.

I thought they did a real good job.

The album re-established

The Jacksons as a top selling group.

EDWARDS:
He kept reaching

for higher plateaus

and he felt, maybe, that if the group...

Dennis Edwards

LEAD SINGER, 'THE TEMPTATIONS'.

Where he wanted to go,

they probably couldn't go with him.

Michael was beginning

to think of himself as a solo artist

and I always wondered

what would happen to the brothers

if Michael left the group.

Without Michael Jackson, that was gonna be

a tough road for the Jacksons.

And I also believed

that that's one of the reasons why

Michael put it off for as long as he could.

Yeah, I figured he'd go solo.

Jimmy Ruffin ARTIST, MOTOWN RECORDS.

He was too good.

He couldn't carry his brothers forever.

KATHERINE:
One of the lawyers called me in

and he told me to tell the boys

to save their money

because Michael is gonna go solo.

I said, He can't do that. .

And he said,

"Well, he don't need his brothers.

I said, "They need one another."

TARABORRELLI:
Joseph just felt

that what was really important

wasn't the individual success of the group

but it was the group itself

and it was the family itself.

And that's easy to say

when you're not the lead singer of the group.

ALEXENBURG:
I saw Michael leaving

his father as a positive,

no longer persecuting him, abusing him

or saying things to him that were ugly.

He seemed to only be

getting it from one source, his father.

Michael never felt comfortable

with Joe as his manager,

'cause he was afraid of him.

And when you're afraid of somebody,

you don't wanna be around them.

That was his destiny, to be by himself.

His confidence level was really high

and when he made the transition

from us to Quincy,

he was ready.

Michael really admired Quincy Jones.

Because.

Quincy had produced Frank Sinatra,

icon.

Ella Fitzgerald,

icon.

Dinah Washington,

icon.

And so many other acts

during his very illustrious career.

When he was about to do Off The Wall,

he went to him,

asking for suggestions

of people that might be interested

in working with him.

And the story goes that Quincy Jones said,

"I'm available," and he said,

l would love to work with you..

TARABORRELLI:
I was in the studio

for the Off The Wall sessions,

and so, I was able to actually watch

Michael and Quincy work together.

And Michael really thought of Quincy

as sort of the father that he hoped.

Joseph could have been for him.

One of the things that Michael told me

he loved about working with Quincy

was that Quincy thought

Michael's ideas were good ideas.

And if you listen to some of the demos,

those songs were complete

when Michael brought them to Quincy.

I mean, you could have just put them out.

And Quincy appreciated the fact

that Michael had this amazing ability.

There was a lot of respect there.

BRYSON:
Quincy Jones has always been

smart about merging what he has to offer

with what the artist has to offer

and I think that's probably

one of Quincy's greatest gifts.

Peabo Bryson SINGER.

And he certainly did that with Michael

in abundance.

GEST:
I will never forget when

he brought Off The Wall over to my house

to play it for me.

It just jumped right out of the record player.

It was the most unbelievable album.

I'd ever heard to that date.

To me, that's one of the greatest albums

I've ever heard in my life.

Russell Thompkins, Jr.

LEAD SINGER, 'THE STYLISTICS'.

When the musicians that I know,

and we all sit around

and we listen to the arrangements,

and the production that was done on that

album, the things that Quincy Jones did,

was fantastic.

Quincy Jones had horn players

playing such fantastic licks.

Martha Reeves ARTIST, MOTOWN RECORDS

and had drummers and percussions

that Michael had to dance to,

and that only made him

even the more exciting.

Quincy was a great arranger,

Michael was a great singer,

and also had a great foresight

and it just was a marriage made in heaven.

EDDIE FLOYD:
I had the pleasure

of coming up in the same era

and watching him.

Eddie Floyd

SINGER/ SONGWRITER, STAX RECORDS

and once he got with Michael... Wow...

(CHUCKLES)

History speaks for itself.

TARABORRELLI:
There was just no way

that these songs

weren't going to be big hits.

KATHERINE:
An album would have

two very good songs on it

that they know is gonna be hits,

and then they throw anything on an album,

to fill if out.

And he said, "Mother, I don't believe in that.

I think every song should be a hit. .

And so, he just put good songs out there

and gave the people

good product.

Actually, it made me start dancing again

when I went out,

'cause I was one of those

"l don't wanna sweat" guys. (LAUGHS)

When Off The Wall was on,

you had to hit the dance floor.

It was just absolutely astounding

and then he just

Kept getting better and better.

Abdul 'Duke' Fakir

ARTIST, 'THE FOUR TOPS'.

Such a God-given talent, so precious.

TARABORRELLI:
When he recorded Thriller,

Michael was very excited

and he said that he thought

this was going to sell hundreds

and hundreds of millions of copies.

Quincy kept telling Michael,

You know what? Maybe live million.

"l mean, if we do 10 million,

it's gonna be huge,

"but, you know, don't get your hopes up."

He was never pleased

with what he accomplished.

He always wanted

to accomplish the impossible.

TARABORRELLI:
Michael felt that Quincy

should have been on his team

with 100 million.

And he told his attorney,

"Thriller's not coming out.

Quincy doesn't believe in it.

"Cancel. The thing's not coming out," right?

So, Michael had a conversation

with Walter Yetnikoff,

who was running CBS at that time.

And Walter Yetnikoff told Michael,

"Look, who cares what these guys think.

"It's not about what their impression is

of this music,

"it's what you believe to be the case.

"And if you believe this is

going to sell 100 million copies,

"guess what, Michael?"

I'm with you.

"Let this thing come out.

Don't mess with this. Just let it come out. ."

And then Michael did.

But it could have gone either way.

We were averaging a million units a week,

which no other record had done.

Frank Dileo

JACKSON'S MANAGER 1984-89, 2009.

Michael Jackson, that year with Thriller,

saved the record business.

Tower Records was going out of business,

CBS itself had had two black Fridays

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