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There are some people in show business history whom you recognize by only one name: Beyoncé, Gladys, Aretha, Patti, Smokey, Diana, Luther and…Michael.
To commemorate the fourth anniversary of Michael Jackson’s untimely passing, this month’s edition of Soul Train History Book will focus on Michael’s solo work on Soul Train and Soul Train-related programming.
The late King of Pop was a performer ever since the age of 5, when he and his band of brothers, the Jackson 5, played in local clubs and bars in their hometown of Gary, Indiana. They made such a big name for themselves that they eventually played arenas such as Harlem’s Apollo Theater, Chicago’s Regal Theater, and Philadelphia’s Uptown Theater opening for big name acts like James Brown, Jackie Wilson, The O’Jays and many others. Although all of the brothers were talented, Michael was always the standout.
When Motown Records Chairman Berry Gordy saw the Jackson 5‘s audition tape, he enthused about the whole group, but he was especially impressed with Michael. So Berry signed the group to his Motown Records, label and the rest is history.
Soul Train creator and host Don Cornelius promoted a concert at Chicago’s Regal Theater in 1967 when he was a radio deejay at Chicago’s WVON. The Jackson 5 was the opening act for Gladys Knight & The Pips on this show and Don, like everyone else in attendance, was in awe of the entire group, particularly young Michael’s showmanship.
As a group, the Jacksons appeared on Soul Train four times. On three of those appearances, Michael did solo performances. He also made an appearance on Soul Train once all by himself when his brothers were not present. Any solo performance or appearance by Michael on Soul Train, as on any program he performed with or without his brothers, had all of his fans watching with bated interest and excitement.
Michael’s very first solo performance on Soul Train was in October 1973 on a special show which spotlighted The Jackson 5′s current album Get It Together. About halfway in the show, Michael was alone on stage with Don Cornelius, joking that Michael was “thanking him for teaching him all of the heavy dance moves” he had executed earlier in the show. He asked Michael if he wanted him to show him any other moves to which Michael jokingly replied, “Yeah, you can teach me a couple of more things.” Don and Michael laughed after Don told him, “When I get more time.”
Don reminisced about how he remembered Michael and his brothers performing in and around Chicago before signing with Motown, and how they were such a sensation that “no one else wanted to share the same stage with The Jackson 5.” Don wanted to know from Michael who was an influence on his performing ability; Michael responded that since the group didn’t have any songs out at the time, they would study and do songs by James Brown, the Temptations and the Supremes. Don noted that Michael used to do James Brown’s moves very well. He then asked Michael to perform his most recent solo hit, the poignant “With a Child’s Heart.”
Seeing Michael perform this touching song, in light of his untimely death and how he spoke often about his missed childhood due to being in show business, makes one a little emotional. If anyone didn’t know that this song was originally recorded by Stevie Wonder in 1966, one would think the song was written specifically for Michael. Lines such as “no grown up thoughts to lead our hearts astray” and “nothing’s gonna get, nothing’s gonna get me down” truly touch the heart with Michael’s incredible vocal.
The song reached number #14 on the soul singles charts and no higher than #50 on the pop charts, but the chart showings don’t reflect the beauty of this song. It’s one of Michael’s best and is a cherished classic.
Michael’s next solo appearance on Soul Train was on the show’s September 1974 taping. By the time this episode aired in most areas on October 5, 1974, the Jackson 5’s latest album Dancing Machine had been released. So when viewers watching Soul Train that day saw that Michael Jackson was going to be a guest, many assumed he was going to be doing songs from a new solo album, presumably the solo album that was being produced by Stevie Wonder, a story that was printed in various magazines. However, when Don Cornelius was about to introduce Michael, he was holding the group’s Dancing Machine album in his hand telling the audience that Michael was going to “help us check out some of the terrific tunes on the hot new Jackson 5 album entitled Dancing Machine.” Michael, looking dapper in his pink suit, received thunderous applause from the Soul Train Gang as he did his first number, the funky, mid-tempo “Whatever You Got, I Want,” which went number three on the soul singles chart but no higher than number 38 on the pop charts–kind of a blow for the group after the tremendous success of their most recent single “Dancing Machine.”
Stevie Wonder also had written and produced tunes for a Jackson 5 album as well, but both the group’s songs and Michael’s songs produced by Stevie remained in Motown’s vaults until one of those tracks, “Buttercup,” was released in 2010 as part of a CD compilation. Interestingly enough, during those recording sessions, the Jackson 5 did “doo doo wop” background vocals on Stevie Wonder’s number one soul and pop hit “You Haven’t Done Nothin,” which was a message to the then scandal-plagued President Richard Nixon.
Viewers who were watching this episode of Soul Train were puzzled. Where were Tito, Marlon, Jackie and Jermaine? Why were they not on stage performing with Michael?
After the Jackson 5 were a smash at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, the powers-that-be at Motown had boosted the group’s fee for making personal appearances, especially on television. It was learned that Don Cornelius could not afford the new performance fee Motown was asking to have all five brothers appear on his program. So since Michael did most of the lead vocals on the new album, as with previous albums, it was decided that he would come on Soul Train by himself to promote three of its tracks which featured his lead vocals.
The Dancing Machine album, which Michael had said in interviews he was not pleased with and was not as good as it could have been, was basically comprised of previously unreleased tunes that Motown Records put together in an obvious attempt to cash in on the huge success of the “Dancing Machine” single. Most of the songs on this album were recorded during the sessions for the Get it Together album, with the exception of their outstanding track “I Am Love,” which was supposed to be the concept for the new album, but Motown rejected the concept, and threw that track along with “Dancing Machine” and other previously unreleased tunes to fill up the album.
Michael didn’t look too enthused when Don was interviewing him about the album, half-heartedly stating his favorite tracks from the album. Don noted that the album was inspired by the success of the single “Dancing Machine,” which Michael said sold 4 million, but that the group’s biggest selling single was “I’ll Be There.” Don also asked about the group’s performance in Las Vegas, and Michael replied that the group always wanted to play Vegas (however, the group wasn’t initially happy about doing Vegas when their father Joseph Jackson made arrangements for them to perform there).
Later in the show, Michael did a question-and-answer session with the Soul Train Gang. Numerous hands went up from people who had many questions to ask him. This is rare to see since this was one of the only times Michael ever took questions from an audience on a television show. The gang asked many interesting questions, such as one by a dancer who asked Michael if he thought that the Jackson 5 influenced a lot of the other young groups. Michael more than happily answered, “Yeah, that is true.” He added that after his group came on the scene, the Osmonds and other groups followed. That statement received thunderous applause and approval from the Soul Train Gang.
Another dancer asked Michael about the movie he and his brothers were working on. Michael answered that the movie was scheduled to start shooting in November with tentative stars Bill Cosby and Cicely Tyson (he had incorrectly said Liza Minnelli, prompting him and the Soul Train Gang to laugh).
The movie that was being referred to was “Isoman Cross & Sons,” which was written and going to be produced and directed by veteran actor Raymond St. Jacques and was going to star the Jackson 5 as slaves in 19th century America. Joseph Jackson had a huge press party a few months earlier to make the announcement about the movie. Unfortunately, the movie never materialized and was never made.
Michael then performed a beautiful ballad from the album entitled “If I Don’t Love You This Way.” He closed the show with a percolating track called “What You Don’t Know,” causing Soul Train dancer Little Joe Chism to blow his party whistle and the Soul Train Gang to scream and cheer.
A sister group, MDLT, who had been performing with the Jackson 5 as an opening act for their concerts in 1974, also performed two tracks on this episode, the second being one that the Jackson 5 wrote and produced for them entitled “What’s Your Game?” It was released on Joseph Jackson’s new label Ivory Tower Records, and their Soul Train appearance helped boost the single up to 89 on the soul single charts.
The Dancing Machine album went to number 16 on the pop album charts, becoming the Jackson 5’s last gold album at Motown. The album did not score at all on the soul album charts. It was rumored that the powers-that-be at Motown were angry that the group’s smash Las Vegas act and them writing and producing songs for their dad’s new record label as well as doing a movie were moves controlled by their dad and not Motown. So somehow the album’s sales were not accurately reported for the soul album chart, causing it not to appear on the chart at all, which was Motown’s way of telling the group who was ultimately in control of their recording career.
The next time Michael performed solo on Soul Train was on a show taped in December 1975, featuring tunes from his Forever, Michael album, the last studio album he recorded for Motown. He also performed two tracks with his brothers on this program, the disco stomper “Forever Came Today” and the superb ballad “All I Do Is Think of You.”
Michael did three tracks, his number 4 soul and number 23 pop hit “Just A Little Bit of You,” which was a danceable, bouncy track and one of Michael’s best cuts; the classy and touching ballad “One Day in Your Life,” which Motown released as a single in 1981 to compete with Michael’s new work at the Epic Records label; and the heartfelt tune “We’ve Got Forever.”
Don asked Michael what his hobbies were, to which Michael replied reading books and feeding the birds in his bird collection. On the subject of school, Michael told Don he attended a private school with other celebrity child stars such as Danny Bonaduce from the by-then defunct TV program The Partridge Family. Don asked if Danny was a good kid and Michael half-heartedly replied, “Yeah, I guess you can say that.” “That’s not what you told me before,” Don countered. “You told me that Danny gets into trouble at school, right?” “Yeah, sometimes,” Michael responded. Little did Michael know that his classmate watched Soul Train also.
Michael’s comments about Danny nearly caused him to get into a fight with his classmate the Monday after this program aired. Danny recalled in his book and on the nineties program An Evening With Clint Holmes that when he went to school that Monday and saw Michael, he screamed, “Jackson, I’m gonna kick your butt!” He then said all of a sudden, Michael’s brothers appeared from out of nowhere and when he saw what a big guy Tito was, he backed down. “Yessir, the Jackson 5 can beat up the Partridge Family,” Danny Bonaduce joked.
Michael told Don of his future plans, which included recording other artists and doing movies which he stated he really wanted to give a try. When Don told Michael that he had the looks for being an actor, Michael shrugged off the remark (Don, like many other people, had no idea the agony Michael was going through at this time battling acne).
Michael’s promotion of Forever, Michael was an attempt to boost sales of the album, which sold poorly when it was released in January 1975. While fairly successful on the soul album charts at number 10, it peaked no higher than 101 on the pop album charts. This was one of the motivating factors which led Joseph to search for a new record label, one which would promote his sons better as well as give them the opportunity to write and produce their own material, which Motown would not allow.
Michael’s last solo performance on Soul Train was on the January 1979 taping, a tenth anniversary salute to the Jacksons career in the entertainment industry as well as a promotion for their new album on Epic entitled Destiny. Before Michael performed during a solo spot, Don Cornelius asked him about his work on his new motion picture The Wiz. “It was a lot of fun,” Michael said. “I had to be in makeup everyday for six months.” Don asked him if acting was hard, and Michael told him other actors such as Sidney Poitier and Ryan O’Neal helped him to prepare for the role. Michael then performed the dreamy, moody ballad “Push Me Away,” the second track off the group’s Destiny album.
Michael’s very last appearance on Soul Train was a cameo spot to further discuss his work in The Wiz (this segment was taped the same day of the tenth anniversary salute of the group). “It was terrific, something I always wanted to do,” Michael told Don. “It was a lot of fun working with all the greats–Sidney Lumet, Quincy Jones, everybody.” They played a clip from the film featuring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow singing “Ease On Down the Road.” Michael explained to Don that the scene had to be shot a couple of times since the road they danced on was actually a hill so they were really “easing on up the road,” and they were out of breath during the filming of the scene. Don asked Michael if he would come back to Soul Train despite the fact that he was a big movie star. Michael laughed and replied, “Definitely!” Alas, this was Michael’s swan song appearance on Soul Train. From 1979 on, Michael became a megastar by way of his Off the Wall and Thriller albums.
Although Michael no longer performed on Soul Train, his affiliation with the show did not cease. His music was always a constant favorite on the show. Songs such as “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough,” “P.Y.T.,” “Bad,” “Smooth Criminal,” “Jam” and others were played heavily on the show. He also took several honors at the Soul Train Music Awards. In 1988, he received awards for the Best Soul Single Male for “Bad” and Best R&B Album of the Year for his album Bad. Because he was on tour, he was unable to personally accept the awards.
At the third annual Soul Train Music Awards, Eddie Murphy and legendary movie actress and Michael’s dear friend Elizabeth Taylor presented him with the Heritage Award for Career Achievement and the very first Sammy Davis Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year. This was where Elizabeth bestowed him with the title “King of Pop, Rock & Soul” (Michael’s former PR person Bob Jones claimed that he coined the term “King of Pop” at Michael’s urging and it was placed on banners at arenas during Michael’s Bad tour throughout 1988). When Michael came out to receive his award amidst a standing ovation, Eddie humorously adjusted the microphone for Michael, a funny dig at Michael for asking him to adjust the microphone stand at the American Music Awards three months earlier. Michael also received awards for Best R&B Contemporary Single, Male for “Man in the Mirror” and Best R&B Contemporary Video for “Man in the Mirror.”
At the seventh annual Soul Train Music Awards, TV viewers and those in attendance at the ceremony were shocked to see Michael on crutches which he later explained was due to him twisting his ankle while rehearsing, Michael came to not only receive several awards, but to also present an award to Eddie Murphy for that year’s Heritage Award for career achievement. “Isn’t it nice to see him (Michael) getting out and giving people awards?” Eddie joked. Michael himself received the Humanitarian of the Year Award, Best R&B Soul Album for Dangerous and Best R&B Soul Single, Male for “Remember the Time.” Michael also performed “Remember the Time” while sitting in a throne. Although he couldn’t dance due to his injury, his energy was still high as he did a lot of hand and neck movements with the audience repeatedly chanted, “Go Michael! Go Michael!” and got a standing ovation for his efforts. His appearance on the show was part of a strategy to boost sales of his Dangerous album by making several TV appearances, most notably his half-time performance on the Super Bowl and his interview with Oprah Winfrey, which was watched by 90 million people around the world.
In November 1995, Michael took part in a 25th anniversary special saluting the Soul Train television series. Aside from being an anniversary special, it inducted several R&B music stars into the program’s hall of fame, including Michael Jackson, Barry White, Diana Ross, Patti Labelle, Whitney Houston, Al Green and others (notoriously missing were the Godfather of Soul James Brown and Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin
some reason, Michael’s performances for the special were filmed on a separate night apart from the main ceremony. Michael did a truly incredible performance of his song “Dangerous” along with his new number one hit “You Are Not Alone.” During the number, a teenage girl came out of the audience and went on to stage to hug Michael, but that was pre-planned before the ceremony.
Over the years, Michael also worked with Don Cornelius to have artists on his record label, MJJ Music, to appear on Soul Train. Artists from his label that performed on the show were his nephews’ group 3T, his sister Rebbie Jackson, Tatyana Ali, a kid hip-hop duo called Quo consisting of Wade Robson and DeWayne Turrentine, Men of Vizion (who recorded the Jacksons’ hit “Show You the Way to Go”) and Brownstone. All of the artists met with good success while on the label. When appearing on Soul Train, they all spoke fondly of working with Michael.
In 2009, the year Michael passed way, he received a posthumous honor as Entertainer of the Year at the Soul Train Awards. Indeed, Michael Jackson’s music, career and legend will never die and he will always touch people around the world for many years to come with “love, peace and soul.”
http://soultrain.com/2013/06/17/soul-train-history-book-the-king-of-pop-michael-jackson/
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