mkgenie
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ABC—easy as 1-2-3. —“ABC,” the Jackson 5.
The Jackson 5 were five brothers—Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon, and lead singer Michael, who was nine years old at the time—from Gary, Indiana, who had been seen at the Apollo Amateur Night in New York City by Motown musician Bobby Taylor [of the Vancouvers] and drove with their father, Joe Jackson, to Detroit to try to get an audition with Berry Gordy.
Suzanne De Passe: I was in my apartment at 1300 East Lafayette Street in Detroit—where many of the Motown artists lived—and Bobby Taylor called up and asked me to come down to his apartment, he wanted me to see something. I said no; I wasn’t about to go to a man’s apartment. But he said, “Come on,” so I did, and he opened the door and there were all these kids sort of strewn across his living room. He clapped his hands and went, “O.K., everybody, this is Suzanne de Passe and she works for Berry Gordy and you need to sing for her because she can get you the audition.” They sang and I was blown away. So the next day I told Mr. Gordy on the phone what I’d seen. And I said, “I think you should sign them. These kids—” And he said, “Kids? I don’t want any kids. You know how much trouble it is with Stevie Wonder and the teachers, and when you’re a minor you have to have a special chaperone, and court approval of the contract, and it is a problem.” So he said no. I had to really muster up all my courage to go back to him and say, “Really, I don’t think you can afford not to see these kids.” Finally he agreed to see them.
Lionel Richie: Suzanne’s assignment was to take this new group called the Jackson 5 out on tour, and she was looking for an opening act. They set up an audition at Lloyd Price’s Turntable, and she came in and basically saw the Commodores play. I was the novelty singer—I only did two songs: “Wichita Lineman” and “Little Green Apples.” We got the gig, but what helped us tremendously was they allowed us to be in the room with them while Suzanne was briefing them on how to deliver their stage show; it was the education of life. She had to teach them how to put their place settings on the table so when they ate with royalty they would know how to do the silverware. You got the etiquette course while you got the singing and dancing. What I learned most was whatever you do, if you sing, dance, juggle, whatever it is, you do it in the first song. Because they may not stick around for the second one.
Suzanne De Passe: The extraordinary part for me was to be a witness to the incredible impact that the Jackson 5 had on the public and the public had on them. When we started out we could go everywhere—we could go shopping, we could go get hamburgers, we could go to rehearsal. And within a very short time we were mobbed and could go nowhere.
Lionel Richie: This little kid [Michael] did everything in the first song. I kept waiting for Suzanne to tell me what the real secret was, that Michael was a midget, because it couldn’t be anything else. Then I realized, That’s a real 12-year-old kid. I would watch him play with water balloons backstage, anything that kids do, and then he’d walk onstage and turn into this full-grown entertaining monster.
Suzanne De Passe: I had no mechanism to measure the magnitude of what I was doing. I was killing myself working, but I was responsible for everything with the Jackson 5—except the records—for what was to become one of the most seminal groups to influence young black kids ever.
Smokey Robinson: I’ve known Michael since he was 10 or 11. He is the best who ever did it. The singing and the dancing and the records—the whole package. But somewhere … he just got lost. It’s easy to do.
Full story: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/12/motown200812?currentPage=5
The Jackson 5 were five brothers—Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon, and lead singer Michael, who was nine years old at the time—from Gary, Indiana, who had been seen at the Apollo Amateur Night in New York City by Motown musician Bobby Taylor [of the Vancouvers] and drove with their father, Joe Jackson, to Detroit to try to get an audition with Berry Gordy.
Suzanne De Passe: I was in my apartment at 1300 East Lafayette Street in Detroit—where many of the Motown artists lived—and Bobby Taylor called up and asked me to come down to his apartment, he wanted me to see something. I said no; I wasn’t about to go to a man’s apartment. But he said, “Come on,” so I did, and he opened the door and there were all these kids sort of strewn across his living room. He clapped his hands and went, “O.K., everybody, this is Suzanne de Passe and she works for Berry Gordy and you need to sing for her because she can get you the audition.” They sang and I was blown away. So the next day I told Mr. Gordy on the phone what I’d seen. And I said, “I think you should sign them. These kids—” And he said, “Kids? I don’t want any kids. You know how much trouble it is with Stevie Wonder and the teachers, and when you’re a minor you have to have a special chaperone, and court approval of the contract, and it is a problem.” So he said no. I had to really muster up all my courage to go back to him and say, “Really, I don’t think you can afford not to see these kids.” Finally he agreed to see them.
Lionel Richie: Suzanne’s assignment was to take this new group called the Jackson 5 out on tour, and she was looking for an opening act. They set up an audition at Lloyd Price’s Turntable, and she came in and basically saw the Commodores play. I was the novelty singer—I only did two songs: “Wichita Lineman” and “Little Green Apples.” We got the gig, but what helped us tremendously was they allowed us to be in the room with them while Suzanne was briefing them on how to deliver their stage show; it was the education of life. She had to teach them how to put their place settings on the table so when they ate with royalty they would know how to do the silverware. You got the etiquette course while you got the singing and dancing. What I learned most was whatever you do, if you sing, dance, juggle, whatever it is, you do it in the first song. Because they may not stick around for the second one.
Suzanne De Passe: The extraordinary part for me was to be a witness to the incredible impact that the Jackson 5 had on the public and the public had on them. When we started out we could go everywhere—we could go shopping, we could go get hamburgers, we could go to rehearsal. And within a very short time we were mobbed and could go nowhere.
Lionel Richie: This little kid [Michael] did everything in the first song. I kept waiting for Suzanne to tell me what the real secret was, that Michael was a midget, because it couldn’t be anything else. Then I realized, That’s a real 12-year-old kid. I would watch him play with water balloons backstage, anything that kids do, and then he’d walk onstage and turn into this full-grown entertaining monster.
Suzanne De Passe: I had no mechanism to measure the magnitude of what I was doing. I was killing myself working, but I was responsible for everything with the Jackson 5—except the records—for what was to become one of the most seminal groups to influence young black kids ever.
Smokey Robinson: I’ve known Michael since he was 10 or 11. He is the best who ever did it. The singing and the dancing and the records—the whole package. But somewhere … he just got lost. It’s easy to do.
Full story: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/12/motown200812?currentPage=5
