Michael Jackson’s June/July 1995 Cover Story: ‘ACTION JACKSON’

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the June/July 1995 issue of VIBE Magazine.

Michael & Me

Reporting By: Omoronke Idowu, Shani Saxon, Joseph V. Tirella, Josh Tyrangiel, and Mimi Valdés

JIMMY JAM, producer/songwriter (worked on HIStory album)
Michael’s the most intense person I’ve worked with. For him, everything is about the music and how to make it better. He also makes work a lot of fun. He’s a kid at heart—his office is not like a normal office. He has all the kids’ toys. A lot of times we’d be in session, in the middle of playing a video game, and he’d be, like, “Well, we got to do this. But go ahead and finish your game, though—I don’t want to mess your game up.”

The thing about Michael is his talent. If you put Michael onstage without the explosions and the other dancers, he’ll still command the stage.

There’s a song called “Childhood” on the new album, and I think for the first time, Michael has put a lot of his feelings on record. That song, for right now, defines where’s he’s at—the way he feels about himself and the way people feel about him.

HEAVY D, MC/label executive (rapped on “Jam,” 1991)
I was in California the first time I heard Michael Jackson wanted to record with me. I was, like, Nah, no way, he’s too big, it can’t be true. Then I got a call from Michael’s people at my hotel telling me he was interested. But I still wasn’t believing it—I thought they were setting me up for a TV practical jokes show.

So me and my partner go to the place, and while we were waiting we were talking and cursing up a storm—I was thinking that if it was a blooper show, they wouldn’t be able to use it. Then Michael called and said he was on his way. When he got there he was just, like, ‘Hey, how ya doin?'”

Michael’s just as regular as everyone else. We talked about all the normal stuff guys talk about. He’s real smart. People forget that he’s the most incredible entertainer we’ve seen in our lifetime. His name is Michael Jackson, not Super Michael Jackson. He makes mistakes just like all of us.

My favorite Michael Jackson song is “Music and Me.” It’s an old one, about him and his music, his love for music, and the time they’ve had together. It’s like a song that would be sung to a girl, but it’s all about music.

What people forget about him is that for the first time, probably in the history of music, a black artist is embraced on a global level by everyone from eight to 80 years old. People all over the world, especially young people, have a black man as an idol.

Quincy Jones

R. KELLY, singer/songwriter/producer (worked on HIStory album)
I thought it was funny when I told Michael Jackson I didn’t want to fly, and he was giving me reasons why I should. I kept looking him in the eye, and I kept saying “uh-huh, uh-huh” and “oh, I see,” knowing all the time that I would not be getting on a plane.

Working with Michael was definitely not just another day at the office.

KENNY GAMBLE AND LEON HUFF, producers (the Jacksons’ Destiny album, 1978)
Gamble: When we took Michael in the studio to overdub his voice, he had so many different ideas about songs, writing, and producing, I told him he could really record himself. He was very curious about a lot of things. He’s a creative, spiritual, caring person.

Nineteen eighty-one’s “Rock With You” is the most what Michael’s about. I really believe he and Quincy have a magic together. Michael is a miracle.

Huff: When Michael and his brothers first came to Philadelphia, Gamble decided to walk them from the hotel to the studio. As they were walking, they were rushed by a group of girls. The brothers escaped by going into a movie theater. Once they made it to the studio, these girls camped outside the studio—and this was for a six-month period. To see 100 girls laying outside a studio at 3 and 4 in the morning for Michael and his brothers was something else.

My favorite Michael song? Nineteen eighty-seven’s “Show You the Way to Go.”

NAOMI CAMPBELL, supermodel/actress/singer (appeared in “In the Closet” video, 1992)
Michael is very involved and on top of everything he puts his name on. He’s shy and sweet, considering all he’s accomplished, but he’s a prankster. When I was doing the video, we had water pistol fights. He’s a perfectionist.

TEDDY RILEY, producer (worked on Dangerous and HIStory albums)
He’s the greatest. Innovative. Black.

SLASH, Guns N’ Roses guitarist (played on Dangerous and HIStory albums)
He’s a fucking brilliant entertainer, a complete natural. He’s the only guy I’ve ever met that’s real—for that kind of music. I grew up listening to the Jackson 5. I used to love “Dancing Machine.”

We’ve been friends for a while, so he just lets me do what I want to do. I get a basic framework, and I just make up my part and they edit it. I wonder sometimes what it’s gonna sound like, [Laughs] but every time, they do a great job. He’s very shrewd. He’s got a great, sarcastic sense of humor. People always ask me, “Is he weird?” Well, he’s different. But I know what it’s like to be weird, growing up in the music business.

I have to admit working with Michael Jackson is different than working with your basic, gritty rock ‘n’ roll band. One time when I went to play for Michael, he walked in with Brooke Shields, and there I am with a cigarette in one hand, a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in the other, and my guitar hanging low around my neck. And he doesn’t care. That’s not the way he is, but I don’t have to change for him. He accepts me for what I am.

Michael is a true artist in every facet of its nature—extremely aesthetic and very, very romantic.

Lisa Marie Presley

TATUM O’NEAL, actress/friend
I never worked with Michael, but he and I had a really wonderful friendship when I was 12 and he was 17. He used to dance with me, we’d talk on the phone all the time, and he’d say how funny it was that I was 12 and I could drive and he was older and couldn’t. Michael used to come to my house when I was living with my dad, and I remember him being so shy. Once he came into my bedroom, and he wouldn’t even sit on my bed. But another time when he was over, he played the drums, my brother played guitar, and someone else played another instrument, and we had a jam session. I had the tape of it, but I lost it somewhere.

When I was 12, he asked me to go to the premiere of The Wiz with him, and my agent at the time said it wasn’t a good idea, maybe because they felt he wasn’t a big enough star yet. He never talked to me after that. I think he thought I just canceled, but it wasn’t me at all. I was a child doing what I was told. I want you to print that, because I don’t think he ever knew that. I lost touch with him because of it, so I don’t really know him anymore. But I love him; he’s one of the nicest, most innocent people I’ve ever met. I love “She’s out of My Life” because I think it describes our friendship at that time.

DALLAS AUSTIN, songwriter/producer (worked on HIStory album)
Working with Michael is a different type of work. You’re pressured timewise, but not by creativity or money. So you’re left with mad freedom. You’d think he’d be very controlling, but if he likes you enough to work with you, he wants your expertise, not just another Michael Jackson record.

“Heal the World” and “Stranger in Moscow” from the HIStory record are, like, the makeup of Michael. I think he’s taken on the responsibility to make changes in the world. He’s the only real superhero. Think about it.

LISA MARIE PRESLEY-JACKSON, former wife
Michael is a true artist in every facet of its nature—extremely aesthetic and very, very romantic. This is who he truly is despite degrading comments made in the past by certain larva.

Michael, as well as myself, have been severely underestimated and misunderstood as human beings. I can’t wait for the day when all the snakes who have tried to take him out get to eat their own lunch and crawl back in the holes from which they came.

We know who they are and their bluff is about to be called.

QUINCY JONES, longtime collaborator/legendary producer
Michael can go out and perform before 90,000 people, but if I ask him to sing a song for me, I have to sit on the couch with my hands over my eyes and he goes behind the couch. He is amazingly shy.

What people forget about him is that for the first time, probably in the history of music, a black artist is embraced on a global level by everyone from eight to 80 years old. People all over the world, especially young people, have a black man as an idol.

Reporting by Omoronke Idowu, Shani Saxon, Joseph V. Tirella, Josh Tyrangiel, and Mimi Valdés