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"FaVE" Magazine Interview

Date confirmed in Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro” (“article featured in FaVE magazine in 1971”)

Sherrie Bartlett, "FaVE" Magazine (1971) (archived)

If you’re a Jackson Five fan, then it’s for sure that you are always in a groovy mood when Michael, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon, and Jackie sing for you, whether they’re right there on your record player or onstage at a live concert! Anytime, anywhere, the J-5 can groove you right into a heaven of happiness! But maybe you’ve never stopped to think that the Jackson Five are also having a terrif time doing the singing for you! It's true, and here, exclusively for you in FaVE, are all the innermost secrets of what they feel as each one of the J-5 tell...

MICHAEL

"I love to sing for you most at a concert! The singing itself is great fun, but what I like most about it is the chance I get to hear how you are responding to us as we sing. When a performer is onstage, he can sense the vibrations from the audience just so strongly as the audience can see and hear him. And the thing that never fails to blow my mind is the wonderful and warm feelings that always come from you up to us there on the stage.

If you have ever been to one of our live concerts, you know that there are shouts and messages coming across the footlights all the time as the kids yell out their thoughts and feelings for us to hear. Most J5 fans probably don’t realize this, but Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, Tito, and I really love every one of our fans, and we dig being with you more than you will ever know.

We read as much of the fan mail you send us as we can, but while a letter is always nice to get, it’s no substitute for being with the person. So that’s why we all, and especially I, would rather sing for you in concert and in person more than anything else. Our security guards and other circumstances don’t always let us get as close to you as we want to, so we have to be satisfied with seeing you there in the audience.

But as far as I'm concerned, singing for you is a groove anytime, as long as I can know that you’re right there with me, in person!”

JERMAINE

"The thing that makes me happiest about singing for you is just that you’re a girl! Now that might sound a little silly to many guys, but not to me. I’d rather sing to a girl than for a bunch of boys and gals anytime. Of course, all our fans, regardless of their sex, are welcome, you know that. But I just want to be sure you understand that because you are a girl, you hold a very special place in my heart.

One thing it takes a long time for many girls to realize is the truth that they can really be an inspiration to a boy. Just because she's with him. He'll always feel better about things. He'll feel that there just isn't anything in the whole world that's too hard for him to do. He knows that his girl has confidence in him, that she believes that he’s really the best there is, and if she thinks so, maybe it is true! So he goes out and he does his best and he usually is a success as a result!

Well, that's what all your love does for me. When the J-5 come out onstage, and the audience starts shouting all our names, I hear you calling to me, and that makes me know that you and your love for me are right there, enjoying and loving the songs that I’m sending out through the microphone, over the loudspeakers, and, I hope, right into your heart forever. To me, singing is just another way of saying ‘I Love You,’ and there's no groovier groove in the world!"

JACKIE

"First of all, I just love to sing. I sing all the time, driving my car, in the shower, walking along the street, sometimes even when I'm on a date. And I always have been like this. I used to sing on the school bus, in study hall (under my breath}, cutting the grass, looking for a book in the library, all kinds of places, many of which most people would say that you're not supposed to sing in at all. But that never has stopped me!

I guess the reason is my pure love for singing itself. The only thing that used to bother me about it was that in the old days, before Miss Diana Ross discovered us, and even before we even had our group and it was appearing in and around Gary, Indiana, I used to long for the chance to share my happiness in singing with other people. I wanted to sing for others, but I just never seemed to get the chance.

Then, all of a sudden, we were all practicing and getting ourselves ready to try and become a musical group as well as a family. And it was then that I started to hope that my dream of making people happy by singing for them just might come true!

Well, it‘s all real now, and almost every week, and every day when we’re on tour, I get the chance to sing for thousands of people, and for millions through our records and albums. So, you see, this means that my dream has come true. Every time I set foot on that stage or step up to a microphone in a recording studio, I remember the old days when I wanted to sing for you, but just didn't get the chance. That's why today I can honestly and gratefully say that singing for you is a groove because it is my dearest dream come true!"

MARLON

"There are all kinds of ways that people have of letting other people know about the happiness that is inside. Some persons like to do this by painting a picture, playing an instrument, or by writing a song. Me, I like to let the world know how I’m feeling by singing!

Singing gives you a great feeling anytime, whether you're doing it in a recording studio with all kinds of musicians to play along with you, or just singing by yourself on the way home from school. And it says something about the kind of a person you are, too. When you sing, I think it must mean that you have a lot of faith, in life, in other people, and in your own personal self. Not to say that you're conceited, but just that you believe that life is good and that people are really very loving if they’re given the chance. In other words, you just have a happy heart and you’re not ashamed to show it.

When The Jackson Five are getting ready for a concert appearance, that’s the time that I really start feeling happy. It means that I'm going to get to see more of our fans, which, to me, is almost as good as meeting each one personally. And that means I'm just naturally going to start singing. I do it in the limousine on the way to the arena. I do it in the dressing room, too. And first thing I know, either Jackie or Michael will say to me: 'Hey, Marlon. Why don’t you save your voice for the performance?' They're afraid I might strain my throat, but I know I won’t because I have a big reserve tank of singing power inside me!

So this is the reason that for me, singing for you is such a groove. When I'm with you I’m the very, very happiest, and when you hear me sing to you, you'll know it!"

TITO

"As you may know if you’re a regular FaVE reader, photography is my very favorite thing, next to music. And when FaVE asked me how I feel when I’m singing for you, I realized that the thing I like most about singing is very close to the thing I like most about taking pictures, too!

I shoot mostly color slides of my brothers, my family, friends, and of our fans when we see them on tour. There's something great about taking pictures because when they come out extra good, they sort of preserve for you, permanently, something that time would ordinarily take away from you forever. The smile of a very close friend, the sweet face of your best Luv, or the way your favorite cat looked as a kitten; many other memories that are priceless when they cannot be had again.

For me, making a record is like taking a color picture. The picture preserves the way someone looks and the record preserves the way we sing for you at the age we are now. I enjoy singing for you in person, but it’s singing in a recording studio that turns me on the most. There’s the fun of singing with my brothers and then hearing how we sounded when it's played back. There’s all the kicks involved in listening to the engineer add all the special effects we sometimes include, like reverberation and echo.

But the thing that thrills me most is the knowledge that pretty soon this very song I’m singing will be pressed up into millions of records, and they'll be sent all over America where our friends can get them and enjoy them over and over, for free. You see, when I buy a record, I consider that I’m only paying the price of it for the first play. After that, all the times I play it again are free.

So, if you're like me, the next time you're playing your "free" J-5 records, remember that singing for you on disc is, for me, the best groove of all!"