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Lisa Robinson Interview

Date range assessed by the fact that the second season of “The Jacksons” variety show was set to air on January 19, 1977, and “Roots” aired from January 23-30, 1977.

Lisa Robinson, Vanity Fair (September 2009) (“circa 1974” is not correct)

L.R. Do people tell you what to do?

M.J. Well, I never like to stop learning—even Stevie [Wonder] says that. If you stop learning, then you’re dead. People used to tell us what to do and we listened, but we filled in our own stuff, too… We still have people work with us, but no way are we puppets [laughs], no way.

L.R.What sort of thing are you going to do on the TV show?

M.J. I’m used to being highlighted on the show, but I also do different things—like dancing. It’s a very showbizzy kind of thing, we get funky in the front, and in the closing we get real spankin’—that’s what the fans like.

L.R. Any plans for acting? Movies?

M.J. I was supposed to do Roots, but it was done during our own TV show, and I couldn’t do it—I had an offer for that. That’s the kind of thing I’d like to be my first film—a big TV event, because then the most people can see it.

L.R. What other plans do you have for the future?

M.J. I’d like to write my own things, because an artist knows what fits him best. Every artist can’t write his own material, but if you feel like you can do it—like Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder—you should do it. At first, people didn’t think that Stevie could record himself—they thought he was taking a risk. Then he did those albums and they were dynamite.