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Calling Adam Ant

Date assessed by the fact that “[Michael] had just seen the video for [Adam Ant’s] song Kings Of The Wild Frontier” and asked about Ant’s jacket. The jacket, of which Michael ordered a similar one, only appeared in a “Kings of the Wild Frontier” televised performance during the British Rock and Pop Awards, which occurred on February 24, 1981. (Writer Steve Pafford [archived] confirms this performance occurred during the British Rock and Pop Awards.)

Adam Ant, singer, “Daily Mail” (September 3, 2006) (Excerpt of autobiography “Stand and Deliver” (archived)

The ringing of a telephone cut sharply through my sleep. I fumbled for the receiver. 'Hello?' A soft, high pitched voice echoed down the line to me. 'Hello,' it repeated. 'Is that Adam Ant?' The voice had an American accent and sounded vaguely familiar, but my fuzzy brain reacted angrily.

'Terry,' I said, thinking it was one of the Ants' drummers playing a prank. 'Stop pissing about. It's 4am and I'm trying to sleep.'

'No, it's not Terry,' said the voice. 'It's Michael. Is that Adam Ant?'

'Very funny, Terry, now fuck off.' I slammed the phone down, rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. The phone went again.

'Hello,' I barked into the receiver. 'Hi, no, really, it is me, Michael Jackson,' said the funny voice, 'and I just want to ask you...'

'Terry, if you don't stop this I'm going to come over there and fucking thump you.' Bang. Again the phone went down. Again I rolled over. Again the phone rang.

I grabbed the receiver and shouted: 'Terry! That's IT!'

'Er, hi, is that Adam Ant?' This time the voice was deep, sonorous, American and calm. It didn't sound anything like Terry.

'Oh, oh,' I stammered. 'Yes, this is Adam. Who are you?'

'I'm Quincy Jones, calling from LA. Sorry, we probably woke you, but I'm here with Michael Jackson and he'd like to speak with you. Is that OK?' A pause, and then that same soft voice. 'Hi, Adam, it's Michael. Sorry if we woke you.'

'Oh, no, sorry to have been so rude,' I apologised.

He said he had just seen the video for our song Kings Of The Wild Frontier. 'It's great,' he said. 'How did you get the tom-tom sound?'

'Oh, thanks. Well, we use two drum kits and then add loads of other percussion on top...'

'That's great, Adam,' Michael interrupted. 'I really like your jacket.’

'Huh? My jacket?' I tried to think. 'Berman's and Nathan's in London's Covent Garden. They supply costumes for movies.'

'Wow. That's great,' he replied. 'How do you spell that? Bowman's and who?'

'No, B-E-R-M-A-N-apostrophe-S and N-A-T-H-A-N-apostrophe-S.'

'Great, thanks. Let's meet up next time you're in America, huh? Bye.'

The line went dead.

Autobiography “Stand and Deliver” (mirror) (archived mirror)

By the third week of June, enough work had been done on my album (Which was to be called Strip) to allow me to take off for a long-needed rest. After another stop-over in London, I flew to Los Angeles, determined to rest while at the same time working on getting into movies. My agent, Michael, had lined up a few things for me, and I was determined to push him to get more – mostly they were dinners with directors, an occasional read-through of a script, getting to meet producers.

Before things got under way, I went to visit Michael Jackson at home.

Motown president Suzanne de Passe took me to [Hayvenhurst]... Dressed in a red V-neck pullover, white shirt with bow tie, black turned-up jeans, white socks and sneakers, he still looked like the Michael Jackson who had first become famous with his brothers. I met his mother and sisters – and instantly fell in love with La Toya as she handed me a 7UP. Michael took me into his private cinema and we watched James Cagney in White Heat (‘Look Ma, top of the world!’), preceded by the video for Michael’s ‘Beat It’, which was kind of strange. He didn’t seem to want a response to the video, but of course I told him how good it was.

Throughout that afternoon I mostly sat quietly, trying to be English, reserved and polite. After the movie we went to see his pets – a llama, a ram and two deer (there was no chimpanzee at the time). As we walked around, he told me that he was talking to Steven Spielberg about making a movie, and I said something about working with people of that calibre would guarantee it was a hit. He stopped walking and turned to me, his big brown eyes stared straight at me possibly the first time that afternoon, and he said, ‘If you work with the best people, you can’t go wrong.’

On the way back to my Sunset Strip apartment in a limousine, I felt incredibly privileged to have been a guest at Michael Jackson’s home. I’d come a long way for a man with a silly name, I thought.

“NME” (September 12, 2012) (archived)

Remembering his time with Jackson, he said: “I was touring ‘Kings Of The Wild Frontier’ and I got this call at about 5.30 in the morning saying ‘Hi, this is Michael Jackson’. I just thought it was my drummer Chris, so I told him to fuck off and put the phone down.”

He continued: “He rang back again and I put the phone down again then Quincy Jones called me and said ‘This is Michael calling’. They were doing ‘Thriller’ and he asked me how I got the drum sound on ‘Kings Of The Wild Frontier’. I told him to speak to our drummer. And then I got another call to ask where I got the jacket, so I told him and he went there and got it copied.”

He continued further: “I got invited over to LA and I went to his family home, because he was still living with his mum and dad. All his brothers and sisters were there and I just spent the day walking round the house with all the snakes and llamas. I actually followed him onstage right after he did the moonwalk for the first time.”

Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro”

In Smash Hits magazine Jan 20 - Feb 2 1983 Michael mentioned he and Adam were phone friends. “We’re phone friends. We talk about how to record that drum sound on Ant Music and stuff. He talks about my dancing and I talk about his dressing.”