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Brandy Norwood Meeting

Date range assessed by the facts that Rodney Jerkins, who had a hand in setting up the meeting, didn’t join Michael until “after the Christmas break recording sessions” and they had left for California “in late March 1999”. In addition, CJ Devillar, who also had a hand in setting up the meeting, left Michael’s project “in early 1999” (all quotes from Mike Smallcombe’s “Making Michael”)

Brandy Norwood, “When I Was 17”, MTV News summary

Sometimes celebrities get starstruck too — just ask Brandy. In the latest episode of "When I Was 17," the singer-turned-reality starlet opens up about meeting Michael Jackson, thanks to producer Rodney Jerkins.

"When I was 17, my producer Rodney Jerkins was working with Michael Jackson at the time," Brandy says in the episode, premiering Saturday at 11 a.m. ET on MTV. "He knew how much I wanted to meet Michael Jackson, so he says, 'Would you like to come and meet him?' I'm like, 'Are you serious? Of course I want to meet Michael Jackson! Where do I meet you? Where do we come?' "

And it wasn't just Jerkins who knew about the singer's admiration for Jackson. "Michael Jackson was it, so we studied Michael. Brandy studied Michael," her brother Ray J says.

Brandy says the super-producer orchestrated the meeting between the siblings and Jackson at the recording studio. However, prior to entering the room, Brandy says nerves got the best of her.

"My heart is beating so fast at this point," the "Dancing With the Stars" alum recalls. "I'm like, 'Oh my God. It's happening. We're about to open the door and he's going to be in there.' "

Ray J, who was equally excited, peeped around the room, saying, "When we first walked into the studio, we can kind of see Michael in the corner and we looked at each other like, 'Did you see him?' " Unfortunately, Brandy, couldn't maintain the same type as composure. "And I'm looking at him like, 'Oh my God. This is Michael Jackson,' " adding, "I fainted, blacked out — like seriously blacked out."

CJ DeVillar, bassist and mix engineer, The MJCast Episode 54 (April 12, 2017)

Devillar: One little story I have with Brandy [Norwood], I had recorded Brandy some months before... I had ran into her at the front desk at the Record Plant, and she knew Michael was there, she knew I was recording Michael, and she had never met Michael. And she walked up to me like a fan, wide-eyed. "Oh my God, you gotta introduce me to Michael! Can you introduce me to Michael, please?" I'm like, "Oh my gosh." I'm like, "First of all, it's her, and I want to keep working with her", so I'm like--anybody else, I'd say no, 'cause I'm also there catching stuff for Michael for him not to get bugged. It's kind of what I do also, right? But now I'm like trapped. I'm like, "Ok, it's Brandy, and maybe Michael would want to know." I justified it like that. So I was like--I rarely knock on his lounge door, so I knocked on his lounge door, and he opened it up. And I said, "Michael, Brandy's out here, wants to meet you, she just desperately wants to meet you. She won't leave me alone". And he's going, "Oh. Oh my gosh, but I'm so stinky". And he meant that in the real way, because when he gets in the studio, he's like us. I can tell that he's just rolling out of bed, putting on the t-shirt he had on the chair, throwing on some shoes with no socks going to the studio. He did that sometimes. So he had on--I mean, Michael, you know, he may... sometimes--he needed a shower sometimes, guys. Ok?

[The MJCast crew laughs]

DeVillar: And so--and he was like, "Oh my gosh"--and he knew it too, so he was like, "Oh, I'm not--", he was like he wasn't together, you know. But he said, "Ok" anyway. And so he had this wrinkled-up old t-shirt on, he'd probably been wearing it for three or four days, and no socks, penny loafers, and some regular old pants that he'd probably been wearing. 'Cause he was in--kind of in work mode. You know, get up, go to the studio, go home, sleep, get up, you know. You know how we do that. We're just like, you know? And so I showed her to his door, and he invited her in, and they chatted for a couple hours. But he was so sweet, you know? He was like--he didn't care, guys. You know what I'm saying? So he wasn't that much of a perfectionist for his own--I don't have the right word for it, but he was more sacrificial in his time with people than he was compared for himself. Like he could've said, "No, I'm not ready" or "I need to take a bath in the sink" or whatever he needs to do... So I always thought that was a little thing that I liked about him, that he accommodated anybody that wanted to talk to him...

MJCast: Out of that meeting, they did little bits of work together. He did some amazing background vocals on one of her tracks called "It's Not Worth It".

DeVillar: Oh, that's sweet.

MJCast: So, nice job, thanks!

DeVillar: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, she was a sweet person too. I really liked her.

MJCast: Some great stuff in her catalog too.

DeVillar: Oh, yeah. She was great.

MJCast: I think she did backing vocals on one of Michael's song, didn't she? On Invincible?... I think she's on "Unbreakable", I think.

DeVillar: Really? Oh, that's good to know. Oh, fantastic. I'd like to think I had a little something to do with that...