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“Man in the Mirror”

Date range assessed by the fact that Siedah Garrett was “In May [1987]... adding background vocals to ‘Man in the Mirror.’” (Rolling Stone [September 24, 1987]) Since the main vocal was most likely finished soon before/after this point, it was most likely recorded May 1987.

Siedah Garrett, co-writer of the song, “Mohave Daily Miner” newspaper (August 2, 1988) (archived):

“We went in [Glen Ballard’s] little studio one Saturday afternoon. He started playing chords for the verse part of “Man in the Mirror”. We got the verse and chorus that day. I went home and finished the lyric. He embellished the track.

“We knew we had something really special. On the Friday we demoed the song, I didn’t know if I could wait till Monday for Quincy to hear it. I don’t know what possessed me but I called the man at home on Saturday morning. He said, ‘I’m in the middle of a meeting but bring it.’ I went there: There were 12 flannel suits sitting in his room. He called me back four hours later. He said, ‘I don’t know.’ I guess my silence cracked him up. He started laughing. He said, ‘This is the best song I’ve heard in several years.’

Jones phoned Garrett from a studio and Jackson came on the line, suggesting a few changes.

“I wanted to die, my heart was pounding so fast. Inside I was screaming ‘Michael Jackson!’ On the phone I was really cool. He tells me he liked my song and really loved my voice.”

“Ebony” (September 18, 2012) (archived)

EBONY: “Man in the Mirror” is such a passionate and powerful song. I would have sworn that Michael wrote it himself. How did the song come about? I understand that he actually changed some lyrics and wanted some things done differently. Is this true?

SIEDAH GARRETT: Well, he did not change any lyrics. What happened was I was a songwriter on Quincy Jones’ publishing company, Qwest, for two and a half years before I gave him the song for Michael. He had a meeting with the songwriters. I think there were about six of us on the West Coast and we all had a meeting at his house where he sort of gave us an outline of what he wanted. To finish this BAD album [Jones] needed one more song to round out the album. I took notes and then I then took my notes to my writing partner Glen Ballard. It was like a Wednesday afternoon where we sat down to start writing. Glen asked me to give him details from the notes. I gave him the parameters and he said, “Let’s just see what we come up with.” He gets up. He goes over to his keyboard. He turns on the keyboard and he starts playing this chord progression for the song.

EBONY: I love the song’s title, “Man in the Mirror.” How did that come about and what was Quincy’s initial response?

SIEDAH GARRETT: Two years earlier, I’m in a songwriting session with my dear friend John Beasley. We’re writing and his phone rings. Instead of letting the machine pick it up, he answers the phone and begins this conversation. “Oh, I’m not doing nothing. I’m just hanging out, you know.” I’m flipping through my lyric book thinking to myself, “No, he didn’t say he wasn’t doing nothing. No, he didn’t say he’s just hanging out.” I’m thinking to myself that we’re writing here. Then I hear him say, “The man? What man? Oh, the ‘Man in the Mirror.’” I wrote down the phrase the man in the mirror. Two years later, I tell him what he said. He gets up and turns on the keyboard and starts playing this chord progression. I was flipping through my lyric book again. The phrase man in the mirror just popped out at me. At that point, I could not write fast enough. Like, I couldn’t get it all out quickly enough. I mean, it was just like a mad rush just trickled down the idea and literally 10 or 15 minutes we had the first verse and the first chorus of “Man in the Mirror.” Glen said, “Okay, you go finish the lyrics and I’ll finish the music.” It was Wednesday. He said, “We’ll meet on Friday and we’ll do the demo.” So, on Friday, by the time we finished the actual demo, the Qwest Publishing office was closed for the weekend. I could not wait until Monday. I mean, I’ve never done this since and I have never done it before. I called Quincy and said, “Dude, I have this song that Glen and I wrote for Michael. I think it’s a really good song. I would love if you could hear it.” He said, “Okay. Just take it to the Qwest Publishing on Monday and I’ll hear it and I’ll get back to you.” I said, “Dude, can we just — let me just drop it off.” He’s like, “I’m in a meeting. I have 12 people here in a meeting. I can’t right now.” I tell him again,“Let me just drop it off.” He said, “Alright.” Then he hung up. So, I go to Quincy’s house and I knock on the door. He comes to the door. He opens the front door and I see a view of the dining room from the front door and there are 12 suits sitting at his dining room table. They’re all looking up at me like, “This better be good because you’re interrupting some big business here. This really better be good.” So, I’m getting all their vibes, right? Quincy comes to the door and I hand him the cassette. I said, “Dude, all I ask is just let me know what you think.” He says, “Alright. Alright.”

EBONY: What happened next?

SIEDAH GARRETT: A couple hours later, the phone rings and Quincy goes, “Siedah, this is the best song I’ve heard in 10 years.” So, I’m like grooving. The fact that Quincy’s telling me the best song in 10 years. Yes! Then he says, “But — then I hear that Charlie Brown teacher voice, “Wha, wha, wha, wha.” Because I really don’t want to know what is coming after but because I don’t really care. I’m just bubbling in the best song in 10 years. Let me just live in that for a moment. Then I hear Quincy say something like, “Michael has been in the studio with him for two and a half years. He has yet to record a song that he didn’t write. I don’t know. I don’t know if he’s going to record it.” I just had to let it go. I said, “Okay. Whatever. Just let it go. I’m going to release that.” Four or five days later I get a call from Quincy and he’s in the studio. He comes on the phone and he says, “Well, we’re in the studio recording your old piece of song.” I’m like, “Yes!” He says, “Michael wants the chorus to be twice as long. He really wants you to — then he says, “Hold on a minute.” Then I hear [him talking to Michael in the background]. Of course, he said, “He really wants you to bring home the idea of — hold on Siedah.” Then I hear [him talking to Michael in the background]. Then Quincy says, “Hold on a minute.” Quincy Jones puts Michael on the phone.

EBONY: What was it like talking to him for the first time?

SIEDAH GARRETT: Okay, my whole childhood when I was growing up, Michael was my husband. My cousins had Jackie and my sister had Jermaine. We all had the brothers, but Michael was my husband. So, to me, in my little 6-year-old or 13-year-old brain I’m talking to my husband. I don’t want to get over excited. I don’t want to sound too much like a screaming fan. I went strictly into telephone operator [mode]. I said, “Hello? How can I help you?” He says, “I love your voice. I love the song.” Then he starts telling me what he wants the next four lines of lyrics to say. So, the next day I write six different stanzas for him to choose from. What he ended up choosing was, “You got to get it right while you got the time. When you close your heart then you close your mind.” Those four, that stanza, those four lines were not in the original demo. He asked me to come up with more lines to make the chorus twice as long and I did. The rest, as they say, is history.

EBONY: That was the beginning of your work relationship with Michael?

SIEDAH GARRETT: Yeah.

EBONY: The demo they heard was actually you singing what he would ultimately record?

SIEDAH GARRETT: That’s right. When we recorded the song, my vocal range is a little higher than Michael’s range. The song demo was in a key one step higher than he was comfortable singing it. He had me re-sing the demo in the new key. Then doing that he filmed me singing this demo in the new key. I actually said, “What are you doing? Why are you filming this?” He said to me, “Because I want to sing it like you. You sound so great and I want to sing it just like you.” I said, “Oh, great, Mike, my friends are really going to believe me when I tell them that Michael Jackson wanted to sing this song just like me.” We laughed about that. Actually, Spike [Lee] found that footage and he put it in [his BAD] documentary. I haven’t seen it. I can’t wait to see it.

EBONY: When he recorded “Man in the Mirror,” were you in the studio with him?

SIEDAH GARRETT: Yeah, the whole first two-thirds of the song is just he and I. He’s singing lead and I’m doing all the harmonies and we’re both singing all the background. We’re singing all the choruses until the choir comes in. We were the first two-thirds of the song.

...EBONY: Is it true that “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” was originally intended for either Barbara Streisand or Whitney Houston?

SIEDAH GARRETT: Yeah, I heard that. I did talk to Quincy and Mike about that and they told me that, but I didn’t care. It wasn’t intended for anybody, but me evidently. It makes no difference, because I’m the one on it. Even before Barbara said, “No,” even before Whitney says, “I don’t think so,” it was meant for me just like the BAD Tour was meant for Sheryl. I had to live with that. I had to get with that. Evidently that was not meant for me. The Dangerous Tour was meant for me.

“MJJCommunity” interview (2012) (archived)

MJJC: Where did the idea of Man In The Mirror come from?

Siedah: Two years before I wrote the song, I was in a writing session with composer John Beasley. In the heat of our session, he decided to answer an incoming call, and responded as if he really wasn’t busy at all. I was seething. I then heard him say ”The man? What man? Oh, the man in the mirror.” That phrase stuck in my mind, and I wrote it down in my lyric book of random ideas. Two years later, as my new writing partner Glen Ballard was searching for sounds on his synthesizer, I came across the notation in my lyric book, and it just jumped off of the page.

MJJC: How long did it take to write "Man in the Mirror"?

Siedah: Literally 15 minutes for the first verse and chorus. It just poured out of me. It was almost like it wrote itself.

“Rolling Stone” (September 24, 1987) (archived)

In May, Michael met Garrett when she was adding background vocals to "Man in the Mirror." "I love your voice," he told her. "I think you are incredible. I love your song."

“Philippine Daily Inquirer” (October 27, 2012) (archived)

“Philippine Daily Inquirer”: Can you share your memories of meeting Jackson for the first time? And of the last time you saw him?

Garrett: After Michael and Quincy Jones accepted “Man in the Mirror,” Michael wanted to record it in a lower key that was more comfortable for him. Quincy Jones called me to come to the studio to re record the song. When I met MJ, I remember him being really down-to-earth. As I resang the demo in the new key, Michael was holding a video camera recording my performance. When I asked why, he responded that he loved my voice and my energy, and that he wanted to sing it just like I did.

What do you remember most about Jackson? What memories stay fresh in your mind to this day?

Michael was incredibly creative, a perfectionist in the studio and on stage. He had a childlike sense of humor. While in the studio recording our duet “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” Michael recorded his part, but when it came to me singing my verses, he began tossing popcorn in my face in an effort to make me mess up. Quincy Jones, not seeing this, began to chastise me for flubbing the takes. Michael, on the other hand, was just cracking up!

Can you share the story that went into the making of “Man in the Mirror”?

I was signed to Quincy Jones as one of his songwriters. He called us all to describe the type of song they needed to complete MJ’s “Bad” album. I later got together with my main writing partner at the time, Glen Ballard, and as he began to search for sounds on his keyboard, I began to flip through my lyric notebook for a random idea. The phrase “Man in the Mirror,” which I had written in the book two years earlier, just popped out of me. I began writing on that theme, and the lyrics began to flow. Within 15 minutes, we had the first verse and the chorus of the song. We split up to work on our respective assignments, Glen the music and me the melody and lyrics. Two days later, we completed the demo.

...You have collaborated and worked with, or sang background vocals for, other music giants and stars. Which of these talents stand out in your mind and why?

I’d have to say Quincy Jones because he introduced me to the world as a songwriter and a recording artist. He brought “Man in the Mirror” to MJ’s attention, and suggested that I be MJ’s duet partner on “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.”

Mike Smallcombe, “Making Michael”

in the spring of 1987, ‘Man in the Mirror’ was recorded by Michael, the A-Team and its writers Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard. The only modification from Garrett’s original demo was a key change, as she originally sang it in a key that was one step too high for Michael. Garrett re-sang the demo in the new key, with the added pressure of being filmed by Michael.

As producer, Quincy sprinkled the song with a little bit of his magic. He helped Ballard with the rhythm arrangements and hired the Andraé Crouch Choir and The Winans to sing background vocals, giving the ending some drama. Garrett also contributed to the background vocals, and Michael asked her to attend his own lead vocal session so he could sing it the way she did. “That was such a high compliment,” Garrett said. “It was great. I stayed. It was like I was producing.”

Michael usually contributed to outside songs in a way the writers had not envisioned, and ‘Man in the Mirror’ was no different. “It had everything to do with Michael’s vocal interpretation,” Glen Ballard said. “In the last two minutes, Michael started doing these incantations, all the ‘Shamons’ and ‘Oohs’. He went to that place on his own. We certainly couldn’t have written that.” Ballard said Michael took the song to a place that most songwriters can only dream of. “I have lived a charmed life,” he said.

Michael loved the song because of the message it portrays. “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change,” he said. “Start with the man in the mirror. Start with yourself. Don’t be looking at all the other things. Start with you.”

Chris Cadman, author, “Michael Jackson the Maestro”

Proceeds from Man In The Mirror were donated to Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, a camp for children who suffered from cancer.

A trumpet was included on the early version of Man In The Mirror, but it wasn’t included on the version issued on the BAD album.

...After the recording session of ‘I Just Can’t Stop Loving You’, Michael gave Garrett his red jacket.