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Berry Gordy
Q: What made Michael Jackson the world's most popular musical star of the '80s and early '90s, maybe of all time?
Berry Gordy: The real key to Michael's success is the quality of his work and his ability to control himself, his mind, and his body. Talent, drive, focus, commitment, discipline, the ability to really finish a work, as a perfectionist, and luck, is what Michael Jackson is.
Billboard Interview (June 5, 2017)
I called him the sponge. When the Jackson 5 came to Motown I was fascinated at Michael’s ability to study my every move. He learned everything I knew and everybody else he was interested in, too. I put a songwriting team together, called the Corporation. 'I Want You Back,' 'ABC,' 'The Love You Save' and 'I'll Be There' -- with those songs the Jackson 5 became the first group in history to have their first four singles go straight to No. 1 on the Billboard [Hot 100].
Michael was born a star. He was nine years old when the Jacksons auditioned for me. He was a classic example of understanding everything. He watched me like a hawk. I recognized that he had a depth that was so vast, it was just incredible. And these songs sung with a certain amount of pain--he was a kid, so where did he get that pain from? The first time I saw him, I saw this little kid as something real special. He reminded me of a kid I used to see earlier, Frankie Lymon. I decided that I would pattern his style after Frankie Lymon, and that's what I did. I came up with the melody for the first song we released on the Jackson 5 myself.
Interviewer: You came up with the melody for "I Want You Back"?
Gordy: The kid inspired me so much. I walked around, and I came up with this melody. [Starts to sing] Da da da da. Because I was thinking of Frankie Lymon and picturing the kid. [Sings] "Oh, baby, give me one more chance to tell you I love you/Won't you let me back in your heart/I want you back, yes I do." That was it. We had a very close relationship. When I was moving to California, I decided to move him out with me. People said, "You're crazy--he's a kid, and there will be expenses." We moved him out to California anyway.
So you moved the entire group to California. Did they stay with you?
They stayed with me after they were kicked out of several houses. You see, they would make too much noise. They had their band, and we would put them in a house, and then they would get kicked out. We'd lease another place, and they would make too much noise, and they would get kicked out. Finally I said, "Okay, you move into my house", because I wanted them to rehearse.
You've stayed in contact with Michael Jackson.
Recently Michael came to Detroit to do a benefit for the Motown Museum. One of his requests was to go to my house in Detroit where they stayed when they were first with Motown. It has a swimming pool and an underground tunnel and a bowling alley and some other stuff. And when they would come to Detroit, that's where they would stay, on the third floor. So Michael said he wanted to have dinner with me there. Just he and I, and we'd take off our shoes, and we would run around like we sort of did years and years before. Michael has never lost that childlike quality. We had fun. We had dinner alone, and talked. He wanted to do some of the childlike things--[article cuts off]
“Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough - BBC Radio 2 40th Birthday Special” (August 29, 1998), from Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro”
“He studied me at the time and I could tell he was studying me. I’d be maybe explaining something to them. I could tell the way he had his eyes fixated on my mouth you know, and how he was listening to every word, he was focussed. And even when I turned my back, the other kids might be playing with each other, their instruments or hitting each other, doing what and I would turn around and Michael was staring right at me.”
22nd annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards (June 26, 2009), from Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro”
I stand here today still in a state of shock. Michael’s legacy will always be his music and artistry. But for me, it will be so much more: memories of watching him grow from a nine-year-old with boundless energy and talent into perhaps the greatest entertainer of all time. It’s a bittersweet moment for all of us as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Motown to have to say goodbye to a vital member of our family.
“Blues & Soul” (June 25, 2009) (archived)
I am shocked beyond words. It's like a dream - a bad dream. This cannot be! How can Michael Jackson not be here?
As a kid, Michael was always beyond his years. He had a knowingness about him that was incredible.
When I first heard him sing Smokey's song, "Who's Lovin' You" at 10 years' old, it felt like he had lived the song for 50 years. Somehow, even at that first meeting with him, he had a hunger to learn, a hunger to be the best and was willing to work as hard and as long as it took.
I had no concern about his ability to go to the top. He was like my son. He had warmth, sensitivity and two personalities. When he was not on stage, he was loving, respectful and shy. When he WAS on stage, he was so in charge you would not believe he was the same person.
Michael was and will remain one of the greatest entertainers that ever lived. He was exceptional, artistic and original. He gave the world his heart and soul through his music.
I extend my sympathies to Joe, Katherine and the entire Jackson family. My prayers are with them.
“Moonwalk” Michael Jackson autobiography introduction (October 13, 2009)
Michael Jackson was not an artist who comes along once in a decade, a generation, or a lifetime. He was an artist who comes along only once, period. I had the good fortune of meeting him when he was nine years old. Even then there was something so compelling about him that, frankly, I did not know what to make of it. How could this kid have that effect on me? It was an effect so potent that I would immediately discard my misgivings about being in business with “kid acts,” and rush to create an environment for Michael and his brothers that would nurture and expand their talent.
Even then he had a knowingness about him. He knew he was special. He could dance and sing and act like anybody—he just wanted to do it better.
He was driven by his hunger to learn, to constantly top himself, to be the best. He was the consummate student. He studied the greats and became greater. He raised the bar and then BROKE the bar. His talent and creativity thrust him AND entertainment into the stratosphere.
Moonwalk was the first time he told his story in his own words, reflecting on his life, how he thought, how he felt about things. This book is a unique opportunity to get to know the real genius of Michael and how this young kid from Gary, Indiana, propelled himself to become the biggest star in the world.
Moonwalk reveals so much of Michael’s true self, but you have to read between the lines to really understand what he was all about. I must say, though, that he did have two personalities. Offstage he was shy, soft-spoken, and childlike. But when he took that stage in front of his screaming fans, he turned into another personality; a master, a “take no prisoners” showman. For him it was kill or be killed.
Besides being a creative master of writing, singing, producing, acting, and staging, he was also a thinker. And in order to protect himself, sometimes he created mental mechanisms—personalities—onstage, offstage, in boardrooms, in his deal making, business plans, and self-promotion. Brilliant? Right! Genius? Damn right. He made it all happen. His personality may have been contradictory, but his core was always pure, beautiful, and loving.
When Michael and his brothers Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, and Marlon auditioned for me at Motown in Detroit that July day in 1968, they blew us all away with their incredible talent. Little Michael’s performance was way beyond his years. After singing and dancing like James Brown and Jackie Wilson, he sang a Smokey Robinson song called “Who’s Loving You” with the sadness and passion of a man who had been living with the blues and heartbreak his whole life. I couldn’t believe it. As great as Smokey sang it, Michael was better. I told Smokey, “Hey, man, I think he gotcha on that one.” Smokey said, “Me too.” When Michael and his brothers performed it on the Ed Sullivan Show, there was no doubt that the rest of the world agreed.
I moved them out to California and they became part of the Gordy and Motown families. Those were great times—we swam, we joked, we played games, we rehearsed. I put together a songwriting team, and we came up with four hit records for them: “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save,” and “I’ll Be There.” The Jackson 5 was the only group in history to ever have their first four singles go to number one. We were thrilled—especially Michael. We had broken through a major barrier. For Michael, it was the inspiration to break all the rest. And he did.
We cast Michael with Diana Ross in a movie we produced called The Wiz and there he met legendary producer Quincy Jones. That collaboration yielded the greatest-selling album of all time, Thriller, along with Off the Wall and Bad.
By 1983 the Jacksons were no longer at Motown. However, the brothers reunited to perform on the television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. After a high-powered, dazzling medley of their songs, Michael took the stage alone and proceeded to make pop history. From the first beat of “Billie Jean” and the toss of his hat, I was mesmerized. But when he did his iconic moonwalk, I was shocked. It was magic. He soared into orbit … and never came down.
Though it ended way too soon, Michael’s life was beautiful. Sure there were some sad times and maybe some questionable decisions on his part, but Michael Jackson accomplished everything he dreamed of. Even at nine years old, his passion was to be the greatest entertainer in the world. He was willing to work hard and do whatever it took to become what he indeed was—the undisputed “King of Pop” the world over.
What kid wouldn’t give his right arm to fulfill his wildest childhood dreams? Michael loved it all—every moment onstage, every moment in rehearsal. He loved creating what had never been done before. He loved giving all he had to his music and all he had to his fans.
I mean, Michael was awesome! Totally in charge. In fact the more I think and talk about Michael Jackson, the more I feel the “King of Pop” was not big enough for him. I think he was simply “The Greatest Entertainer That Ever Lived.”
“Larry King Live” (June 26, 2009) (archived)
KING: We're joined by the one and only Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown, the man who signed the Jackson 5 to a recording contract. What is this like for you?
BERRY GORDY, FOUNDER OF MOTOWN: Well, it's numbing. Of course, it's been like that since it happened. And it's unbelievable. I can't figure it out. I can't understand it. But it happened and we're here.
KING: Did you know of any health problems he had?
GORDY: Oh, I did know of his basic condition, you know. I think most people did. That he was very weak and he was -- you know, and a lot of stress, you know. He's had a lot of stress.
KING: He had a tough life, didn't he?
GORDY: Yes, it turned out to be a tough life. It turned out to be a tough life. The last several years has been really tough.
KING: Take me back to that first time you saw him as a kid work.
GORDY: Well, sometime in the past, brought them in to audition for me, which I did not want to do, because I had other kid acts and, you know, Stevie Wonder with his entourage, his teachers, tutors, this and all that stuff. And I just said, no, but she insisted that I see them. And when they auditioned for me, I got so excited, I just ran for a video. I said, give me a video, my new video camera. This is great. These guys are going to be so great.
So, we just videotaped them and now, you see that he's doing the Moon Walk and all that.
KING: Did you know he would be this great?
GORDY: No, I knew they would be -- well, we figured everybody would be great. I mean, did I know Marvin Gaye, Temptations, Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, no, you don't know. You believe it. You say, yes, you could be great, you know. But we had a way of, you know, just trying to make everybody be themselves, you know. And so Marvin doesn't sound like Stevie. And Stevie -- and Michael, he went into orbit.
In fact, when we did the Motown 25, and they were doing a tribute to me, Michael was not with the label and he had been doing too much TV and his people said he couldn't do it and that sort of stuff. So I called Michael. I said, wait a minute, man. This is a tribute to me and this is not a TV show. This is Motown 25. So he said, I'll be there. I'll be there.
KING: What, Berry, was his greatness? What did he have?
GORDY: His command of everything he did, you know. He was great because, one, he was talented, so talented. And he was a person who studied. He did research. From that first audition, the other band members -- of course, they all had great precision. And I've always thought -- and they were disciplined.
KING: He's a perfectionist.
GORDY: They were all disciplined. I give Joe and Katherine, his parents, all the credit, because when they came to us, we didn't have a disciplinary problem with them. They would be on time. They would do this. But Michael, sometimes doing a song, the other kids would be playing around with their, you know, instruments or having fun and Michael was always focusing, just looking, you know, listening and thinking and asking questions.
KING: Berry, you are a national institution. I thank you for coming by and paying tribute to your friend.
GORDY: Thanks for having me. It was great.