Michael Jackson_ The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story, 1958-2009 Part 3

If the Jacksons had ever seen a home like this before, it was only in movies where the occupants usually were royalty white royalty. 'Black people actually live like this?' Joseph recalled asking himself as he wandered throughout the mansion, shaking his head. 'I just can't believe that this kind of thing is possible.' When Gordy happened to overhear the comment, he put his hand on Joseph's shoulder and whispered something in his ear that made Joseph smile. The two men shook hands in agreement and Gordy led Joseph into the living room.

'So tell me, man, what do you think about this?' Gordy asked, stopping before an enormous painting of Gordy dressed as Napoleon Bonaparte. It had been commissioned by his sister, Esther.

'Jesus. What can I say?' Joseph asked. 'That's you? you? Man, it's too much to believe.' Man, it's too much to believe.'

'Well, do you like it?' Gordy pressed.

'I, uh...You, uh...' All Joseph could do was stammer. Just at that moment, his son Michael came running up to him. 'Hey, who's that funny-lookin' guy in the picture?' he asked.

Joseph cringed and shot his son a look. Gordy smiled.

'I'll never forget that night,' Michael would say. 'There were maids and butlers, and everyone was real polite. There were Motown stars everywhere. Smokey Robinson was there. That's when I met him for the first time. The Temptations were there, and we were singing some of their songs, so we were real nervous. And I looked out into the audience, and there was Diana Ross. That's when I almost lost it.'

After the boys' performance, Berry introduced them to Diana for the first time. Diana looked regal in a white, draped silk gown and her hair pulled back in a chignon.

'I just want to tell you how much I enjoyed you guys,' she said as she shook their hands. 'Mr Gordy tells me that we're going to be working together.'

'We are?' Michael asked.

'Yes, we are,' Diana said. Her smile was almost as overwhelming as the diamonds she wore at her ears and around her neck. 'Whatever I can do to a.s.sist you,' she said, 'that's what I'm going to do.'

'Well, Miss Ross, we really appreciate it,' Joseph Jackson managed to say. Usually a smooth talker, Joseph was not having an easy time that night.

Diana's smile was warm and sincere. She turned to Michael. 'And you, you're just so cute.' When she pinched his cheek, Michael blushed.

Immediately after signing to the label, the Jacksons began to record at the Motown studios under the direction of producer Bobby Taylor, the man who had really discovered them in Chicago. For the next few months, they would spend their weeks in Gary attending school and their weekends and many of their weeks as well in Detroit, sleeping on the floor of Taylor's apartment. They recorded fifteen songs, most of which would surface later on their alb.u.ms. Taylor would say later that he was not paid for those sessions. 'Sure, I would have liked the recognition for having discovered The Jackson 5,' he said. 'But recognition don't pay the bills.'

(One day, Berry Gordy and Bobby Taylor were talking about the boys, and Bobby was saying how thrilled he was to be in on the ground floor of something as exciting as The Jackson 5. 'Taylor, let me tell you something,' Gordy said, according to Bobby's memory. 'As soon as they get rich, they're gonna forget who you are.') The next eight months would prove to be difficult. Berry did not feel The Jackson 5 were ready to have a single release yet; he wasn't satisfied with any of the songs they had thus far recorded. Everyone in the family was becoming impatient, especially since conditions in Gary were getting worse with street gangs terrorizing the neighbourhood. Joseph was mugged and, later, a punk pulled a knife on t.i.to. Every day, the family would wait for that call from someone anyone anyone at Motown, telling them what the next step in their lives would be. at Motown, telling them what the next step in their lives would be.

On 11 March 1969, the Motown contract was finally fully executed. The delay had been caused when Ralph Seltzer discovered The Jackson 5 were still committed to Steeltown Records, despite Richard Aron's previous efforts to extricate them from that deal. Motown had to make a settlement with Steeltown, much to Gordy's chagrin. By this time, according to Ralph Seltzer, Motown had spent in excess of thirty thousand dollars on The Jackson 5, and this sum did not include any settlement made to Steeltown. Gordy was anxious to begin recouping his investment.

In August 1969, more than a year since their audition, the call came from Motown: Gordy wanted Joseph, his five sons and Johnny Jackson and Ronny Rancifer to move to Los Angeles. They would attend school on the West Coast while recording at Motown's new Hollywood facilities. Though Gordy wasn't enthused by any of the Jacksons' songs, he was impressed with young Michael. 'Michael was a born star,' he would later say in an interview. 'He was a cla.s.sic example of understanding everything. I recognized that he had a depth that was so vast, it was just incredible. The first time I saw him, I saw this little kid as something real special.'

Joseph, t.i.to, Jack Richardson, drummer Johnny Jackson, and keyboardist Ronny Rancifer drove to Los Angeles in the family's new Dodge Maxivan. Motown paid for Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael to fly out a few days later. It was Joseph's decision not to move the entire family from Gary to Los Angeles until he was certain that their future there would be secure. It was possible, after all, that Berry could be wrong, that the group would be a failure, and that they would have to start all over again. So Janet, Randy and LaToya stayed behind with Katherine in Gary.

Berry registered the family at one of the seediest motels in Hollywood, the Tropicana, on Santa Monica Boulevard. Michael, Marlon and Jermaine shared one room while t.i.to and Jackie were in another. Joseph was down the hall. The family saw little of their rooms. Since it was still school vacation, they spent most of their waking hours at Motown's Hollywood studios rehearsing and recording.

Eventually, Gordy pulled the family out of the Tropicana and moved them to the Hollywood Motel, across the street from Hollywood High and closer to Motown headquarters. This was an even more dreadful residence for young boys; prost.i.tutes and pimps used it as a place to conduct business. However, none of that mattered to the Jacksons. Why would it? They were living in California. Even if they didn't see movie stars on every corner as they had dreamed, Los Angeles was heaven compared to Gary.

To the Jacksons' young eyes, everything seemed new. Michael had never seen a real palm tree before he got to California. 'And here were whole streets lined with them,' he once recalled. There were expensive, luxury automobiles everywhere they looked, and everyone driving them seemed to wear sungla.s.ses, even on those overcast mornings when the sun didn't emerge until noon. In fact, as the young Jacksons would soon learn, many people wore their sungla.s.ses at night too. 'Now that's that's Hollywood livin',' Joseph said. Hollywood livin',' Joseph said.

One afternoon, Berry called a meeting of the gang at Diana Ross's home. This was the first time the boys had seen her since the show they gave at Berry's home in Detroit the previous winter. Diana's house may not have been spectacular by Hollywood standards she was a single woman, at the time, living in a three-bedroom temporary residence in Hollywood Hills while in the process of purchasing a new, more opulent home in Beverly Hills but when the five Jackson boys and their father compared her digs to their garage-sized house in Gary, it was hard for them to act cool.

Michael has recalled that Gordy sat the boys down in Diana's living room and had a talk with them. 'I'm gonna make you kids the biggest thing in the world,' he told them. 'You're gonna have three number-one hits in a row. They're gonna write about you kids in history books. So get ready, 'cause it's coming.'

That was exactly what the Jacksons wanted to hear. Joseph had wanted nothing more for his sons than to be successful, and it seemed a sure-thing, now. He told them that they were to do whatever 'Mr Gordy' asked of them, with no questions. Simply put, Joseph was in awe of Berry. However, he was also intimidated by him. 'Here's a black man who has made millions of dollars in show business,' Joseph had said. 'If I can just learn a few things from this guy, then I'll have it made too.'

As the meeting was about to conclude, Diana swept into the room looking like... well, Diana Ross Diana Ross... in a black satin hot pants outfit, huge natural hairstyle and gold hoop earrings. 'She always looked like a G.o.ddess,' Jermaine recalled. 'I remember that when she walked into the living room that day, all of our mouths dropped open.' Although the boys had met her before, they were still awed. Joseph fell all over himself to make an impression.

'I just want to tell you boys once again that I'm here for you,' she said. 'If there's anything I can do for you, I hope you'll let me know.'

She seemed sincere, Jermaine would remember. 'It was hard to believe that she was saying those words to us,' he said. 'I mean, what did we do to deserve her a.s.sistance? Talk about luck.'

What Jermaine remembers most about the day is the telegram that Diana showed them. 'This is from me to lots and lots of people,' she explained. It read: 'Please join me in welcoming a brilliant musical group, The Jackson 5, on Monday, 11 August 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Daisy, North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. The Jackson 5, featuring sensational eight-year-old Michael Jackson, will perform live at the party, [signed] Diana Ross.'

'I think you made a mistake,' Michael told her. 'I'm not eight. I'm ten.'

'Not any more you're not,' Berry said with a grin.

Berry explained that the discrepancy was a matter of public relations. What ensued was a brief discussion with Michael about the art of PR; he was reminded that, as far as the media were concerned, Diana Ross was the one who had brought him and his brothers to Motown. He should always remember that because, as Diana explained to him, 'It's all for your mage.'

'Got it,' Michael said. 'I'm eight. And we were discovered by the great Miss Diana Ross.'

'You got it, all right,' Diana said with a grin. She hugged him tightly. 'You are just so cute,' she said, again.

Michael would later recall, 'I figured out at an early age that if someone said something about me that wasn't true, it was a lie. But if someone said something about my image image that wasn't true, then it was okay. Because then it wasn't a lie, it was public relations.' that wasn't true, then it was okay. Because then it wasn't a lie, it was public relations.'

On 11 August 1968, Diana Ross introduced her new proteges, The Jackson 5, with the kind of pomp and pageantry usually accorded major Hollywood debuts. Three hundred of Gordy's and Diana's 'closest' friends and business a.s.sociates crammed into the chic Beverly Hills private club, the Daisy, all having been personally invited via Diana Ross's telegram. They stood and cheered as Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5 as they were introduced by Diana performed Motown songs such as Smokey Robinson's 'Who's Loving You' and even Disney cla.s.sics like 'Zip-a-dee-do-dah'. The boys wore identical lime green vest suits with gold s.h.i.+rts and matching green boots. Every move had been carefully ch.o.r.eographed for them, and rehea.r.s.ed in the professional Motown tradition. They were a hit. Afterwards, a Motown press release was distributed to everyone in attendance, with two years shaved off the age of each boy.

Beaming with pride at their reception, Berry announced that The Jackson 5 would next appear in concert with Diana Ross and The Supremes at the Forum five days later, and then later in October when Diana would play hostess on The Hollywood Palace The Hollywood Palace television show. television show.

Each Jackson boy met the press in a receiving line, with Diana Ross making the introductions: 'This one's Michael. Isn't he cute? cute? And that one's Jermaine. Isn't he And that one's Jermaine. Isn't he adorable? adorable? And over there's Jackie. Look how And over there's Jackie. Look how tall tall he is,' and so forth. he is,' and so forth.

Soul reporter Judy Spiegelman recalled, 'I remember being impressed with the courteous, outgoing att.i.tude of the youngsters. After all, they were just kids but yet not at all affected by the attention.' reporter Judy Spiegelman recalled, 'I remember being impressed with the courteous, outgoing att.i.tude of the youngsters. After all, they were just kids but yet not at all affected by the attention.'

Pauline Dunn, a reporter from the Sentinel, Sentinel, a Los Angeles black newspaper, approached Michael. a Los Angeles black newspaper, approached Michael.

'How's it feel to be a star, Michael?' she wanted to know.

'Well, to tell you the truth, I had just about given up hope,' Michael said with a grin. He was wearing a black bowler hat over his Afro-style hair. 'I thought I was gonna be an old man before being discovered.' Then, in a hushed, dramatic tone he concluded, 'But then along came Miss Diana Ross to save my career. She discovered discovered me.' me.'

'And just how old are you, Michael?' she asked.

Michael looked up at Diana, who was standing proudly behind him, her hand on his shoulder. Berry Gordy stood nearby.

'Eight,' Michael said.

'But I thought you were older. Going on eleven, maybe,' the suspicious journalist pressed.

'Well, I'm not,' Michael insisted. 'I'm eight.'

'But I heard '

'Look, the kid's eight, all right?' Berry broke in. 'Next question.'

'Next question, please, please,' Michael corrected him. He smiled and winked at Pauline Dunn as if to say, This is how we play the game.

Creating The Jackson 5's First Hit.

The early 1970s were the most significant transitional years Motown Records had undergone since shoring itself up as a major musical force. By that time, although the company was still producing superb pop and rhythm-and-blues music, some of its biggest stars had begun grumbling about Motown's conveyor-belt method of creating hit records.

The seventies was a period of change, both socially and politically, and the production of pop music did not go unaffected. To keep pace with the times, many labels eventually dismantled their songwriting/production staffs and signed prolific singer-songwriters and self-contained bands who wrote and performed their own music. Berry Gordy was not thrilled about this trend. He had always discouraged his acts from writing and producing their own material because, it was said, he did not wish for them to share in the music's publis.h.i.+ng, which was the inevitable next request. He preferred having his own stable of writers and producers, all of whom were signed to his own publis.h.i.+ng company, Jobete. In the end, much of the money stayed in Motown's coffers.

However, some of Motown's acts craved more artistic freedom. For instance, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye both felt that they'd outgrown manufacturing music the Motown way singing songs supplied to them by staff writers and producers. They must have finally realized that staff producers and writers like Smokey Robinson and Norman Whitfield were earning large sums from songwriting royalties without having to sweat through gruelling forty-city tours and public appearances. Wonder and Gaye were now asking Berry for the opportunity to express themselves musically through song-writing and, by extension, share in the publis.h.i.+ng of their songs.

The fact is that music wasn't at the forefront of founder Berry Gordy's reasoning when he decided to relocate Motown from Detroit to Los Angeles. Berry picked up and moved two decades' worth of Michigan roots for the same reason optimistic high school graduates and pretty young runaways swarm to the City of Angels every day from all over the world: the Silver Screen. Berry wanted to get into films, and his protegee Diana Ross was to be his ticket. In masterminding the westward move, Gordy was his usual methodical self. He used the occasion to clean house: employees and artists considered deadweight would be left behind in the Motor City, while desired staffers could keep their jobs, but only if they were willing to relocate to Los Angeles.

When Berry Gordy saw the film of The Jackson Five's Detroit audition, he realized that these youngsters had arrived at a precipitous time. Not only would this group usher in a new musical era for Motown, but they would do so with a hit single supplied by Motown's own production staff. These kids didn't want to write and produce their own songs, they just wanted to be stars. For Berry, this must have been deja vu. How he longed for a time not so long ago when Stevie and Marvin cared only about singing and not about publis.h.i.+ng. Signing a group that would be exclusively reliant on Motown for its material would validate the tried-and-true Motown process for at least a few more years. (Even Gordy couldn't have predicted, though, how much Jobete would prosper as a result of his signing of The Jackson 5.) In 1969, Motown's West Coast Division was operated under the direction of one of the company's top staff writer-producers. As an integral part of a writing-producing team at Motown called the Clan, Deke Richards was responsible for some terrific songs (such as The Supremes' 'Love Child'). He and Berry enjoyed a close relations.h.i.+p; Deke even had a phone line exclusively for Berry's use, and Berry would call him at all hours of the early morning, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with ideas.

Integral to Deke's job as Creative Director of Talent for Motown's West Coast Division was an on-going search for promising new writers and artists to bolster the company's roster. That year, he was introduced to two talented young writers, Freddie Perren and Fonce Mizell. He thought both had amazing ability and couldn't wait to bring them into the Motown family.

For the next three months, Deke Richards, Freddie Perren and Fonce Mizell collaborated on a song ent.i.tled 'I Want to Be Free', which was intended for Gladys Knight and the Pips. The team went into the Motown studios with a talented corps of musicians to cut the instrumental track for 'I Want to Be Free', remembered fondly by Perren as 'one of Motown's greatest instrumental performances'.

Meanwhile, Berry invited Deke to the show The Jackson 5 gave at the Daisy, presented by Diana Ross. Deke was impressed.

He had heard through the Motown grapevine that Bobby Taylor was presently recording material with the brothers in Detroit. Though Taylor was producing some good songs, everyone knew that there wasn't a hit record to be found in the bunch. When Deke played the track of 'I Want to Be Free' for Berry, he liked it so much he thought it might be ideal for the Jackson boys. 'Give the song a Frankie Lymon treatment,' he told Deke, 'and we'll see what happens.'

Deke recalled, 'Berry lived with the track for a while and had a couple of ideas which were good. He was starting to get excited. I wanted wanted Berry to get involved. This was starting to become a very exciting proposition for all of us.' Berry to get involved. This was starting to become a very exciting proposition for all of us.'

Deke decided to call the team of Fonce Mizell, Freddie Perren, himself and Gordy the Corporation, which would reinforce the democratic premise that there would be no overblown egos involved in the work and that everyone would be treated fairly. He remembered, 'After the basic instrumental track was finished, it was time to begin rehearsing the kids' vocals to record over it. The boys came over to Berry's house, and that's when we started talking about the song with them and developing a rapport. For the next few weeks, those kids worked a tremendous number of hours on this one song. It was hard work. Eventually, the song was ret.i.tled "I Want You Back".'

'The biggest problem with The Jackson 5 was not the willingness to work,' said Deke. 'The problem was that you not only had to be a producer, you had to be a phonetics and English teacher. It was draining, teaching them the p.r.o.nunciation of words. We had to go over and over words one at a time, which was tough.

'If Michael had any problems other than phonetics, they had to do with attacking and sustaining words and notes. Like any kid, he tended to throw away words, he would slur a note rather than hold on to it. He'd be thinking about dancing or whatever and not concentrate on getting the lyrics out. I'd have to tell him, "I need those notes, Michael, every last one of them."

'As a singer, though, he was great. As far as tone and all, he was terrific. We put a lot of pressure on him, because whenever you find a little kid who can sing like that, the feeling is, "Yeah, he's so great I want him to be even greater." I felt that if he could be that good in the raw, imagine how amazing he could be if you really polished him up.'

'I remember that Deke Richards was one of my first teachers,' Michael Jackson said. 'G.o.d, we spent so much time on "I Want You Back". He was really patient with me, all of us. I think I must have recorded that thing two dozen times. I had no idea that recording could be such work. I remember falling asleep at the mike. I wondered if it would ever be finished. Just when I thought we were through, we'd have to go back and do it again.'

The final recording session for 'I Want You Back' lasted until two in the morning. 'This had to be the most expensive single in Motown history, up to that point,' Deke Richards added. 'It cost about ten thousand dollars. At that time the cost of a Motown single was about two thousand. We kept adding and subtracting music until the very end. In fact, the original song started off with just a guitar, but at the last minute I wanted a piano glissando at the top. I had Freddie and Fonce go in there and run their fingers down the piano to kick the song off.'

On 2 October 1969, after the final mixing of 'I Want You Back', Berry asked Deke how he thought the group's name should appear on the record's label. 'Jackson Five'? 'Jackson Five featuring Michael Jackson'? Deke said he thought the group should be called simply The Jackson 5, with the numeral 5. Berry agreed. Joseph Jackson wasn't even consulted. Imagine what kind of tension might have resulted in the family if Deke had suggested 'Jackson Five featuring Michael Jackson'?

Michael Moves in with Diana.

On 1 October 1969, as his father and brothers were being shuffled from one hotel to another by the Motown bra.s.s, it was decided that Michael Jackson would move in with Diana Ross in her Hollywood Hills home. 'It was a calculated thing. I wanted him to be around her,' Berry Gordy explained. 'People think it was an accident that he stayed there. It wasn't. I wanted Diana to teach him whatever she could. Diana's a very influential person. I knew that Michael would pick up something something just by being around her. Diana had said that he sort of reminded her of herself at age eleven. Michael was anxious and interested, as well as talented, like Diana was when I first met her. She was sixteen, then. just by being around her. Diana had said that he sort of reminded her of herself at age eleven. Michael was anxious and interested, as well as talented, like Diana was when I first met her. She was sixteen, then.

'I asked her if she minded and she didn't. She wanted him around. It was good for her to have someone else besides herself to think about. It was just for four weeks, the month of October.'

As much as she may have wanted to help, Diana was so consumed by the demands of her own career, she probably wasn't prepared for the role of surrogate mother. Still, she gave it everything she had, treated Michael like a son and became attached to him. However, Michael's lifestyle in the Ross household must have seemed to be everything he had been brought up by his mother to shun as wicked. Nothing else really mattered in these surroundings, it seemed, but show business. 'You are going to be a great, great star,' Diana would remind him over breakfast. 'Now, eat your cereal.'

Though Diana remained at home during the month of October, she was extremely busy. She was about to leave The Supremes and embark on a solo career. Meanwhile, she and Berry were having a tumultuous romance. Michael, no doubt, heard many arguments between the couple, and then probably watched as they smiled and cooed at one another for the sake of reporters. He was learning a lot about show business public relations, but only time would tell how he would be affected by it.

Michael attended school during the day and recorded in the studio until late at night, but had noted that during the time he lived with Diana Ross, she found time to teach him about art. 'We'd go out, just the two of us, and buy pencils and paint,' Michael wrote of his time with Diana in his autobiography. 'When we weren't drawing or painting, we'd go to museums.'

Michael's fascination with Diana some would later see it as an obsession would last for many years. As well as a mother figure when his own was thousands of miles away, she was an accomplished performer; he studied her constantly. 'I remember I used to just sit in the corner and watch the way she moved,' he recalled of Diana. 'She was art in motion. Have you ever seen the way she works her hands? I was,' he struggled for the right word, 'enthralled by her. All day long when I wasn't rehearsing my songs, I'd be listening to hers. I watched her rehea.r.s.e one day in the mirror. She didn't know I was watching. I studied her, the way she moved, the way she sang, just the way she was. Afterwards, I told her, "I want to be just like you, Diana." And she said, "You just be yourself and you'll be a great star."' by her. All day long when I wasn't rehearsing my songs, I'd be listening to hers. I watched her rehea.r.s.e one day in the mirror. She didn't know I was watching. I studied her, the way she moved, the way she sang, just the way she was. Afterwards, I told her, "I want to be just like you, Diana." And she said, "You just be yourself and you'll be a great star."'

Michael, at age eleven, did have some lonely moments living in the Ross home while she was away at work; he missed his mother and talked to her on the telephone constantly, running up Diana's phone bill.

Katherine was troubled by Michael's life during that time, according to one family friend, a woman who asked for anonymity because she is someone in whom Katherine still confides. 'Katie truly was concerned about Diana Ross's lifestyle and how it might influence her son,' said the friend. 'She didn't want her son to be corrupted by Diana or her show-business circle of friends. Also, she knew very little about Diana. She knew her as a star with a reputation for being egotistical and self-involved. The whole time Michael was away from her, Katie could only imagine what was going on in the Ross household and how Michael was coping with it. Her imagination ran wild. It was a time of great concern, wondering what kinds of values Diana Ross was pa.s.sing on to her son.'

Perhaps making matters more difficult for Katherine, Diana seemed reluctant to talk to her directly. When Katherine would telephone to check in on Michael, she would have to talk to one of the household staff if Michael wasn't available. Diana would usually not come to the phone.

If Katherine was distressed about the possibilities of wild parties at the Diana Ross residence, she need not have been. Diana was a serious person, not a party girl. She would go to bed early in order to be up on time for her many appointments. If anything, she pa.s.sed on to Michael a work ethic that would serve him well as a youngster. She wanted to be an example to him, and she was sure to not allow him to see anything but her best side.

'I got to know her well,' Michael would say many years later, 'and she taught me so much by example. I remember she would be in the recording studio until all hours of the morning, get home, have a costume fitting, a rehearsal, lunch, a TV show, and then she would crash for maybe two hours. Then back in the studio. I remember thinking, I don't have it bad at all. Look at her. her. And she's Diana Ross!' And she's Diana Ross!'

Success!

Stardom for The Jackson 5 was just around the corner, but with a detour or two along the way. When 'I Want You Back' was released in October 1969, it wasn't an immediate hit. The song entered Billboard Billboard's Top 100 at number 90. Motown's promotion and sales department had to continually encourage disc jockeys to play it and record stores to stock it. Then, finally, ten weeks later, on 31 January it shot to number one, displacing B. J. Thomas's 'Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head'.

With 'I Want You Back', Berry Gordy, Deke Richards, Fonce Mizell and Freddie Perren managed to launch Motown's latest find with a blast, and the record label into a new and exciting decade. A precocious yet completely adorable and endearing Michael led his older brothers into the hearts, homes and stereos of middle-cla.s.s white America. The rousing single also found success on the black or rhythm-and-blues charts.

As with the successful Supremes' formula of the sixties, The Jackson 5 sound presented a wholesome, non-threatening soul music, easily digested and readily accepted by all races of record buyers. Though the record was only number one for a week in America, it went on to sell an amazing 2,060,711 copies in the United States, and another four million abroad. In the UK, the song peaked at number two and remained on the chart for thirteen weeks, selling 250,000 copies.

'The pros have told us that no group has ever had a better start than we did,' Michael Jackson has remembered. 'Ever.'

Once 'I Want You Back' was released, The Jackson 5 had an image makeover. Motown's famous charm school the artist development cla.s.ses held in Detroit to turn street kids like The Temptations into savvy show people was no longer in business now that the company had relocated to Los Angeles. All of the image-changing work now had to be done by whomever Gordy could coax into helping the cause. Suzanne dePa.s.se now president of Motown Productions became responsible for repackaging the youngsters. Stylists with Colourform models worked with them to come up with the best haircuts and stage outfits for each group member. Suzanne and the boys went shopping for the most outrageous outfits they could find and some of them were truly atrocious, with wild colours and designs. Yet, oddly, it all worked. It was the seventies, after all.

18 October 1969, marked another major milestone for The Jackson 5: their first appearance on national television, on The Hollywood Palace, The Hollywood Palace, hosted by Diana Ross. (The Supremes were there, too, though Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong didn't get much air time that night.) Backstage, Joseph kept peppering his boys with last-minute advice, the way he always did before they performed. Michael once recalled that it was usually easy to tune Joseph out; he'd said the same things a hundred times before. This evening, Joseph was even more intense, according to Jack Lewis, a set designer on the ABC programme. hosted by Diana Ross. (The Supremes were there, too, though Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong didn't get much air time that night.) Backstage, Joseph kept peppering his boys with last-minute advice, the way he always did before they performed. Michael once recalled that it was usually easy to tune Joseph out; he'd said the same things a hundred times before. This evening, Joseph was even more intense, according to Jack Lewis, a set designer on the ABC programme.

'Joe paced back and forth backstage like a lion,' he remembered. 'There's no doubt in my mind he was more nervous than his kids. The boys were excited about the break. Diana Ross kept going backstage and having private conversations with Michael. She patted him on the head a lot, which I noticed annoyed Joe.'

Diana wore a white midriff-baring halter and white slacks which emphasized her reed-thin figure. Her hair was pulled into an elaborate topknot; her shoulder-length silver earrings flew to and fro when she danced with Michael backstage before the show. 'Come on, get down!' she said, beckoning him. 'You're the man! You're the man!' Michael did a quick James Brown spin and collapsed to the floor on his knees, then back up again in a flash. 'I'm the man,' he said, laughing. 'You got that right.'

Berry Gordy was backstage too. Right before they went on, Gordy pulled all of them together in a huddle and had an impromptu conference. Then when he finished, Joe not to be outdone did the same thing.

From behind the curtain, they heard Diana's introduction: 'Tonight, I have the pleasure of introducing a young star who has been in the business all of his life. He's worked with his family, and when he sings and dances, he lights up the stage.'

At that moment, Sammy Davis, Jr., came bounding out on to the stage for a comic bit. He supposedly thought Diana was introducing him, but she explained that she was actually referring to and then she made the introduction 'Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5.'

At that, the curtain opened and The Jackson 5 bounded out, singing the Sly Stone composition, 'Sing a Simple Song'. The fellows were dressed alike in the costumes they had worn for their debut appearance at the Daisy: pale, lime-green, double-breasted, wide-lapelled, sleeveless jackets with matching bell-bottom slacks and suede boots in exactly the same shade. Their s.h.i.+rts, with the full-gathered sleeves, were gold. (While many observers a.s.sumed that these outfits were paid for by Motown, actually they were purchased off the rack by Joseph and Katherine back in Gary.) As they sang, according to set designer Jack Lewis, Joseph Jackson and Berry Gordy became embroiled in a heated argument, backstage.

'What's this "Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5" stuff?' Joseph demanded. 'No one told me about that. No one cleared that with me.'

Berry shrugged his shoulders. 'It wasn't written that way on the cue card,' he explained. 'Diana just blurted it out. She's that way. She does what she wants to do. Been trying to tell her what to do for years,' he said with an easy smile. 'It ain't gonna happen.'