We are looking here at the 1970s solo
success for the king of pop Michael Jackson. The legend was born in 1958 and after
becoming a star with his brother in the Jackson 5 it was inevitable that
Michael would become the front man of the group. Although it caused friction at
the time within the family, everybody could see it was for the greater good.
But Michael was not just a group singer, he
quickly established himself as a colossal solo artist too. He also was a film
star in the 1978 musical The Wiz based on the Wizard Of Oz. Not a great film,
but it kept Michael in the minds of his adoring public.
1971 saw Michael break into the top five on
both sides of the Atlantic with Got To Be There and was written by Elliot
Willen who used to be a research scientist. He died in 2010. The strength of
that success gave Tamla Motown the courage to release his next single in 1972,
again a top five hit on both sides of the pond with Rocking Robin form the
album Got To Be There. It was a copy of a 1958 hit by Bobby Day in 1958.
But Michael was so popular a bad record did
not seem to matter now. He was a solo singer; he was also singing with his
brothers and was on TV all around the world with the cartoon series. So the
next single was going to be a success whatever it was. In the U.S. it was I Want To Be Where You
Are and in the UK it was the cover of Aint No Sunshine.
But now it was the turn of a Rat to make Michael
even more popular. No. 1 in the U.S. and
No. 7 in the UK with Ben. What was Ben? Ben was a rat from the film of the same
name. The song was written by Don Black who also wrote the lyrics for
Thunderball and Diamonds Are Forever.
The song won a Golden Globe and an Academy
Award and was originally offered to Donny Osmond who did not have time to do
the recording. So by default Michael got it. Michael was alleged to have been
fourteen at the time of recording and he is one of only a few people to have chart
success at such a young age.
1973, 74 and 1975 were non single hit years
for Michael. It was not until 1979 that Michael came back with a huge disco
type hit called Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough, which got to No. 1 in the U.S.
(No. 3 UK). Michael was no longer on Tampa but on now on Epic Records and this
hit came from his acclaimed album Off The Wall. This song went Gold in the U.S.
and won Michael another Grammy too. The album went on to sell over twenty
million copies and made even a bigger star of the producer Quincy Jones.
Also that year from the same album came
Rock With You written by Jackson and Rod Temperton. Rod went on to write
Thriller in the 1980s and he was also working with the pop group Heatwave in
the 1970s. A busy man indeed.
The single Off The Wall was the last hit of 1979 and again came from the same album. Again Rod Temperton wrote this song and
