Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon Page #2

But he started listening strongly

to James Brown

from the time he was about five years old.

He had a great taste for real R&B,

gritty R&B, like Wilson Pickett,

the Dells,

great singers like Levi Stubbs.

We sang country songs

and we sang folk songs.

And then

they started singing the Temptations

when we got a television.

My father had a guitar

that he Kept locked in the closet.

One day, he didn't lock the closet

and I started playing that thing.

I learnt every song on the radio

and made my brothers sing with me.

KATHERINE:
Joseph had warned them,

"Don't play my guitar; now. .

And so, Tito took it out and played it,

and a string broke.

There was no way of hiding

that he hadn't had his guitar.

He punished him for it.

Then he said, "Let me hear you play."

And Tito played for him.

Joe just said nothing else to him,

"You can play it if you want to."

Tito had been watching his father

play guitar;

But he would come to my house

and he and I would play.

Reynaud Jones

NEIGHBOUR - GARY, INDIANA.

And I would play a little something

on my guitar, and then show him,

and then give my guitar to him.

And then he'd try to play it.

And so we went back and forth like that.

There was a guy across the street

who had one snare drum,

and his name was Milford Hite.

Milford Hite

NEIGHBOUR - GARY, INDIANA.

Reynaud said,

"Milford, come over with your drum

"and let's see if we can, you know,

start a little group together."

We played for a while

and then Jackie Jackson came oven.

Okay.

Then after Jackie came in, Jermaine came.

TITO:
Michael and Marlon were just little kids.

And we used to tell them to be quiet,

"Get out of here..

We used to kick them out the room.

And they used to beg to be in the group.

And we just said,

"Your little brother wants to be in the..."

You know, you just said, "No, get out of here.

This is big boy stuff."

The school was giving a programme

and all the parents were invited.

And Michael was singing solo,

Climb Every Mountain.

And so Joe's father wanted to go also,

so he could hear him.

And Michael starts singing.

I looked around, Joe's father was crying.

I guess he couldn't imagine

that a 5-year-old kid can keep harmony

and sing that well.

But that's what happened.

TITO:
We heard him sing

and we were so taken by that.

We couldn't believe it

so we rushed him home,

immediately took him to the room.

And he was in the group, that fast.

The big thing back then was winning

the Roosevelt High School talent show.

G-EST:
In the '50s and the '60s,

talent shows were the key

to getting a career and a record deal.

And that's what they dreamed of.

Initially, Michael was not our lead singer.

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