According to fellow musician, Jeffrey Daniel, Michael Jackson was not pleased with his iconic moonwalk during his infamous ‘Motown 25’ performance.
Though he famously executed the eye-popping dance steps during the ‘Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever’ special in 1983, Shalamar member Jeffrey Daniel, who taught Jackson the steps, recalled that it didn’t quite work out as well as the King Of Pop had hoped.
In an interview with ContactMusic, when asked how long it took Michael to master the dance, Jeffrey said:
“That I can’t answer because I first showed him in 1980. He did it publicly in 1983. Now that doesn’t mean to say that it took him three years to learn it. He may have been just waiting for the perfect opportunity to exhibit the dance.” “I was at the Motown 25th anniversary, I was in the audience. Here’s the funny thing about it; no one knew that was going to happen.” “He did ‘Billie Jean’, he did about three scoots into the spin and landed on his toes.” “When the performance was over, I went over to him and said, ‘Wow, Michael, you did it.’ He replied, ‘Yeah, but it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to.’ I said, ‘Bro, whatever you did out there, you killed the audience.’
Subsequent to the television special, the moon walk and multiple-spin moves went on to become signature Michael Jackson throughout the remained of his career but Jeffrey noted that when it was first performed, those around him in the audience were shocked because it was “his thing” to start with, adding:
“But let me tell you what the funny thing was when Michael did that backslide for the first time on that stage, the audience jumped up.” “But the people who I knew looked at me because it was like, ‘Michael’s doing your thing.'”
Due to drug overdose, Michael Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Allan Watson