business for a long time. I was pretty experienced for twenty-one - a fifteen-year veteran. We were eager to take the
Destiny band and concept on the road, but I got hoarse from too many shows, too much singing. When we had to
cancel some performances, no one held it against me, but I felt as if I was holding my brothers back after the great
job they had done while we worked together to get us all back on track. We made some makeshift adjustments in
order to ease the strain on my throat. Marlon took over for me in some passages that required holding long notes.
"Shake You Body (Down to the Ground)," our set piece on the album, turned out to be a lifesaver for us onstage
because we already had a good jam in the studio to build on. It was frustrating to have finally realized our dream of
having our own music as the showpiece, rather than the novelty song, and not being able to give it our very best shot.
It wasn't long, however, before our time would come.
In looking back, I realize I was more patient than perhaps my brothers wanted me to be. As we were remixing
Destiny , it occurred to me that we had "left out" some things that I hadn't talked to my brothers about because I wasn't sure they'd be as interested in them as I was. Epic had arranged in the contract that they would handle any solo
album I might decide to do. Perhaps they were hedging their bets; if the Jacksons couldn't make their new sound
work, they could try to turn me into something they could mould for the rest of my life. That might seem like a
suspicious way of thinking, but I knew from experience that money people always want to know what is going on
and what can happen and how to recoup their investment. It seemed logical for them to think that way. In the light of
what's happened since, I wonder about those thoughts I had, but they were real at the time.
Destiny was our biggest success as an album, and we knew we had really reached the point where people bought
your record because they knew you were good and knew you'd give them your very best on every song and every
album. I wanted my first solo album to be the best it could be.
I didn't want Off the Wall to sound like outtakes from Destiny . That's why I wanted to hire an outside producer who
wouldn't come to this project with any preconceived notions about how it should sound. I also needed someone with
a good ear to help me choose material because I didn't have enough time to write two sides of songs I'd be proud of. I
knew the public expected more than two good singles on an album, especially in the discos with their extended cuts,
and I wanted the fans to feel satisfied.
These are all reasons why Quincy proved to be the best producer I could have asked for. Quincy Jones's friends
called him "Q" for short because of a love he has for barbecue. Later, after we'd finished Off the Wall , he invited me to a concert of his orchestral music at the Hollywood Bowl, but I was so shy at the time that I stood in the wings to
watch the show as I had as a child. He said he expected more from me than that, and we've been trying to live up to
each other's standards ever since.
That day I called to ask his advice about a producer, he started talking about people in the business - who I could
work with and who I'd have trouble with. He knew track records, who was booked, who'd be too lax, who'd put the
"pedal to the metal." He knew Los Angeles better than Mayor Bradley, and that's how he kept up with what was
going on. As a jazz arranger, orchestrator, and film composer, someone people thought was on the outside looking in
as far as pop music was concerned, he was an invaluable guide. I was so glad that my outside source was a good
friend who also happened to be the perfect choice for a producer. He had a world of talent to choose from among his
contacts, and he was a good listener, as well as a brilliant man.
The Off the Wall album was originally going to be called Girlfriend . Paul and Linda McCartney wrote a song of that
title with me in mind before they ever met me.
Paul McCartney always tells people this story about me calling him and saying we should write some hit songs
together.
But that's not exactly how we first met.
34
I saw Paul for the first time at a party on the Queen Mary , which is docked in Long Beach. His daughter Heather got
my number from someone and gave me a call to invite me to this big party. She liked our music and we got to
talking. Much later, when his Wings over America tour was completed, Paul and his family were in Los Angeles.
They invited me to a party at the Harold Lloyd estate. Paul McCartney and I first met at that party. We shook hands
amid a huge crowd of people, and he said, "You know, I've written a song for you." I was very surprised and thanked him. And he started singing "Girlfriend" to me at this party.
So we exchanged phone numbers and promised to get together soon, but different projects and life just got in the way
for both of us and we didn't talk again for a couple of years. He ended up putting the song on his own album London
Town .
The strangest thing happened when we were making Off the Wall ; Quincy walked up to me one day and said,
"Michael, I've got a song that's perfect for you." He played "Girlfriend" for me, not realizing, of course, that Paul had written it for me originally. When I told him, he was astonished and pleased. We recorded it soon after and put it on
the album. It was an incredible coincidence.
Quincy and I talked about Off the Wall and carefully planned the kind of sound we wanted. When he asked me what
I most wanted to have happen in the studio, I told him, we've got to make it sound different from the Jacksons. Hard
words to spit out, considering how hard we'd worked to become the Jacksons, but Quincy knew what I meant, and
together we created an album that reflected our goal. "Rock with You," the big hit single, was the sort of thing I was aiming for. It was perfect for me to sing, and move to. Rod Temperton, whom Quincy had known because of his
work with the group Heatwave on "Boogie Nights," had written the song with a more relentless, get-down arrangement in mind, but Quincy softened the attack and slipped in a synthesizer that sounded like a conch shell's
insides on a beach. Q and I were both very fond of Rod's work, and we eventually asked him to work on stylizing
three of his songs for me, including the title cut. Rod was a kindred spirit in many ways. Like me, he felt more at
home singing and writing about the night life than actually going out and living it. It always surprises me when
people assume that something an artist has created is based on a true experience or reflects his or her own lifestyle.
Often nothing could be farther from the truth. I know I draw on my own experiences at times, but I also hear and
read things that trigger an idea for a song. An artist's imagination is his greatest tool. It can create a mood or feeling that people want to have, as well as transport you to a different place altogether.
In the studio Quincy allowed the arrangers and musicians quite a bit of freedom to express themselves, perhaps with
the exception of the orchestral arrangements, which are his forte. I brought Greg Phillinganes, a member of the
Destiny team, over to "run the floor" on numbers that he and I had worked on together in Encino, while the studio people were being lined up for the date. In addition to Greg, Paulinho de Costa was back on percussion and Randy
made a cameo appearance on "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough."
Quincy is amazing and doesn't just pick yes-men to do his bidding. I have been around professionals all my life, and
I can tell who is trying to keep up, who can create, and who is capable of crossing swords once in a while in a