Jackson's music genre takes roots in R&B, Motown's music, pop and soul. He had been influenced by the work of contemporary musicians such as Little Richard, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Diana Ross, Fred Astaire and the Bee Gees.[168] He was also an admirer of performers from the English music hall tradition, such as Benny Hill and Charlie Chaplin.
While Little Richard had a huge influence on Jackson,[17] James Brown was for him and since early childhood, his greatest inspiration: "the master" or "a genius" especially when he was playing with its group, the Famous Flames, qualifying its performance of "phenomenal". He declared: "Ever since I was a small child, no more than like six years old, my mother would wake me no matter what time it was, if I was sleeping, no matter what I was doing, to watch the television to see the master at work. And when I saw him move, I was mesmerized. I had never seen a performer perform like James Brown, and right then and there I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life because of James Brown."[169]
At first, the young Michael Jackson owes his vocal technique in large part to Diana Ross. In October 1969, it was decided that Michael lived with Diana Ross. Not only a mother figure to him, he often observed her in rehearsal as an accomplished performer. He later confessed: "I got to know her well. She taught me so much. I used to just sit in the corner and watch the way she moved. She was art in motion. I studied the way she moved, the way she sang - just the way she was." He told her: 'I want to be just like you, Diana'. She said: 'You just be yourself.'"[170] But Michael especially owned his oooh's from Diana Ross. At first, Michael almost always punctuated his verses of oooh. Not a long oooh but rather a sudden exclamation. Diana Ross used this effect on many of the songs recorded with the The Supremes, and young Michael was delighted to take ownership.
No comments:
Post a Comment