The world was shocked this week by the sudden death of Michael Jackson, who spent nearly all of his 50 years under the microscope of celebrity and earned universal recognition as one of the best performers of our era.
His influence on popular music and entertainment is so profound and far-reaching that it is inescapable. There is likely no musician on earth that was not exposed to a heavy dose of Michael Jackson sometime since his debut with the Jackson 5 in 1969.
Jackson also worked with some of the best musicians of his time. Jackson’s guitarists included Slash, Eddie Van Halen, Carlos Santana and Billy Idol’s guitarist, Steve Stevens. His long-standing relationship with Quincy Jones produced some of the most significant pop recordings of the 1980s, including Bad, Thriller, Smooth Criminal and many others.
During the Bad tour of 1987, he even hired Sheryl Crow (at that time unknown) as a backup singer. The album Off The Wall lists a credit for keyboardist David Foster (famous for his score to St. Elmo’s Fire). His later albums brought collaborations with Babyface and Notorious B.I.G.
You can peruse the sideman line-up of all of Michael Jackson’s recordings at allmusic.com. Here are links to the personnel on his top selling albums:
- Thriller – Over 100 million copies sold
- Dangerous – Winner of the 1992 Grammy for Best Engineered Non-Classical Album
- Bad – Over 30 million copies sold
- Off The Wall – Many of the tracks were written by Jackson himself
- Invincible – Over 10 million copies sold
How did Michael Jackson influence your career as a musician?
David J. Hahn
David J. Hahn is a Broadway conductor and keyboard player. He co-founded MusicianWages.com with Cameron Mizell in 2008. Visit his new project, Songwriter.fm and sign up for his songwriting newsletter.
No love for TOTO? or Larry Carlton? and no mention of how Eddie Van Halen did the Thriller solo but waived his rights to getting paid at the session because he did it as a favor for Quincy Jones and didn’t think it was a big deal.
Hey Riz, sounds like you know a lot about MJ’s musicians. I listed what I found on allmusic and heard through the years. I’d like to learn more as well – where do you find your info?
Toto band members are key musicians who played in the album Thriller.
Jeff Porcaro, Steve Lukather, David Paich and Steve Porcaro (co-wrote Human Nature)played on Beat it, Human Nature, The Girl is Mine and Lady in my Life. They also played on one bonus single released in the 25th anniversary edition. Other songs include Heal the world etc… check out the credits in the cd sleeves. The sound of the eighties have basically the touch of these guys. Greg Phillinganes who later joined Toto before they split up.
Michael Mc Donald’s I keep forgettin’, George Benson’s Turn your love around and the list goes on and on…. keep searching.
Toto members were also instrumental to the most Boz Scaggs’ albums.
I think one of Michael’s biggest collaborators in his adult career was engineer Bruce Swedien. I believe he even has a book coming out (set for release well before Michael’s death) about their work together. Swedien is probably someone very instrumental to Michael’s work that is not as often thought of.
Regarding your question about how Michael influenced my career as a musician, I think he did in many ways. His music and showmanship certainly have inspired me greatly. I’d say his ability and desire to think big has made an impact too as well as his commitment to our planet and philanthropy.
Also, meeting him was a very powerful experience and gave me a lot of confidence.
I wrote a tribute to Michael that you can find here if you want:
http://www.MichaelTributeSong.com
Jeffrey Paul Bobrick
Singer and Songwriter
Dude – what? When you say “greatest musicians of his time”….do you realize who you are including? There is a great gulf of knowledge between great entertainer & great musician. I loved listening to Michael’s stuff, but I’ve never heard him perform with any of the greatest musicians of his time. He was good, but not near good enough to be able to hang with some of the great musicians, who were in their prime, then:) No way….when I think of names like Bud Herseth, Dale Clevenger, Luciano Pavarotti, Arnold Jacobs….I don’t even think of any name in pop entertainment. When you write, tactfully help Americans realize what they don’t know…that they don’t know what a great musician sounds like.
If you don’t think the Porcaro brothers are great musicians, you’re a complete idiot. They are the most recorded musicians in the history of music. Jeff Porcaro (drummer) recorded on more than 1000 songs with several hundred recording artists. Read and become educated before opening your mouth and looking like an absolute fool. And…why would a R&B singer ever want to collaborate with Pavorotti? That is the most ridiculous statement ever written.
Eric that is elitist nonsense. How can you listen to Thriller or Bad and say those are not great musicians playing on the record? Quincy Jones produced that music – is he not one of the greatest musicians of our time? I meant what I said and I stand by it.
And I do not think that all Americans don’t know what great musicians sound like. Do you mean that you alone know who is great and who isn’t, and that you are surrounded by a nation of total morons? Again, elitist nonsense.
I don’t know Eric, I think limiting the definition of talented musicians to only include classical musicians is narrow minded. I have no doubt that the principal musicians of the Chicago Symphony aren’t great, but could the articulate a horn line the same way as the Brecker Brothers? Probably not, and that’s why musicians specialize in different styles.
The musician’s on MJ’s albums had the perfect chemistry: Paul Jackson Jr., Seawind Horn Section (Jerry Hey for days), Pauhlino Da Costa, Louis Johnson, John Robinson, Greg Phillinganes, Steve Lukather, etc. These folks were a no name band with signature licks and skills that made MJ blow up. Also, due to MJ’s vocal demands, Siedah Garrett was brought in, not to mention Bruce Sweiden as previously mentioned. All this was due to Quincy Jones.
We love you Jackson!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow I just somehow stumbled upon this article and the comments…
I myself was always considered a classical musician and even an elitist, but never in a million years would I not admit that Slash and Eddie aren’t way up there with the best. Entertainers and musicians might be two different things, according to Eric, but these guys were musicians who became entertainers. Actually call them whatever you want but they rock!
They had an MJ concert on TV last night – amazing!!
What is the difference between an great entertainer and a great musician? Not much, because even the musicians that Eric considers to be the greatest are only considered so because he find them to be entertaining to listen to. If a musician only sounds entertaining to himself, then he probably isn’t that great. Being accomplished at a musical skill makes you good. Using it to uplift the human spirit makes you great, whether you can play 3 chords or 300. I’d rather listen to Johnny Cash than some virtuoso that thinks that all of his listeners are stupid any day. Chops make you employed. Sincerity makes you great. One up/One Down paradigms are for the truly foolish.
To add to the list of brilliant and unique musicians that worked extensively with MJ, I would like to not David Williams who I had the great pleasure of working with some years ago. Sadly no longer with us, David’s signature rhythm guitar has graced nearly 100 hit singles. He loved to point out to people that while the guitar solo on Beat It was Eddie Van Halen most of the other guitar work was him. He had a genuinely unique way of playing. If you want to hear him clearly then listen to the second verse of Madonna’s Live To Tell and his guitar work lifts the track immensely. Unsung hero outside LA in my opinion.
Andree, look what you did! You rekindled this conversation! :P
In agreement with everyone else, sticking to one genre of music like this greatly limits your potential as a musician. I am of the belief that a true musician studies all he can about EVERYTHING about music.
It’s funny, though, since I was just like Eric when I was younger. Heck, I was a brass player that only found heroes in classical brass players, too! Eric, I challenge you to listen to Thriller. The whole album. That album had a ton of chart-topping tracks. There is a whole world rich with great music, even outside of American pop or classical. Never stop listening to anything you can get your hands on.
And yes, everyone you mentioned is also a great musician. Though, it’s interesting that you seemed to only point out CSO musicians and Pavarotti. And you forgot Jay Friedman! :P
Speaking of Arnie, I just finished listening to Portrait of an Artist again. Great CD.
I really need to know who recorded drums during the Motown period of the Jackson 5… Any help?????
Hi Rafael,
It’s hard to know exactly who with Motown, as in those days, the singers were the important names.
The best that can be done is know the drummers that were on 90% of all the recordings.
Motown didn’t use a single drummer in their recordings. There were usually two, and sometimes three drummers. Benny “Papa Zita” Benjamin and Pistol Allen were most likely the drummers. Uriel Jones may have been on those recordings, too.
If you haven’t, check out the movie and book “Standing in the Shadows of Motown.” The movie is a documentary, and the book is a short biography of James Jamerson, the bassist on most of the Motown recordings, and many transcriptions of his basslines.
Nick, good call on “Standing in the Shadows of Motown”, amazing documentary. I think Benny Benjamin had died by the time the Jackson 5 got signed so it would have been the other Detroit guys up until around ’72 I think when Motown moved to L.A. At that point it was mostly Bernard Purdie on their tracks.