Ne-Yo on Working with Michael Jackson




By Lee Hawkins

Just months before Michael Jackson died, recording artist and songwriter Ne-Yo was working with him on several songs. With the two-year anniversary of Jackson’s death coming on June 25, Ne-Yo spoke with the Journal about his work with Jackson, and discussed some of the challenges involved with writing songs for such a legendary music figure.

“I had to take off the thought of, ‘OK, I’m writing a song for Michael Jackson.’ I had to take that off and just write records. Because, if you go in the studio and [think], ‘I’m writing a song for Michael Jackson, all of sudden, everything you do sucks. Nothing is good enough. You think, ‘Michael would never sing this.’”

Though his moves are often compared to Jackson’s, and he wowed the crowd recently as a special performing guest on “Dancing With The Stars,” Ne-Yo said he doesn’t consider himself a great dancer. Chris Brown, he said, is one of the best dancers in the music business right now. He praised Brown’s ability to freestyle and create moves on the spot, as opposed to only using dance moves carefully invented and taught to him by a choreographer. “He can just get up and dance, and that’s fantastic. I’m not that guy.”

Though his next album slated to be released in September, Ne-Yo is spending more time than usual developing new businesses extending from his brand, including a line of the hats that have become his on-stage trademark and a new liquor beverage that will be announced in the coming weeks.

Michael Jackson News



Michael Jackson News(1958 – 2009)
Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, died June 25, 2009 in Los Angeles, California), often referred to as The King of Pop, is the biggest-selling solo artist of all time, with over 750,000,000 sales. Jackson is an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and double inductee to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. His awards include 8 Guinness World Records, 13 Grammy Awards, and 26 Billboard Awards. He is also credited for popularizing many physically complicated dance moves, such as the robot and the moonwalk, and has influenced and spawned a whole generation of a wide variety of artists including



Michael Joseph Jackson[1] (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, dancer, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Referred to as the King of Pop, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5,then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, pop, contemporary R&B, and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artists in the history of music. He was also a notable humanitarian and philanthropist, donating and raising hundreds of millions of dollars for beneficial causes and supporting more than 39 charities.

Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, have generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury ruled him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his concert series This Is It, Jackson died on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. Before his death, Jackson had mistakenly been administered drugs including propofol and lorazepam. The Los Angeles County Coroner declared his death a homicide, and his personal physician pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as one billion people around the world reportedly watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a US$250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.