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Michael Jackson's last show rehearsal - Source: Kevin Mazur/AEG/Getty Images via image.net -
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Michael Jackson didn't do it his way after all.
Hours after the pop singer's
first posthumous single This Is It was released amid great
hype, it emerged that the tune had been recorded 18 years ago by an
obscure Puerto Rican singer.
Moreover the co-author of that tune, My Way songwriter Paul Anka,
threatened to sue Jackson's estate for proper credit and his share
of royalties.
The administrators of the estate quickly acknowledged Anka's claims
and granted him 50% of the copyright, a potentially massive payday
for the 68-year-old Canadian crooner.
And an equally massive loss for the estate.
"They realize it's a mistake, they realize it's my song, they
realize it's my production of his vocal in my studio and I am
getting 50% of the whole project, actually, which is fair," Anka
said in a video posted on the TMZ gossip website.
The song dates back to 1983, when it was known as I Never Heard - a
co-write between Jackson and Anka - and intended for inclusion on
an Anka album.
But the pair fell out, Jackson took the master tapes and Anka
got them back.
The song was eventually released in 1991 after Anka placed it with
an unknown Latin singer named Sa-Fire.
Both I Never Heard and This Is It share the same vocal and piano
line, although the latter track boasts new overdubs from Jackson's
brothers.
But This Is It had been promoted as a new Jackson recording, one of
a multitude of unreleased recordings likely to come out in the next
few years.
It was released online around the world nearly four months after
the singer died in Los Angeles of a prescription drug overdose at
the age of 50.
Fans will be able to buy it when a two-disc album hits the shelves
in two weeks to coincide with the October 28 worldwide release of
the Jackson rehearsal-footage movie This is It.
Lyrics fit the bill
"The song was picked because the lyrics were appropriate because of
the name Michael gave his tour," said a spokesman for Jackson's
estate.
"We are thrilled to present this song in Michael's voice for the
first time, and that Michael's fans have responded in unprecedented
numbers. The song was co-written by the legendary Paul Anka."
A spokeswoman for Sony Music declined to comment. One of the
estate's two administrators, John McClain, worked with Jackson at
the Sony Corp unit.
The other executor is music attorney John Branca.
McClain, who is also a co-producer of the This is It album, had
said in a statement earlier on Monday that the song only defines,
once again, what the world already knows - that Michael is one of
God's greatest gifts.
Some critics begged to differ.
Jon Pareles, the chief pop critic of The New York Times, said in
a blog it won't be on anyone's list of best Michael Jackson songs,
even if it's a long list and hoped there was something better in
the Michael Jackson vaults of album outtakes.
The This Is It movie is based on rehearsal video shot in Los
Angeles in the weeks before Jackson's planned 50 comeback concerts
in London.
It was the subject of a $US60 million deal between Jackson's
estate and closely held concert promoter AEG Live and Sony's Sony
Pictures unit.
Sales of Jackson's records spiked after his death and the release
of the movie and album will add to the value of the Thriller
singer's estate, estimated at around $US400 million.
Sony Music said the first disc of the album will feature some of
Jackson's greatest hits plus two versions of the new single.
The second disc will include unreleased versions of some of the
singer's classic tracks and a spoken word poem entitled Planet
Earth performed by Jackson and never heard before.
Have you heard the new single? What do you think of it. Have your say on the messageboard below:
Add a Comment:
Post new commentKieran said on 2009-10-13 @ 20:02 NZDT: Report abusive post
I listened to the new song within minutes of release, I quite like the song to be honest. Sure it ain't no complete masterpiece like Thriller or Smooth Criminal, but it's still a song I'd like to listen to over and over again.
tommyc said on 2009-10-13 @ 14:57 NZDT: Report abusive post
It sure ain't no Beethoven's 9th. I've heard better at Eurovision, the deaf version, from Tonedeaftlia, on the border of Crapitztan.
lemur said on 2009-10-13 @ 14:42 NZDT: Report abusive post
yup, sounds like pretty much every other MJ song in the last 20 years... whiney and dull. there's probably an equally mawkish music video to go along with it i'm sure it will be a hit. gag.