Chapter 3
Big Changes
By the time Michael was fourteen years old, he was miserable about the way he looked. He wasn’t a cute little kid anymore. Often fans were surprised or disappointed when they met him. Some didn’t even recognize him! They were hoping to meet the person who was on the cover of the Jackson 5 albums. Now he was a skinny teenager, growing tall.
The growth spurt wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was his face. It broke out in pimples. His father and brothers teased him about it all the time. They teased him about his nose, too, saying it was too big.
Michael couldn’t stand to look in the mirror. He even washed his face in the dark, so he wouldn’t have to look at himself!
From then on, Michael became super shy. He spoke in a very soft voice. He couldn’t look people in the eye. He didn’t even want to go out in public.
Michael’s father didn’t show much respect for Michael’s feelings. Sometimes he brought fans into Michael’s hotel room—while Michael was sleeping! Michael would wake up, and his fans would be right there, staring at him.
As time went on, Michael focused more and more on looking better. For Michael that meant finding ways to cover up his face.
Other things were changing in Michael’s life, too. As he got older, he wanted to have more control over his own music. He wanted to write his own songs.
Michael talked to Berry Gordy about it, but Gordy said no.
So in 1976, the Jacksons left Motown. Michael was almost eighteen years old. Joe made a deal with CBS Records for $3.5 million. That was a huge amount of money. Best of all, now Michael could write his own songs and control how the records sounded.
The only problem was that Jermaine Jackson didn’t want to leave Motown. He was an adult now—and he had married Berry Gordy’s daughter. So Jermaine quit the band. Randy Jackson took Jermaine’s place. From then on, they couldn’t call themselves the Jackson 5. Motown owned the name. So they just called themselves The Jacksons.
Michael was sorry to leave Berry Gordy, but Michael was a smart businessman by now.
A year later, Michael got an exciting call from Diana Ross. She wanted him to be in a movie with her. Diana was going to star in The Wiz. The story was based on The Wizard of Oz, but it was set in New York City. Michael would get to play the Scarecrow. He was so happy because he had to wear a lot of makeup. It covered up his pimples. He also loved dancing in the film.
Diana complained that Michael learned his dances too fast and it made everyone else look bad. Michael couldn’t help it. When it came to dancing, he was just that good.
The Wiz was not a hit. In fact, it was a flop. But Michael had loved making the movie. That was part of his dream now— to become a movie star.
On the set of The Wiz, Michael became good friends with a man who would change his life in many ways. That man was Quincy Jones.
Quincy was a brilliant record producer, just like Berry Gordy. But Quincy didn’t work for Motown. He worked for himself. Like Berry, he was kind and helpful to Michael. One day, on the movie set, Quincy heard Michael pronounce a word wrong. Very quietly, he told Michael how to say it the right way. Michael was so grateful. From that moment on, the two of them were friends. Quincy became like a father to Michael.
The timing was perfect for Michael. Now that Michael had left Motown, he was getting ready to make some changes in his own music. Quincy Jones was the right person to help make that happen.
In August 1979, Michael put out a solo album produced by Quincy. The album was called Off the Wall. Quincy talked other big stars into writing songs for the album. Paul McCartney—one of the Beatles—wrote one of the songs.
That same month, Michael turned twenty-one. Now he was old enough to make all his own decisions.
His first decision was a big one. He decided to fire his manager. But his manager was his father! Michael knew that his father had done a pretty good job for their family at first. He had created the Jackson 5 and brought them to Motown.
But Michael didn’t want Joe running his life anymore. From now on, Michael was going to run his own life—and no one would be able to tell him what to do.