“Michael stole a lot of stuff. He stole a lot of songs. [Donna Summer’s] ‘State of Independence’ and ‘Billie Jean.’ The notes don’t lie, man. He was as Machiavellian as they come . . . Greedy, man. Greedy.
”By Stacy Brown New York Post
Michael’s family isn’t taking the comments of his mentor and longtime collaborator sitting down.
“He must have the first stages of dementia,” a family member said of the 84-year-old Jones.
Joe Jackson, Michael’s father, has a different take he told Page Six that he believed Jones was “quite jealous of Michael because he’s never worked with someone with all of that talent.”
(Aside from Jackson, Jones has produced and worked with Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Count Basie, Ray Charles, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin and many others.)
“He says my son stole it, but he was the producer on both [‘Billie Jean’ and ‘State of Independence’], so if anybody is wrong it would be Quincy,” Jackson said, reiterating that he believed that no part of “Billie Jean”was lifted.
Another relative believes Jones has “quietly carried a vendetta” against Michael, who died in 2009, for a while.
“It goes way back, and [Jones] recently got money from Michael’s estate,” the relative said, alluding to the producer’s recent $9.4 million court victory against the late singer’s estate, recovering past unpaid royalties.
But the fallout between Michael and Jones really began more than 30 years ago, the relative said. Back then, the musical pair disagreed on whether Jones deserved a shot at a Grammy for having produced the 1982 smash-hit album “Thriller.”
“Michael did all of the work. It’s his music and everyone knows Michael’s sound — and ‘Thriller’ was all Michael Jackson,” the family source said.
About The Beatles he said
“They were the worst musicians in the world,” he told interviewer David Marchese. “They were no-playing motherfuckers.”
Drummer Ringo Starr came in for particular opprobrium: “And Ringo? Don’t even talk about it.I remember once we were in the studio with George Martin,” Jones recalled arranging Love Is a Many Splendoured Thing for Starr’s 1970 solo album Sentimental Journey. “Ringo had taken three hours for a four-bar thing he was trying to fix on a song. He couldn’t get it. We said, ‘Mate, why don’t you get some lager and lime, some shepherd’s pie, and take an hour-and-a-half and relax a little bit.’”
So he did, and we called Ronnie Verrell, a jazz drummer. Ronnie came in for 15 minutes and tore it up. Ringo comes back and says, “George, can you play it back for me one more time?” So George did, and Ringo says, “That didn’t sound so bad.” And I said, “Yeah, motherf*cker because it ain’t you.” Great guy, though. (vulture)
