Jacko

Plenty of Jackson memories in the Rogers household. We we're all very taken with the film version of The Wiz, produced by Quincy Jones (who added some songs by Ashford & Simpson to the original musical score). Michael Jackson was The Scarecrow (to Diana Ross' rather-too-old take on Dorothy. We saw it at The Dominion in Tottenham Court Road in its cinema days - upstairs, and oddly, seated not far away from Joan Collins.


It was after The Wiz that Michael Jackson asked Quincy for advice on a producer, and Mr Jones said look no further. They worked together on "Off the Wall", and one of Jackson's original compositions was "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" (lyrics which alarmed his parents). It owes quite a bit to Earth Wind & Fire, but it was the first emergence of the Jackson falsetto, and provided him with his first number one in seven years (after Ben).

My friend Stan had it on a 45, with the middle missing, and it was amongst a number of key singles I "borrowed" from him and have not yet returned. Over the following years I played it as "first record" at a number of parties and weddings...never finding a clip to slot in the middle, and always attempting to line it up on the mat like a potter's wheel. The string section intro nearly always gets someone up dancing.