Michael's Private Meeting with Berry
In January 1975, Motown released Michael Jackson's fourth solo album,
Forever Michael.
It was not a success, peaking at only 101 on the charts, eight notches lower than Michael's poorly selling
Music and Me
album. Neither album would even make the Top 50 in the UK, and the rest of Europe also showed dismal sales. ‘That's it!’ Joseph decided. ‘He's not recording any more solo albums for Gordy. That man's gonna ruin Michael!’
Joseph had become increasingly agitated by Motown's lack of promotion and Berry's contention that the group had no potential to write or produce their own music. Joseph realized that his sons would never make big money unless they owned the publishing rights to their own songs. If an artist writes his own material, he makes not only an artist's royalty, but an additional royalty, since songwriters are paid a royalty on every record that is sold. At this time, the rate was an additional two cents per copy sold, split fifty-fifty with the song's publisher. Therefore, the B-side of a million-selling song, the side that rarely if ever gets radio airplay, could be worth up to twenty thousand dollars. At least, Joseph reasoned, the boys should be able to write their own B-sides. Was that too much to ask?
Most of Berry's songwriters were signed to Jobete, his publishing company. Therefore, they had to split their two cents with Berry. Joseph wanted his boys to establish their
own
publishing company so that they could keep the money in the family. The more he pressed the idea forward, the more Berry resisted it.
In the past, Berry had always been reluctant to share the money generated from publishing rights to Motown songs. At this same time, Smokey Robinson, Berry's closest friend, was negotiating with Berry to allow him to publish his own songs, as well. Jobete owned all of Smokey's songs, too, and Smokey, like Joseph Jackson, wanted a bigger piece of the pie. Eventually, Berry did allow Smokey to share that money, so he could be swayed. However, persistence was always the key when it came to getting Berry Gordy to do something about which he was reluctant. Smokey and Berry were friends, yet Smokey had to endure a fair amount of tough negotiation. What could Joseph – certainly no friend – expect from Berry? It seemed that he and his sons would have little chance of controlling publishing rights to their material as long he and Berry had such a contentious relationship. Ewart Abner was now practically running the record division of Motown, anyway… someone else Joseph disliked.
Joseph's mind was made up: The Jackson 5 would have to leave Motown.
Was it even possible? If not for Berry and Motown, where would The Jackson 5 be? Perhaps, still in Gary, Indiana, was the answer. Still, if the circumstances didn't soon change at Motown, it was clear that the group's commercial future would be in jeopardy.
Though the group hadn't yet voted on the decision – and it's likely that Joseph's vote would sway his sons – Michael said later that he knew the brothers would agree with his father. Michael was as unhappy as the rest of the family about what was going on at Motown, yet he still felt a loyalty to Berry. After all, it was largely due to Berry's confidence in The Jackson 5 that the family now found itself in a position to be able to pick and choose among other record companies. This was a major decision for young Michael, and he didn't want his father, a man he didn't trust, or even like, making it for him.
The other Jacksons thought of Michael as being bashful and reserved, which was certainly true in most cases. However, there was another dimension to Michael, a side he did not often show but which was there just the same: his resolve. Where his future at Motown was concerned, sixteen-year-old Michael Jackson was prepared to take matters into his own hands. He picked up the phone in his bedroom and dialled. ‘Mr Gordy,’ he said, ‘you and I need to talk.’
None of the Jackson brothers had ever had a private meeting with Berry Gordy. Until now, there had never been a reason for one. It's unlikely that Berry would have consented to meet with Jackie, Marlon, Randy or Tito. None of them possessed Michael's commercial voice or magical showmanship. And Berry felt he owed it to the teenager to hear him out. Though he liked Michael, he considered him shy and meek, hardly the person to be blunt and forthright. Therefore, he was probably intrigued by the notion of a private conference with him.
Michael didn't care how his father felt about his decision to meet with Berry. In fact, he didn't discuss it with him. Still angry at Joseph for all he had done to Katherine, not to mention the abuse he had heaped upon his sons, Michael made up his own mind. Also, Michael would say later that his intuition told him the difficult situation with Motown could have been resolved sooner if only Joseph hadn't been so ill-tempered and possessive.
Others at the label agreed. Smokey Robinson said, in retrospect, ‘Joe never got used to Berry being the one to tell his kids what to do. He believed that since he was their father, he was their boss, and that was the end of that. But Joe wasn't a businessman. He kept screwing things up and pissing people off. No one wanted to do business with him, and that was a poor reflection not only on the Jacksons but also on Berry and Motown. Without Joe's involvement, Berry would have worked things out with the Jacksons the way he did with me, Stevie Wonder, and anyone else who was unhappy at Motown, but ultimately stayed on.’
Nor did Michael tell his brothers of his plan to meet with Berry, since he felt certain that they would try to talk him out of it. The Jacksons prided themselves on one vote each, even though Joseph's vote usually trumped everyone else's. Most certainly, Michael's siblings would have felt that by meeting with Berry he was seizing more power than he was entitled to have as part of the group.
Michael and Berry arranged to meet at the Gordy estate in Bel Air on 14 May 1975. ‘It was one of the most difficult things I've ever done,’ Michael would recall. Mustering up his courage, he laid his cards on the table.
‘We're all unhappy, Mr Gordy,’ he said, according to his memory. ‘Do you really want us to leave Motown?’
‘Well, Michael, someone as smart as you,’ Berry began, ‘should know that without Motown, The Jackson 5 would still be in Gary, Indiana, today.’
Michael wasn't cowed by the fact that Berry had apparently decided to play the guilt card. ‘That doesn't answer my question,’ he told him.
Michael would later recall that he complained to Berry about the fact that Motown would not allow the brothers to write or produce their own music or control publishing rights. He was unhappy because he hadn't been allowed to contribute to The Jackson 5's most recent album,
Dancing Machine,
despite the fact that he thought he had some strong songs he could have added to the package. If he could have had just one song on the album, Michael said, it would have shown that Gordy had confidence in him as a songwriter.
Berry remained calm. ‘I've been hearing this from my artists for years,’ he said. ‘However, we can work it out, Michael. Look, I worked it out with Stevie [Wonder], and Marvin [Gaye], didn't I?’ He was clear. He said he did not want the group to leave Motown. However, he added, ‘If you think you can get a better deal somewhere else, then you have to go somewhere else, I guess. But it just won't be right… or fair.’
In Michael's eyes, Berry Gordy was a hero. He respected him and admired the tenacity with which he had transformed The Jackson 5 of Gary, Indiana, from local homeboys to international superstars. He thought of Berry as one of the smartest men he had ever known, and was amazed by the way he had made Motown such an international success story. Berry was an inspiration to Michael. To hear him now say that the Jackson family was being unfair to him – after he had brought the group to Los Angeles, made arrangements for their living conditions, paid for their educations, and made them stars – was difficult for Michael.
‘What makes you think you can write or produce your own hit?’ Berry asked Michael.
‘I just know it,’ was Michael's quick answer.
Berry looked at him sceptically. ‘I don't know that that's good enough.’
‘Well, what made
you
think you could build Motown into what it is today?’
Berry didn't answer.
‘You just
knew
it, right?’ Michael challenged.
Berry flashed a tolerant grin. ‘He nodded at me as if to say, “You're going places, kid,”’ Michael recalled. It ended with Berry emphasizing that he thought of himself as a father-figure to Michael, yet also stressing that it was important for the teenager to honour his natural father. ‘He said he believed I would do what was best,’ Michael told me later, when remembering the meeting. Michael added that he ‘felt a little sick about the whole thing’, especially when Berry hugged him as he was leaving because, in his gut, he knew that no matter what he expressed to Joseph and the brothers about it, the cards were stacked against the Jacksons staying with Motown.
‘I can promise you this,’ Berry concluded, ‘I won't do anything to hurt you or your family.’
Michael's meeting with Berry Gordy showed surprising initiative, as well as no small measure of courage for a teenager. It was the first hint to many at the time that he was more than just a child prodigy. He had moxie. He seemed to understand what his father didn't: that there are times when it makes sense to sit down with your opponent and try to reason with him. In his own uncomplicated way, Michael was able to cut through some of the rhetoric that had lately been so prevalent in the communication between Berry and the Jackson family. He was able to extract from Berry a promise that he would not do anything to hurt the family, which was quite a statement for him to make, and seemed genuine.
Joseph had heard from an associate at Motown that Michael had seen Berry in private. Imagine his fury. When Michael got back to Encino, he was pacing in the living room like a caged animal waiting for dinner. Michael would not discuss with me the details of the argument that ensued between him and his father, but it isn't difficult to imagine that Joseph made it clear that, in his view, Michael was out of his league in trying to negotiate with someone like Berry Gordy. Once he calmed down, he had to admire his son's nerve, though. At least, one would hope so. The brothers, however, were annoyed.
‘Michael had no right to meet with Berry Gordy,’ Jackie said, years later. ‘It was unfair of him to go behind our backs. We were all mad at him. And really, what did he accomplish?’
Perhaps Michael didn't accomplish much in terms of The Jackson 5's future at Motown, but his meeting with Berry was an important personal milestone. He had obtained Berry's attention, which was something even his father, as well as his brothers (with the exception of Jermaine), had not been able to do. However, it did set him apart from the brothers and, from this time onward, none of the brothers would be warm to any suggestion that Michael be further individualized from the group. ‘Michael always had his own idea of how things should be done,’ Marlon Jackson once said. ‘But The Jackson 5 was a group, not his special project, and his was just one vote.’ In other words, Marlon saw the writing on the wall.
The night after Michael's meeting with Berry, Joseph called a group meeting in the living room of their Encino home. All of the brothers were expected to appear, except for Randy and Jermaine. Young Randy had no say in any group matters, at this time. Jermaine was on holiday with Hazel, but he probably would have been excluded, anyway, since the family felt he had lost his objectivity about Motown. Jermaine later said, ‘Because of me being married to Hazel, they thought they couldn't trust me so they kept me in the dark.’
Jackie, Tito, Marlon, Michael and Joseph voted unanimously to leave Motown. Michael was ambivalent, but he knew it wasn't smart to be the one dissenting vote. What good would it do him, anyway?
‘I just want it to be done fairly, and something about this doesn't seem fair to me,’ Michael said. ‘Berry made us stars. Don't forget that.’
‘Look, Berry's fine, but it's over,’ one of the brothers said. ‘It's time for us to be making the big bucks.’
‘I agree,’ said another one. ‘It's time to go. We're dying at Motown.’
‘He said he wouldn't hurt us,’ Michael said, trying to stick up for Berry.
‘Yeah, right,’ Joseph said, sarcastically. ‘Look, it's settled,’ he concluded.
‘But what about Jermaine?’ Michael wanted to know.
‘I'll take care of Jermaine,’ Joseph said. ‘What doI always tell you kids?’
‘There are winners in this life, and losers,’ Michael said, parroting his father's credo. ‘And none of my kids are ever gonna be losers.’
Joseph smiled. ‘If we stay at Motown,’ he concluded, ‘we lose. And we're not losing.’