Michael Jackson Factbook

Childhood #5. Prodigy

"Michael Jackson wasn't an artist who appears once every ten years, once in a generation or once in a lifetime. He was an artist who appears only once, period. I was lucky to I met him when he was nine years old. Even then he radiated something so captivating that I have with it, frankly, did not board. How can a child impress me like that? It was such a strong sensation that I immediately forgot my doubts about the business of "child performers' and rushed to create Michael and his brothers such conditions, which will enrich and expand their talent.

Even then he was very aware himself. He knew he was special. And yet he could dance, sing or play like anyone else - but he wanted to do better. Pushed by his hunger for learning, the constant self-overcoming, after being the best. He was an excellent student. He learned from the best and tried to be even better. He raised his bar high and then overcome it. He had talent and creativity, which he fired into the stratosphere together with the level of fun. "

"Michael was full of fun, but he was a studier. He would study everybody. And as the other kids might be playing with each other, hitting each other, doing something, Michael was always focusing on whatever I or anybody else was saying about what they should be doing. And he was a man beyond his years. He was... when he did the song "Who's Loving You" the Smoky Robinson song, he sounded like he had been living that song for 50 years. We could not believe this old man in this young kid's body."

"As a kid Michael was always beyond his years, he was an innovator, he was a genius at what he did. He had a knowingness about him. At 9 years old, when I first started working with him, he seemed to me like he had been here before. He was just so knowledgeable about life."

"Michael was a born star. He was nine years old when the Jacksons auditioned for me. He was the classic example of understanding everything. He watched me like a hawk. He had a depth that was so vast, it was just incredible."

Berry Gordy, Motown founder

"If he just had done only what he did as a child, he would be a genius, for whom he is now considered. Because it is not natural for a child to sing that way, with such depth, with so much emotion with such interpretation, intensity, purity and sensitivity. The only musician to whom I can compare him is Mozart."

Lenny Kravitz, singer

What do I Michael remember for most is his laugh, his charisma, his charm. It seemed as if it was an old soul. When he performed, he did moves that only a seasoned veteran like James Brown could handle."

J. Randy Taraborrelli, biographer