Don Cornelious, the creator and a host of the TV musical show ‘Soul Train,’ recounted his discovery of the then young Michael Jackson.
“I met Michael Jackson at the age of 8, when his father and my new friend, Joe Jackson, first began to bring the Jackson 5 to Chicago, from their home in Gary, Indiana, for concert appearances,” Cornelius tells Spinner. “The word of the Jackson 5’s devastating abilities as concert artists had already begun to spread like an out-of-control forest fire to the laser-like attention of all Chicago area R&B music stars,” he added.
“The prevailing thought process among local R&B stars with respect to this very young group of entertainers known as the Jackson 5 had become, ‘If Michael Jackson and his brothers were booked on an upcoming Chicagoland show, leave it alone! Don't book it! Don't go on that show and get completely blown away by young Michael and the Jackson 5!’”
On Michael Jackson himself, Cornelius said, “Michael Jackson's personal crescendo of amazing power as an entertainer was clear and unmistakable, and has never slowed to this very day! His passing will be grieved far beyond that of any other singer, composer, producer, dancer and choreographer in the history of the world. Indeed, in my very firmest personal belief, there will never, ever, be another Michael Jackson!”
