_{George Atwell is the organist and composer-in-residence at the First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. Back in the day, though, he was a musician at Orlando’s Bee Jay Studios, where he had the opportunity to record demos with Michael Jackson on one of his trips to Central Florida. Atwell was kind enough to send along his recollections in an email that I will post below. He says that Jackson impressed him with his professionalism, his ability to perform musically with precision, his kindness and his childlike enthusiasm. If there was a dark, odd side, to his personality, Atwell says, Jackson never displayed it. Atwell did some of the work on the jackson tracks (which have never been released to his knowledge) at jackson’s private suite at Disney’s Royal Plaza. He says the elevator was ringing all night, as the curious traveled upstairs to possibly get a look at the King of Pop. We’ll let Atwell take it from here:}

 

_{"After “Thriller” was released and had become so hugely popular, Michael Jackson came to Orlando on vacation and through mutual musician friends in LA and Orlando, he asked us to help him do 4 demos of songs that were in his head. I was staff producer at Bee Jay Recording studios in Orlando at the time, and we gathered up keyboards, Linn Drum machine, guitar, and bass and the 4 of us met him at the Royal Plaza hotel (on the 13th floor). He was extremely nice, polite, and concerned that we were OK…..not too tired, ‘do you want any food’, etc. He was endorsing Pepsi at the time and the first thing we saw in the sink were 3 large Pepsi bottles…..a true endorsee!}

 

_{Since Michael didn’t read music, he took each of us one by one, into a work/music room and went over each part until he got what he wanted to hear. He would sing the part and we’d play it back and then modify it, change voicings, chord structures, etc. until he’d say: ‘yes, that’s it!’}

 

_{Incidentally there was a guard seated outside his room and while we were working into the wee hours, we could hear the elevator ring all night as fans tried to come up and get a glimpse of Michael. They would try to bribe the guard with anything (use your imagination!) to let them in, but he, of course wouldn’t. In this way we worked out the tunes at the hotel; then took everything to the recording studio, where we laid down all the tracks and he would then sing over them. The thing I remember most about those sessions, was the fact that vocally, he never missed! The only time they had to roll the tape back was if the engineer was late on a punch in or something technical went wrong. He sang the lead vocals and all 3 background vocal parts, stacking them 3 times each and never missed. He didn’t go to the piano and work out the vocal backgrounds (as is usually done), but simply pulled the parts out of the air! The incredible “feel” and sense of rhythm of his “finger snaps” while he was doing the “guide tracks” for us to work from is forever indelible in my brain. There was a very precise “groove spot’ in relation to the beat that only he seemed to know how to find.}

 

_{At the studio we all sat in the TV lounge and watched the premier of “Thriller” on MTV. He was just like a little kid….couldn’t believe his video was playing on MTV, couldn’t believe “Thriller” the album, was #1 on the charts….and this after his many #1 hits in his career up until that time (he was 24).}

 

_{I asked him why he didn’t learn to read music and he replied: ‘God had given him this gift and he was afraid that learning too much about the intellectual side of music would mess it up.’}

 

_{He had a traveling companion, an elderly gentleman that he said had been with him for 16 years, and loved to tease him and play jokes on him if he fell asleep, etc.}

 

_{He received daily edits of the Thriller video from LA and we watched them together. The first time, he had us all gather around the TV, got popcorn, and snacks, drinks, etc. and when he played the tape he found to his horror that a house guest had taped the 11:00 news over the video! He was so embarrassed and kept saying how sorry he was, and he couldn’t see how this could happen, etc., so he invited all back to see it the next night. He thought the world of John Landis and Quincy Jones, though he did say he and Quincy got into it because Quincy didn’t want “Billie Jean” on the album…didn’t think the tune was strong enough or something. Well, we all know who prevailed on that issue!}

 

_{We have very fond memories of that time when Michael was unaffected by riches and fame, was a truly caring and wonderful person to be around. My son, Michael (who played and programmed the Linn Drum machine) was 14 at the time and this was his very first paying recording session……..what a way to start your resume! We have great pictures with him and of course an autographed copy of “Thriller.” He pointed out to us the tendons bulging in his arm from having to hold the baby tiger so tight because it was biting the heck out of him!}

 

_{Good-bye Michael……..you will be missed, but for those who had the privilege of working and knowing you, your “presence” will never be forgotten.”}