Michael Jackson 'two different people'

26 Jun 2009, 12:07 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Australian pop guru Molly Meldrum says Michael Jackson was a different person when he was not performing. "He was two different people, I think," Meldrum said.

Australian pop guru Molly Meldrum says Michael Jackson was a different person when he was not performing. "He was two different people, I think," Meldrum said.

"He would whisper, if you were interviewing him. "But then, the moment he hit the stage, he was something else then. It was just extraordinary really."

The pop superstar died at 2.26pm local time in Los Angeles (0726 AEST). His death was confirmed by the Los Angeles County coroner's office. Early reports said he died of a heart attack.

"The first time I interviewed Michael Jackson was when he was still with The Jackson Five," Meldrum told Fairfax Radio Network.

"Then he was just obviously a kid but ... by the time he was nine years old he was like a superstar in the world and basically was flown into that arena and, in my mind, never came out of that arena."

Meldrum recalled an interview he did with Jackson at Studio 54 in New York when he was about to launch as a solo artist.

The record company representative at the time said not to worry too much about it.

"(He) more or less said to me, well don't worry about that because we don't really think it's going to work."

But they did manage to do the interview. "We were running late and I said don't worry, he won't be there.

We pulled up and there huddled in a corner was Michael Jackson waiting for us. No bouncers, no nothing and he actually came into the studio and helped us set up the lighting and he was just so captivated by the camera the cameraman had. And he just giggled his way right through the interview."

But Jackson was quite a different person when he was performing, Meldrum said. "He was just a craftsman and such an amazing performer on stage," he said.

"The moonwalk was something else .. the thing is that he'd studied so hard as a dancer and he wanted to be the Fred Astaire of the modern day."

Commenting on the successive changes in Jackson's appearance, he said it had a lot to do with his secluded life as a child. "(Jackson's brother) Jermaine would often tell me that for Michael it was really hard where the rest of the boys ... were able to go out and play with their friends, Joe, their father always insisted that Michael would have to keep rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing.

"So he spent a lot of his life almost in the house itself and when he wasn't rehearsing he was watching shows like The Partridge Family, My Three Sons, Leave It To Beaver, whatever, where there were no Afro-American actors in any of those sitcoms.

"And he started to think that the only way he would make it in the world was to be white, you know, which was horrendous."

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