The Off The Wall years; 1978-1981, would see Michael Jackson grow up musically. He starred in his first major motion picture and he would set the first of many world records with his first solo album for Epic records.
In October 1978, Michael’s first motion picture was released, called “The Wiz”. The Wiz was a Motown and Universal motion picture soul adaptation of the book “The Wizard of Oz”. Michael auditioned for and gained the role of the scarecrow in the film and moved to New York with his sister LaToya in October 1977 for filming. Michael’s good friend Diana Ross starred as Dorothy in the film.
The Wiz cost approximately $24 million to make and was directed by Sidney Lumet. It featured hundreds of dancers, spectacular costumes, elaborate makeup and special effects. It was one of the most expensive films ever made and took over a year in production. Michael’s makeup for the scarecrow took five hours to apply each day.
When the film was released, it was unfortunately a box office failure. However, Michael’s performance in the film was critically praised and the film received four Academy Award nominations, including: Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Original Music Score and Best Cinematography. The film was released on home video in 1980 and today it has a large cult following.
Michael sang in 6 of the movie soundtrack’s songs, including “You Can’t Win” and “Ease on Down the Road”, both of which were released as singles in 1979. “You Can’t Win” was Michael’s first solo single for Epic records and it remained in the charts in the US for three weeks. The Soundtrack for The Wiz would mark the first time Michael would work with producer Quincy Jones.
Michael had mentioned to Quincy Jones while they were on the set of The Wiz that he was looking for a producer for his next solo album. Quincy recommended himself and quickly signed on to produce Michael’s first solo album in four years, to be called “Off The Wall”.
Michael and Quincy went into the studio in December 1978 and chose between hundreds of songs for the album. They collaborated with several musicians and writers who would become long time colleagues of Michael’s.
On July 28th 1979, Michael released the first single from the forthcoming album; “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”. The song was solely written by Michael and featured a spoken intro, a surprising falsetto voice and amazing percussion by Michael and his brother Randy. The song was released with a bright music video that featured Michael dancing in triplicate in the song’s bridge. It was his first “short film” and it was directed by Nick Saxon. The song went to number 1 in the US and Australia and was a top 10 hit in 6 countries.
On August 10th, Michael released the album Off The Wall. It was his fifth overall solo album, but his first ever for Epic records. The album was recorded between December 4 1978 and July 7, 1979. Michael contributed three songs to Off The Wall: “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”, “Working Day and Night” and “Get on the Floor” (co-written with Louis Johnson). Michael and Quincy sought top writers and musicians for the album, with Rod Temperton who contributed three tracks:
“Rock With You”, “Off The Wall” and “Burn This Disco Out”, Paul McCartney contributed the playful “Girlfriend”, Tom Bahler gave the emotional “She’s Out of My Life” and Stevie Wonder and Susaye Greene offered the quirky “I Can’t Help It”. There was one duet between Michael and Patti Austin called “It’s the Falling in Love”, which was written by Carole Bayer Sager and David Foster.
All Michael Jackson..
In October 1978, Michael’s first motion picture was released, called “The Wiz”. The Wiz was a Motown and Universal motion picture soul adaptation of the book “The Wizard of Oz”. Michael auditioned for and gained the role of the scarecrow in the film and moved to New York with his sister LaToya in October 1977 for filming. Michael’s good friend Diana Ross starred as Dorothy in the film.
The Wiz cost approximately $24 million to make and was directed by Sidney Lumet. It featured hundreds of dancers, spectacular costumes, elaborate makeup and special effects. It was one of the most expensive films ever made and took over a year in production. Michael’s makeup for the scarecrow took five hours to apply each day.
When the film was released, it was unfortunately a box office failure. However, Michael’s performance in the film was critically praised and the film received four Academy Award nominations, including: Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Original Music Score and Best Cinematography. The film was released on home video in 1980 and today it has a large cult following.
Michael sang in 6 of the movie soundtrack’s songs, including “You Can’t Win” and “Ease on Down the Road”, both of which were released as singles in 1979. “You Can’t Win” was Michael’s first solo single for Epic records and it remained in the charts in the US for three weeks. The Soundtrack for The Wiz would mark the first time Michael would work with producer Quincy Jones.
Michael had mentioned to Quincy Jones while they were on the set of The Wiz that he was looking for a producer for his next solo album. Quincy recommended himself and quickly signed on to produce Michael’s first solo album in four years, to be called “Off The Wall”.
Michael and Quincy went into the studio in December 1978 and chose between hundreds of songs for the album. They collaborated with several musicians and writers who would become long time colleagues of Michael’s.
On July 28th 1979, Michael released the first single from the forthcoming album; “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”. The song was solely written by Michael and featured a spoken intro, a surprising falsetto voice and amazing percussion by Michael and his brother Randy. The song was released with a bright music video that featured Michael dancing in triplicate in the song’s bridge. It was his first “short film” and it was directed by Nick Saxon. The song went to number 1 in the US and Australia and was a top 10 hit in 6 countries.
On August 10th, Michael released the album Off The Wall. It was his fifth overall solo album, but his first ever for Epic records. The album was recorded between December 4 1978 and July 7, 1979. Michael contributed three songs to Off The Wall: “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”, “Working Day and Night” and “Get on the Floor” (co-written with Louis Johnson). Michael and Quincy sought top writers and musicians for the album, with Rod Temperton who contributed three tracks:
“Rock With You”, “Off The Wall” and “Burn This Disco Out”, Paul McCartney contributed the playful “Girlfriend”, Tom Bahler gave the emotional “She’s Out of My Life” and Stevie Wonder and Susaye Greene offered the quirky “I Can’t Help It”. There was one duet between Michael and Patti Austin called “It’s the Falling in Love”, which was written by Carole Bayer Sager and David Foster.
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All Michael Jackson..
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