MJ Was Reportedly Working On 2 Albums!!

According to an exclusive report by prestigious Billboard magazine, recently Michael was not working on one but two albums: one in the pop vein and another with an instrumental classical composition.

On the pop album he was working with songwriter Claude Kelly and Akon. Akon says that Michael was motivated by the ticket sales for his performances.

"He said, 'My fans are still there. They still love me. They're alive,'" Akon says. "His kids are like his first priority, and they had never seen him perform live. He was trying to create the most incredible show for his kids."

Kelly, who wrote "Hold My Hand," the Akon-produced duet that leaked last year, says Michael never lost his passion.

"He was the King of Pop, the biggest to ever do it, and the one thing you never lose—whether known by the whole world or just 10 people—is your love for music. That never goes away, and it never went away for him amidst his troubles."

Composer David Michael Frank had worked with Michael on the 1989 Sammy Davis jr. TV tribute. He received a call from the Michael's assistant two months ago about collaborating again. Michael invited him to his LA home. He told him he was working on an instrumental album of classical music and asked for help with orchestration.

"He had two demos of two pieces he'd written, but they weren't complete," says Frank, who adds that he was impressed with Michael's knowledge of classical music. "For one of them, he had a whole section of it done in his head. He had not recorded it. He hummed it to me as I sat at the keyboard in his pool house and we figured out the chords—I guess this recording I made is the only copy that exists of this music."

A few weeks ago, Michael called again to see how Frank was progressing on the orchestrations.

"He mentioned more instrumental music of his he wanted to record, including one jazz piece. I hope one day his family will decide to record this music as a tribute and show the world the depth of his artistry."

Greg Phillinganes, a keyboardist who collaborated with Michael as musical director of the "Bad" tour and appeared on several of his albums, says he sounded as good as he ever did.

"He still had a good voice and never had a problem singing. There were questions about him being able to pull off the tour on the choreography side, but sources working with him told me he was dancing all the time, every day, and was very focused, excited and committed to making this tour the best it could be."

Akon last spoke to Michael three months prior to his death.

"He would always tell me to eat right and ask me if I was exercising and drinking water. He'd always stress you had to take care of yourself before you can go off and do anything else."

Frank agrees:

"He seemed totally healthy, not frail, and gave me a firm handshake when we met. He seemed in good health, had a good voice and was in good spirits.He was very skinny, but from what I knew, he was always thin. He was also taller than I pictured, but he might have been wearing some platform shoes. And he was impeccably dressed."

Much has been made of Michael's intense rehearsal schedule, but Phillinganes says that Michael lived up to his reputation as a perfectionist.

"It was the biggest comeback of his career, arguably the biggest comeback in pop music—even bigger than Elvis. So obviously he'd want to do the best he could. He never did anything half-assed, which is what originally got him to the stature he had."

MJFC / Bilboard / MJFC