Susanne De Passe and Tony Jones : Living with Casper

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Motowns Suzanne de Passe and Tony Jones were given the responsibility of taking care of the J5 off stage during their rise to fame and couldnt help but be charmed by young Michaels fun-loving spirit

TJ: In the summer of 69 Suzanne had leased a house that I had a room in off Sunset Boulevard. Mr Gordy summoned everybody and it was soon clear that these kids were going to the top. Michael, Jermaine and Jackie came out to LA to record I Want You Back and two other songs for the album. The other part of the album was done in Detroit. The boys stayed at the house with us, so from the very beginning Suzanne and I were more like surrogate parents who were old enough and empowered enough to tell them what to do, but at the same time young enough to have a little groove with them. For example, Jackie is only five years younger than me. And that created a very unique relationship.

SdP: Tony and I were the boys Motown connection, if you will, to everything besides the records. The relationship that developed was a very intensely personal one because we were suddenly involved in every aspect of the boys lives. That applied to Tony in particular because there were boy things that needed taking care of that, frankly, I could not do. I believe that if you know someone before they are famous and you end up taking that ride with them its a completely different thing to meeting someone after they are famous. Tony and I had the opportunity to really be in the early architecture of those young lives and whatever we were charged with the responsibility of doing, we did.

TJ:The group dynamics were interesting, especially with Michael.

SdP:From the very beginning Michael was clearly large and in charge, even though he was the runt of the liter. He was a phenomenon really and a showman. From day one he knew what the job was, what was expected of him and he did it 1000 per cent everytime. Even when he was not in the mood he would find something within him to really buck up and get with it and, when it counted, I never saw him give a half-hearted performance.

TJ: Never. He was always different to the rest of them. He fooled around but he always nailed it. The other boys sometimes jammed it, you know, as kids would do. But Michael was unique. He would stop in his tracks when something came up for him to do and ask you exactly what it was so he would have a grip on it. He could embrace the thought and own it because he was on a quest to learn. I used to call him the human sponge because he just soaked up everything.

SdP: Michael definitely commanded front and center onstage but offstage is when the scales went back into balance. Suddenly he was a little kid who had four older brothers.

TJ: They would hold him in check to have an element of control because the truth is he was everything to the show and they were in his shadow. But offstage they would try to flip it and he let them do it in a very smart way. But he knew how to get his way when it counted, especially with Mr Gordy. I think Michael really had high beams on, where the others didnt. You could see it. He enjoyed the business as a child.

SdP:Michael was very mischievous too. I started calling him Casper [after the friendly ghost] because he liked to hide. When we were on the road everybody used to leave their doors open and there was a lot of back and forth up and down the halls. Invariably I might go over to Tonys room and then wed come back and something would be different, either Michael was behind the shower curtain or in the closet. He got a big kick out of hiding anywhere in the room he could. And then he would emerge and make up something that he pretended hed heard us say, which was not true. He would say, I heard you say that. I heard you say that, yes I did! He was funny.

From then on, to me he was Casper and I dont think I called him Michael again after that, ever. I remember this particular time backstage at one of the award shows he had an armful of trophies and he was sweeping by me with his security and everybody was like, Michael, Michael, Michael. I yelled out, Casper! He stopped, ran over, greeted me warmly and we had a nice chat because at that point it had been a while since wed seen each other.

TJ:He was totally embraceable. You just had to love the guy and he really did let you in. He turned his light on inside and you could really see who he was. You didnt want to leave him. It was hard to say goodbye to him at the end of the day. You wanted to take him home with you.

SdP: If there was ever a spirit that you could say had a magical quality in terms of personalityHe was so sweet and fun-loving and there was this enormous magnetism he had, especially when he would laugh at something that really tickled him. He had an infectious laugh. He was a joyous, open soul.

 

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Thanks MrsMJ2007 & CandyFeb25