Saturday, Apr 5, 2014 11:00 AM EDT / by Noah Berlatsky
From soul royalty to pop divas and indie rockers, everyone loves the King of Pop. These versions are among the best
The Beatles were a hugely influential band in large part because of their songwriting, which is why everybody and their uncle twice removed performs versions of Lennon-McCartney, and even George Harrison songs.
Michael Jackson’s fame was more tied to his own particular performance, image and dancing — all of which were so intimidatingly accomplished that they rather discouraged imitation. As a result, even though he’s probably as, or more, important to contemporary pop than the Fab Four, his music is nowhere near as covered. Still, you don’t get that famous without prompting tributes. Here are some of the best and/or entertaining and/or bizarre of them.
Cleopatra, “I Want You Back”
This 1969 number by the Motown hit factory was the Jackson 5′s first major hit, and it is much beloved and covered. I like the way KT Tunstall reimagines the song as percussive acoustic indie folk pop, but her earnest vocals are maybe a little hard to take. So I’ve opted for girl group Cleopatra’s hip hop girl group version. The young MJ is inimitable, but Cleo Higgins does about as well as anyone could in channeling his particular brand of dynamite when she sends those “ooo —oooh!”s up toward the stratosphere.
Gloria Gaynor, “Never Can Say Goodbye”
This massively successful early Jackson 5 hit from 1971 became an almost-as-massively-successful disco crossover smash when Gaynor recorded it three years later. The video above has some truly stupendous sparkly seventies Vegas-by-way-of-Planet-Cleavage attire, though the song is cut off, alas. You can hear the full version here.
Marvin Gaye, “I Wanna Be Where You Are”
One of Jackson’s early solo hits, the song was penned by Arthur Ross (Diana’s brother) and Leon Ware. Gaye covered it on the Ware-produced 1976 album “I Want You,” and it’s one of the few cover versions that legitimately seems to surpass the original. The sophisticated, layered backing and Gaye’s slippery vocals have a sensual adult suggestiveness that Jackson wasn’t quite up to at that point in his career, if ever. No matter; he had other strengths.
See More: http://www.salon.com/2014/04/05/michael_jackson_remembered_the_very_best_mj_covers/
Source: salon / Noah Berlatsky / MJ-Upbeat.com
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Michael Jackson is truly the king. Every time i listen his records i feel as he is still alive. Certainly one of the best pop music celebrities ever been born!