Whenever you were in Michael's Jackson presence, I mean, he's the King of Pop and the most recognized face on the planet second only to Muhammad Ali. I was often surprised to find out that he felt he had as much to learn from you as you did from him. So he treated you accordingly. Everyone was a teacher to him. He had something to learn from everybody. If he appreciated your creative artistry, he was that much more into you.
Siedah GarrettI was a question on a game show. I think it was Jeopardy. The question was, "Who is the only person in the world, only female in the world unrelated to Michael Jackson, to ever do a duet with him?" He was doing a duet with me and that's all I cared about.
Siedah GarrettWhen we recorded the song I Just Can't Stop Loving You, my vocal range is a little higher than Michael's range. He had me re-sing the demo in the new key. Then doing that he filmed me singing this demo in the new key. I actually said, "What are you doing? Why are you filming this?" He said to me, "Because I want to sing it like you. You sound so great and I want to sing it just like you." I said, "Oh, great, Mike, my friends are really going to believe me when I tell them that Michael Jackson wanted to sing this song just like me." We laughed about that.
Siedah GarrettMichael Jackson loved studying the greats. He felt that they could only add to what he did naturally. He was absolutely right. I mean, he studied James Brown for years when he was 10 years old, because the Jackson 5 would open for James. He studied him. He studied Fred Astaire. He loved to watch Fred's movies.
Siedah GarrettWe with Michael Jackson were in the studio recording some work on "Man in the Mirror" or the duet. I can't remember which it was. We did the duet in three languages: English, French and Spanish. So, I spent like a week with him in the studio doing the three songs in different languages. It was just an awesome experience recording with him.
Siedah GarrettMy whole childhood when I was growing up, Michael Jackson was my husband. My cousins had Jackie Jackson and my sister had Jermaine Jackson. We all had the brothers, but Michael was my husband. So, to me, in my little 6-year-old or 13-year-old brain I'm talking to my husband. I don't want to get over excited. I don't want to sound too much like a screaming fan.
Siedah Garrett