Got To Be There by Michael Jackson
December 4, 2008 by EditMotown50
Filed under Michael Jackson, Motown 50 Disc 2
Taken from the solo debut album of the same name, “Got to be There” was released as a single in 1972 by Michael Jackson. This marked the beginning of his solo career away from the Jacksons. It was written by Elliot Willensky and reached number four in the US and number five in the UK.
Michael Jackson was variously described as a child prodigy and ultimately the “king of pop”. As the youngest of the Jackson 5, Michael went on to eclipse them as a solo artist having immense success. He left Motown in 1975 when the Jacksons signed with CBS.
Sample “Got To Be There” on Motown 50 here: Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
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Michael Jackson was the ‘voice’ of the Jackson 5. Consequently, in his early years, his appeal was largely to young kids, rather than an adult audience. Motown was able to capitalise on this of course – but it never seems to me to be a distinctive ‘motown’ sound.
I guess it depends on what you grew up with. I only knew of Michael Jackson’s stuff following thriller. He sure sounds cute on this though!