Steve Porcaro selling his music rights to the Estate

Steve Porcaro who wrote the music for “Human Nature” is selling his music rights. This week, Porcaro signed a deal, estimated in the low eight figures, to sell the rights to his music to the Jackson estate and the independent music company Primary Wave, they confirmed.

The deal may also have a payoff for Michael Jackson fans. It includes two long-dormant vault tracks, “Chicago 1945” and “Dream Away,” that Porcaro wrote with the star in the aftermath of “Thriller.” Although versions of the songs have leaked online, he has rarely told the full stories behind them.

Their genesis goes back to the “Thriller” sessions, when Porcaro and other members of Toto — including his brother Jeff, the group’s super-virtuoso drummer — were part of the album’s small army of studio players. As work on the album neared its end, Porcaro said, Jackson asked him to collaborate on songs for his next project with his brothers, which became the Jacksons’ “Victory.”

“Of course I said yes,” Porcaro recalled. He handed Jackson a tape with an upbeat track he had been working on.

A couple of weeks later, Porcaro said, Jackson showed up unannounced at Paich’s home studio, where Porcaro was living. “I got a vocal idea I want to throw on our tune,” Jackson told him. He got on the mic and recorded nine vocal lines — lead parts, harmonies, backups — with lyrics referencing Chicago in the year 1945, like the Cubs losing the World Series. Jackson finished in about 40 minutes and abruptly left.

“Nine vocal passes, start to finish, and he splits,” Porcaro said, still in awe of Jackson at his peak. “It was sung perfectly. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.”

Days later, at about 9 a.m., came another unexpected knock at the door. “Let’s do something,” Jackson said. This time they created a song from scratch: “Dream Away,” a soft ballad with “Human Nature” vibes. After sketching lyrics in a notebook and quickly recording his lead vocal, Jackson once again took off.

All the while, he remembered those two unfinished Jackson tracks. “I was always thinking, ‘Someday I’ll reach out to Michael and finish this stuff,’” Porcaro said. “You always think there’s going to be time for that.”

Porcaro digitized the original tapes, and a few years ago he began working on the tracks, calling in new collaborators — including some who had played on “Thriller,” like the keyboardist Greg Phillinganes and the horn arranger Jerry Hey. “Dream Away,” recorded a hair too fast, required a computerized tempo adjustment.

The fine print of Porcaro’s catalog deal is complex. But in essence, Primary Wave and the Jackson estate will split majority ownership of a handful of his songs, including “Human Nature” and the two unreleased Jackson songs; many more pieces, including Porcaro’s film and TV compositions, will go to Primary Wave.

Porcaro will retain a 15 percent stake in the catalog aside from the two unreleased Jackson recordings, which are being fully acquired by the Jackson estate. Bettis, the lyricist on “Human Nature,” was not involved in the deal.

For the Jackson estate, the transaction is a way to bring in more of Jackson’s work. “We want to control everything Michael’s done,” John Branca, Jackson’s longtime lawyer and the co-executor of his estate, said in an interview. Larry Mestel, the founder of Primary Wave, noted that the deal increases his company’s stake in Toto, since its portfolio also includes the catalog of Jeff Porcaro. (Primary Wave also owns a minority share of Jackson’s music publishing rights.)

What happens to the two unreleased songs by Porcaro and Jackson is unclear. Branca said the estate is focused on its upcoming Jackson biopic and has no immediate plans to release them.

The new deal, Porcaro said, gives him the freedom to keep creating his own music.

“The story for me is that I am finally at this age where a lot of people might be thinking about retiring,” Porcaro said. “I’m just getting going.”

SOURCE: NY Times