Jonathan Morrish, former Sony Music Executive sat down with Iconic as the key feature for our Business themed issue – The Businessman. Here is just a snippet from the interview
How did you first get to work with the Jacksons?
The first time I met Michael was the Jubilee year of 1977 when the Jacksons performed at the Glasgow Apollo. The Jacksons performed and there is a great shot of Michael shaking hands with the Queen. I think this was the first time I met him. I remember taking a woman from the Daily Mirror who needed to do an interview with the band. They were all teenagers and didn’t give her much information and this was supposed to be the centre spread for the Daily Mirror so she was pretty stressed out!
With ‘Blood’, Michael was once quoted that he didn’t like the album and he didn’t want to put the remixes on it…
[Laugh] ha! In those days he was not a huge fan of remixes. He changed on that and he understood the reasons. We had a great relationship with him and he loved my boss Paul Russell. HIStory was out for 2 years and there was a need for the record company to put out another new record. It was not the biggest selling album of his catalogue but actually it’s a great record! I think it’s quite contemporary! If you listen to Michael Jackson, you will get the man! It is easy for me to say that because I knew him. I mean he gave himself through his music! He was never comfortable doing interviews but you got a flavour of the man through his music!
So you were still at Sony when Michael did the “Sony Demo”… What are your thoughts on that?
I was not around him at that time. I remember being asked about the Blanket incident, and you know what, that’s Michael Jackson. Genius comes in various different ways! He was a one off! He was under a lot of pressure throughout his life. I met Liza Minnelli, Liz Taylor & Macauley Culkin, they have a sort of shared language between them. When you get famous very young, it’s not an easy thing! It’s unbelievable what you have to go through as a celebrity.
Did Michael ever confide in you?
I had some fantastic conversations with Michael. And I am going to disappoint you and say no more! People always ask me if I will ever write a book and I will never! I treasure the level of trust he had in me, but a lot of it stays with me! The things he told me were as good friends and what stays together stays together.
The full interview can be found in ISSUE 13 of Iconic, where we talk to Jonathan about the single Smile, HIStory promotion and being on tour with Michael.
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