If you were asked to imitate
Michael Jackson, you'd probably start off putting on a voice like this.
Hey, you want to play with me?
Come on, let's climb the tree.
Come on, climb the tree.
Climb the tree.
Only the children will survive.
Well then you're already dead too.
No, I'm not I'm twelve.
Oh please child, you are almost 40.
Yes that soft, high-pitched, airy voice we've all become accustomed
to when we think of Michael's distinctive speaking voice.
It was a defining feature of the King of Pop's persona, only adding to Jackson's
fanciful and increasingly bizarre public image in later years.
But many close to him commented on the speaking voice he conveyed publicly
and how it contrasted vastly to his hoarser much deeper voice in private.
The public rarely bared witness to this
version of Michael Jackson, which when eventually revealed, flurries
of speculation and intrigue ensued as questions were left unanswered as to what
Michael Jackson's actual voice was and why he felt the need to modify it.
Here's the detail.
But before we begin,
check out our new collection that's available online to purchase.
The link is in the description box below.
As a child, Michael Jackson's voice was
defined by its remarkable depth and soulful tone.
At only ten years old, Michael sang about heartbreak with such
complexity and compassion that many rumors circulated that the new child star
of music wasn't a child at all, but a quote 40 year old midget.
Equally, his speaking voice was rather deep and powerful for a child of his age,
as demonstrated in interviews with Jackson at the time.
Okay, we met in Canada.
We had a good time together, came to the hotel and we talked a while.
Having publicly shaved two years off his real age already, concerns grew
relating to how Michael's voice would develop.
And would the group's electric appeal die
out once its lead singer grew into adolescence.
A question posed to a young Michael himself.
What's going to happen when your voice
changes.
Just change.
You're going to be able to stay singing?
Yes, because we have another lead Jermaine Jackson at home.
Have you made some secret backlog records
that you can issue during the time that your voice is changing?
No.
This impending anxiety over the group's star performer and his physical
development would impact Michael Jackson during the most formative of years.
Therefore, it wouldn't be much of a surprise that the child prodigy made
an active attempt to maintain his childlike persona,
whether through his speaking voice or overall demeanor.
As an attempt to preserve his voice so that he could satisfy audiences and sing
all their original Motown hits in the same key he did as a child.
This first change came around the time his
voice would have naturally deepened with puberty,
with Michael Jackson beginning to speak softer and in a higher pitch.
Because we both sing with the group, made
up our own brothers, most of them are older and one younger, right?
That's it, right?
Do you ever get the feeling that your younger brother is watching and waiting?
Me too. Me too.
As a skilled singer for many years
who trained endlessly to contort his singing voice as part of his artistry,
it's not too much of a stretch to assume that Michael used those very skills
to manipulate his speaking voice in much the same manner.
With early adulthood looming,
the rambunctious confident child developed into a shy and self conscious teenager.
In later years,
the former Motown superstar spoke openly about his struggles with his looks
and the pressure he felt to constantly appease the public during this time.
I think every child star suffers through
this period because you're not the cute and charming child that you were and you
start to grow and they want to keep you young forever and little forever.
Who's there? The public.
And nature takes its course.
Jackson's voice could have just been one other insecurity he developed, with close
friends stating that he described his natural voice as ugly and, quote,
sounding like a frog. Already hesitant to speak openly to press during interviews.
It probably wasn't too difficult for Michael to manipulate his voice
at those times so to control how he would be perceived by the public.
A mild mannered Peter Pan figure who sang
angelic melodies and performed with spellbinding gravitas.
Thank you very much, not only for your applause,
but thank you for caring and I'm very happy to be here and I love you all.
Thank you.
In reality, according to his longtime
producer Quincy Jones, Michael's real voice was much deeper
and a, quote, adult voice that he sometimes inadvertently fell back into.
However, Jones's theory as to why Jackson
used the high pitched voice was more of a functional one. To preserve his vocal
cords and ability to hit those high notes without going into full falsetto.
Which would make sense for a performer who often wore surgical masks to protect
himself from catching illnesses that could affect his ability to sing and perform,
that Jackson would also preserve his voice
by speaking in a whisper so to savor its power for the stage.
However, Michael's higher pitched tone was pitted against the singer as his pop
superstardom grew in the 80s. As trashier magazines circulated false
stories that the 'Billie Jean' singer was using female hormones to unnaturally
elevate his voice, while other rumors followed the artist
that his voice, and lack of tangible female pursuits, were signs of other misguided
gossip surrounding Michael and his personal life.
As the years rolled on,
Michael's humble and unassuming demeanor face to face increasingly contrasted
with the power he exuded as a world class stage performer.
At the same time, the persecution he faced intensified with evermore sensational
stories concerning Michael's elusive star persona.
Jackson's public speaking voice at this
time may have been employed not only to recapture the childlike magnetism he
embodied in his youth, but to also betray his emotional
vulnerability in hopes that it would ward off future tabloid attacks.
He says in this letter that he cries very often.
Do you think he does cry?
I mean, basically he's saying that he's being persecuted and that he's bleeding
and that he's- at least bleeding emotionally.
And there's no question that this is going to make more people like him.
I think it's even going to have an effect
on people who've been ridiculing him and it's been quite a few.
On some level, it's going to be really
hard to really continue making fun of someone who seems so vulnerable.
Close friend, Liza Minelli, believed
Michael Jackson's high pitched tone was real and said she was shocked when she picked
up the phone and heard the singer talking to her former husband, David Guest,
in his real voice. I said, Michael, you're busted.
I got you now.
All these years you've been talking in that voice.
Liza then claimed during an interview
with Larry King that she believed Jackson crafted a public persona to protect his
inner self after years of deception from the worldwide press.
Quote, this is who you think I am and I
can be me within these walls, but you can't come in.
She stated. He's been hurt too much Larry.
I mean, they have said kind of rotten things about him.
The person we know is a rather regular guy, believe it or not.
This became even more apparent when
Michael Jackson was accused of crimes against children in 1993.
As the news story was unfolding, the pop performer was traveling the globe
on his Dangerous world tour. With salacious headlines intensifying in the worldwide
press and demand for comment at fever pitch, the superstar contrasted
the controversy by embodying his innocence and virtue by visiting deprived children
and speaking ever so softly, loving thoughts.
This was a more relaxed Jackson doing
off stage what he likes doing most. Being with and entertaining the young. For
what else would he like to do?
I'd like to sing with them.
If we all know a song together.
Broadcaster and former editor of British tabloid The Mirror, Piers Morgan, asserted
that the star accidentally revealed his secret voice during a telephone interview
in the late 1990s and how the incident was quite unsettling for the journalist.
The weirdest thing about Michael Jackson,
which encouraged my suspicions about him as a human being, was that when we talked
about charity and children, he had this very soft, high pitched voice.
When I changed the subject to business, his voice dropped several octaves and he
became a completely different person to talk to.
That was weird to me.
That showed me he was a different
multifaceted, different character depending on the subject matter.
However, Piers Morgan wasn't the only one
who witnessed Michael Jackson's sudden change in tone.
In 2005, Diane Dimond told
Access Hollywood that Michael had a big, deep voice. Somewhere in there,
especially if you bring him bad news or you make him mad,
his voice gets very deep,
she said. Later recounting. I was there one day when someone asked him
about Gloria Allred, the attorney that sort of dogged him
and he turned around in one fell swoop and said. She can go to hell.
in this big, deep, masculine voice.
Said that his high pitched voice was fake, that he has a voice like Barry White.
Yeah, well,
it's not quite like Barry White. But at the criminal trial,
when I covered the trial, Jackson and I had a little moment outside
in the courtyard one day and he didn't like me.
I had covered him for so long and he sort of growled at me in a big voice and boom,
gave me a slash across the throat and get out like that.
And I was stunned at how deep his voice
really was. But it wasn't quite Barry White.
Do you think that 'I'm a lover not a fighter'
was that put on? Yes, I think so.
Look, his father drummed into all those boys.
Jermaine speaks the same way.
So does Randy.
They all have very soft voices. Right.
You have this father that's so abusive.
It's going to make you small.
Do what I say and I'll make you a star,
and they were the biggest stars when? When they were children.
When they all talked like this, so they all still talk like that.
It appeared that Michael would use his private speaking voice,
much like his singing voice, whether conscious or subconsciously,
to evoke an emotion reaction or assert his control over a given situation.
Famed director and collaborator of Jackson, Spike Lee, stated, quote,
Seth Riggs, he's one of the greatest vocal coaches in the world.
He had a very intimate relationship with Michael and for years he tried to get
Michael to speak in his regular voice. But he didn't want to.
This being said, in later years, Michael Jackson surprised many by speaking
publicly in a tone that fans had not been accustomed to.
For example, during his acceptance speech
at the 2006 World Music Awards. Quincy Jones
and Bruce Swedien,
Rod Temperton, myself created the Thriller album
it was my dream that Thriller would become the biggest selling album ever.
After his sudden death in 2009, old, rootless gossip resurfaced,
including the theory that Michael Jackson's high voice
and childlike demeanor was in fact a direct result of his father Joe
allegedly forcing him to undergo a chemical castration when he was just 13, in a bid
to delay puberty and keep his singing voice from breaking.
This outrageous rumor was only given further legitimacy when Michael's former
doctor and the man he died while in his care, Conrad Murray,
denied reports that the singer's high speaking voice was an affectation.
In a video post, Murray claimed that Jackson's voice was
the result of a chemical castration he was forced to undergo as a pre-teen.
The cruelty expressed by Michael that he experienced at the hands of his father.
The fact that he was chemically castrated
to maintain his high pitched voice is beyond words.
I hope Joe jackson finds redemption in hell.
Murray reinstated this claim in his 2016 memoir, This Is It! The Secret Lives of Dr.
Conrad Murray and Michael Jackson.
I often saw Jackson at his most exposed and confessional.
He only agreed to share
after making me swear you will never breathe a word, I agreed.
I was shocked when Jackson told me, it
would explain all of Michael's unusual behavior.
Despite Murray's insistence,
the chances of Jackson haven't been chemically castrated are slim to none, due
to the fact that the drug needed to induce chemical castration was still in clinical
trials during the 1970s when Jackson would have had to have taken it.
Furthermore, the singer appeared to go through every other stage of puberty,
which would have not been permissible if he had been castrated.
Based on all the evidence that has surfaced, many would prefer to believe
the set of accounts of those who first hand witnessed Michael Jackson's natural
voice and spoke to the artist about the high pitched tone he put
on which for so many years he was so heavily associated with.
But what conclusions have you come to?
Leave your comments below.
Thanks for watching the detail. Like,
subscribe and we'll see you next time for more MJ videos.