This evening, the Calgary Herald notified Tommy Chong of Michael Jackson's death. In his book, Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography, Tommy speaks about discovering Michael and The Jackson 5 in 1968 when Tommy was still in Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers.
Tommy introduced them to Taylor's record label where they met Motown's Berry Gordy, Jr. The Jackson 5 stayed at Bobby Taylor's apartment for one month and Michael Jackson shared a bed with Tommy's daughter, Rae Dawn.
Tommy says that Michael Jackson “was a little guy, very small for his age . . . but he was just the sweetest, hippest little guy ever. There was nobody hipper. And he was a gentle little guy. All he cared about was singing and dancing."
Tommy last saw Michael at the Grammy Awards in the '90s and says Michael was in a jokingly upbeat mood.
When notified by the Calgary Herald of Michael's death, Tommy said, “It’s very sad to hear this. He was on his way back . . . He ended up in Bahrain and he was broke. Almost destitute. He was devastated by those charges against him and this was going to be his big comeback.”
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2 comments:
I'm confused. There's an interview in today's Sunday Morning Post in Hong Kong quoting someone named Billy Taylor who was in a band with Tommy called Bobby Taylor And The Vancouvers saying he discovered the Jackson Five- and Michael.
Not Billy Taylor, Bobby Taylor. It was probably a typo in that newspaper.
The Jackson 5 opened for the Vancouvers in Chicago July 1968, and the Jackson kids and their father rode with Bobby Taylor and the band back to Detroit that night. Taylor set up an audition for the band with Susanne dePasse, a Motown executive, and the rest is history.
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