MJ goes solo
The Off The Wall era
“Off The Wall” was ML’s first solo album. Quincy Jones was the producer. Michael and
Quincy met on the set of “The Wiz” and the young star mentioned to him that he was
looking for a producer.
They went into the studio in December 1978 to chose between hundreds of songs and
collaborated with several musicians and writers who would become long time col-
leagues of Michael’s.
On July 28th 1979, Michael released the first single; “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”.
The song was released with a music video that featured Michael dancing in triplicate
in the song’s bridge. It was his first “short film” and it was directed by Nick Saxon. The
song went to number 1 in the US and Australia and was a top 10 hit in 6 countries.
On August 10th, Michael released the album Off The Wall.
It was hailed as a major breakthrough, and received amazing reviews. The album
went to number 3 in the US chart and number 1 on the US soul chart and stayed on
the top 20 for a massive 48 weeks.
On August 29th, 1979, Michael Jackson turned 21. His management contract with his
father’s company, Joseph Jackson Productions, lapsed and was not renewed. Michael
wanted to take full control of his music and business affairs and he hired his own ac-
countants, lawyers and management.
“Off The Wall” became the third best selling album of 1980 and Michael won his first
Grammy award as a solo performer for “Best R & B Performance” for “Don’t Stop
Till You Get Enough”. He also attended the American Music Awards and collected
three more awards for the album: “Favourite Soul Album”, “Favourite Male Artist” and
“Favourite Soul Single” for “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”. Michael also won four
Billboard Awards for the album.
In 1980 Michael also went back into the studio with his brothers, The Jacksons, to
record the album Triumph. He contributed to six of the album’s nine tracks. The album
was released in September 1980 and it reached number one on the US R & B chart.
By 1981, Michael’s Off The Wall album had sold an incredible 5 million copies. He had
become the first artist in history to generate four number one singles off an album.
He had also sold more records than any artist at a time when the record industry was
experiencing a major slump in sales.
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