Glen Ballard, as students of songwriting and pop music already know, went onto enormous success as a co-writer and producer with Alanis Morrisette on her first albums, as well as many other projects. As the editor of SongTalk, the journal of the National Academy of Songwriters, I invited Siedah and Glen to do an interview. Siedah was enlisted also to sing a duet with Michael on his song “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.” That her star was already blazing by the time we learned her name was fairly evident. Written by a great singer named Siedah Garrett and a composer named Glen Ballard, tt had the intriguing title, “Man In The Mirror.” It was, Quincy said, the first outside song Michael had accepted in two years. It was surprising, considering the unchained impact of his own songs on Thriller when we learned he cut a song he didn’t write.
Suddenly news started to spread that he was working on the follow-up to Thriller, again to be produced by Quincy. Not only were multitudes entranced and enraptured by the pure passion he injected into anything he did, we were all waking up to the realization that this remarkable entertainer – one of the great song & dance men in the history of American show-biz – had become a seriously great songwriter. Michael seemed to be a miracle, all the things he was: the songs, singing, and of course, the dancing, crystallized by the magic moonwalk. Featuring “Billie Jean” and other classics produced by Quincy Jones, it’ s the astounding apex of Michael-mania, as few then could remain indifferent to this soul phenomenon. The year was 1988, and the world was in the enthralling season of Michael Jackson and his astounding album Thriller.
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