DUBAI: He’s often referred to as the King of Pop, but a new book suggests the late Michael Jackson may also have been history’s most-prolific seller of songs incorporating classical music.
London-based choreographer, author and professional Michael Jackson impersonator Anthony King is in the process of writing a six-book series on the pop legend. In “Michael Jackson and Classical Music,” released this week, King argues that the entertainer’s extensive use of classical music (which King told Arab News “literally no one on earth seems to have noticed”) likely means that MJ sold “more albums which incorporated classical music than any other person in history, as well as having the single biggest-selling album incorporating a classical composition.”
The book, King said, “is full of exclusives that have never been discussed publicly before. It’s shocking that this is not (widely) known.”
King focuses particularly on two of Jackson’s best-selling albums, 1991’s “Dangerous” and 1995’s “HIStory,” both of which feature numerous classical-music samples. “Will You Be There?” from “Dangerous,” for example, includes a segment of Beethoven’s “Symphony No.9,” while “Little Susie,” off “HIStory,” has “Pie Jesu” for an intro. King cites numerous other examples of Jackson’s use of classical tunes, mentioning composers including Carl Orff, Modest Mussorgsky, and Miklós Rózsa. King believes sales of the two albums, including downloads, would total around 76.6 million.
“Michael Jackson exposed more people to classical music, live, during his “HIStory” world tour — about 4.5 million — than five years’ worth of sold-out performances at (New York’s) Carnegie Hall,” King continued. “When you think of classical musicians, you think of Luciano Pavarotti or Andrea Bocelli. But Jackson really did have the biggest-selling classical piece — (by) using Beethoven’s ninth symphony on ‘Dangerous.’
He would put these classical pieces within the songs and no one really noticed them. It was shocking to me.”
King said his book series on Jackson is motivated by “setting the historical record straight.”
“I met Michael many times, so I can put the truth out there and it cannot really be disputed,” he said. “I can exclusively reveal that Michael played classical music through the speaker system in his Neverland estate. One of the pieces was (Carl) Bach’s ‘Sonata for Flute in A-minor.’
“I can state the facts and I can state the evidence clearly,” King continued. “(That) is essentially what I am doing with my books.”
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