Before he was the King of Pop, he was just a small boy in a hotel room, legs swinging off a chair, trying to answer simple questions that were not so simple at all.
Michael Jackson is still “the kid” the world is just getting to know. The hair, the shy smile, the soft voice that almost sounds too gentle for the stages he is already starting to own. When he is asked his age, he says “nine” without blinking.
He talks about his big family in that sweet, careful way only a younger sibling can. “Three sisters and six brothers,” he says, then gives a polite, almost rehearsed line about why the girls are not in the act. You can hear the media training. You can also hear the real kid underneath it.
There is a glimpse of the huge change his family just went through. From Gary, Indiana, to sunny Los Angeles. From steel town streets to hotel rooms and cameras.
Michael Jackson’s First Interview EVER!
To really understand that quiet hotel-room interview, you have to see what came just before it. Only months earlier, the same “little boy” Michael was standing under bright studio lights on national television, facing America for the first time. Introduced by Diana Ross, the Jackson 5 hit the stage with “I Want You Back,” and suddenly the shy child in the chair looks like a seasoned star. The smile is the same, but everything else is bigger, louder, sharper.
The Jackson 5 on Hollywood Palace (1969) | First National Appearance | Colored on TV
Michael steps out in the purple hat and vest, slides into “Who’s Lovin’ You,” and suddenly that small voice from the interview sounds huge, broken-hearted, and wise. Even Ed Sullivan cannot hide how stunned he is by “the little fella in front.” After this, Michael is no longer just a promising kid. The cameras and stories follow him everywhere, and the shy boy in the chair is gone.