Most families have one relative who turns every get-together into a little class. In the Jackson family, that relative happened to be the King of Pop.
Austin Brown is the son of Rebbie Jackson, Michael’s oldest sister. That makes him Katherine Jackson’s grandson and Michael’s nephew. He spent time with his uncle at Neverland as a kid, and between the rides and the movie nights, he said it felt “just like anybody hanging out with their relatives.”
But Uncle Michael wasn’t only the fun relative with the big house.
In 2010, Austin was 24 and starting a singing career of his own. He had a single called “Target Practice” and a planned album called “85.” That year he told Us Weekly about the man who’d helped shape him as a musician.
“My uncle was always big on teaching my cousins and me about song structure,” Austin said.
Song structure sounds like something out of a college music class. Michael made it hands-on. Austin said “He would like to break down songs” with the kids, pulling a tune apart so they could hear how the pieces fit together.
It went deeper than learning to copy a hit. “He wanted to teach me how things came together, how to portray my voice and where music came from,” Austin told the magazine.
People magazine reported around the same time that Michael coached Austin on his harmonies in Agoura Hills, California. So this wasn’t a one-time chat at a family party. Michael made time for him.
So where did a Michael Jackson song lesson begin? Most of us would guess the words, or maybe the dance.
Austin said “he would always start with the base line, and then start humming a melody.”
The bass line is the low part a bass guitar plays. It’s the steady bottom of a song, the part you feel in your chest as much as you hear it. Michael would lay that down first. Then he’d hum a tune over the top, and the kids could hear a song taking shape right there in the room.
It’s a lovely picture. One of the biggest stars in the world, humming low notes for the kids in his family until they got it.
Austin was putting those lessons to work in 2010, so take a look at “Target Practice,” the single he was launching the same year he shared these memories, posted on his own channel.
Austin Brown’s 2010 single “Target Practice”
Still, when Austin looked back on everything his uncle taught him, he didn’t put the music first.
“The most important lesson that he showed us was charity and giving back,” he said.
And Michael didn’t treat it as a nice extra. Austin remembered him being firm about it: “All of this meant nothing if you weren’t giving anything back.”
That’s a big thing for a young man to carry into the music business. Austin was just getting started, with a new single out and an album on the way. When a reporter asked about his famous uncle, he could have talked about the fame and the hit records.
He talked about an uncle who sat the kids down, hummed over a bass line and made sure they knew the music was never the whole point.