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Michael Jackson in full Scarecrow makeup in The Wiz, 1978, with Diana Ross on the yellow brick road

Michael Jackson spent hours every morning becoming a scarecrow. Then came the end of the day.

Joanna Woodnutt

For his first movie, Michael Jackson sat in a makeup chair for hours every morning. What he did when the long days ended says it all.

Paul McCartney singing on the 1976 Wings tour, with Michael Jackson laughing in an inset

Paul McCartney wrote a song just for Michael Jackson. It took the long way to reach him.

Sarah Sherman

Paul McCartney sang Michael Jackson a song he'd written for him at a 1976 party. Then it took a strange road to reach Michael. Hear both versions.

Michael Jackson grinning, with Oprah Winfrey in an inset, for the story of the beat he made with his mouth in 1993

Oprah asked Michael Jackson to sing. He didn’t need a band.

Dylan Kickham

Oprah asked Michael Jackson to sing for 90 million viewers with no band behind him. What came out of him next left her hanging on every sound.

Michael Jackson smiling in the Remember the Time video, with Eddie Murphy grinning in sunglasses

Michael Jackson owed Eddie Murphy a favor. He paid it back somewhere nobody expected.

Elijah

Eddie Murphy played a pharaoh in Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time." A year later Michael paid him back, in a place nobody saw coming.

Michael Jackson smiling in 1984 beside a blurred photo of a mystery boy in a red jacket

Michael Jackson’s commercial needed a little dancer. His Broadway show tried to stop him from going.

Deborah L. Jacobs

In 1984 a 12-year-old Broadway star got the call to dance with Michael Jackson. His own show sent lawyers to the airport. Watch what happened next.

Michael Jackson close-up with an inset of Ulala, the reporter from Sega's Space Channel 5

Michael Jackson saw a video game a month before it was finished. He asked to be in it.

Alexis Morillo

Sega was a month from finishing a new game when word came that Michael Jackson wanted in. See what the team did with just weeks to go.

The clay rabbit from Michael Jackson's Moonwalker with Michael Jackson inset

Michael Jackson once hid from his fans inside a rabbit suit. The rabbit had other plans.

Andy Frye

Michael Jackson hid from his fans in a rabbit suit, with help from the California Raisins studio. Then the rabbit did something nobody expected.

Michael Jackson singing in the In the Closet video, 1992, with a blurred mystery inset

Michael Jackson’s hit credits a singer only as “Mystery Girl.” Her mother was a movie legend.

Rob Sheffield

A woman whispers all through Michael Jackson's 1992 hit "In the Closet," credited only as "Mystery Girl." Listen, then find out who she really was.

Brooks & Dunn are finally making a new album

Brooks & Dunn are finally making a new album. Ronnie Dunn says the tricky part is sitting right next to him.

Jada Gomez

Brooks & Dunn are making their first album of new songs since 2007. Ronnie Dunn says it started a friendly tug of war with Kix. Here's why.

At 15, Martha Crump skipped school to see Elvis come home to Tupelo

At 15, Martha Crump skipped school to see Elvis come home to Tupelo. Seventy years later she did something she still can’t explain

Michael Stevens

At 15, Martha Crump skipped school and slept in a car to see Elvis come home to Tupelo in 1956. Seventy years later she did something special.