“Usually, the first time we’d hear a song was when we walked into the studio.”
That’s how Jermaine Jackson remembered making records with his little brother Michael at Motown. In late 1969 one of those brand new songs was waiting for them. It was a bouncy little tune about learning love the same way kids learn the alphabet. It was called “ABC.”
The Jackson 5 were five brothers from Gary, Indiana, a steel town not far from Chicago. Michael was the youngest, and he sang lead out front with his big round Afro. He was only 11 years old.
“ABC” came out in February 1970, and it took off fast. By April it was climbing right behind the biggest band in the world.
At the top of the American charts sat the Beatles with “Let It Be.” Then, on the chart of April 25, 1970, the kids from Indiana moved up to No. 1 and the Beatles slipped to No. 2. That same week, a solo song by John Lennon was sitting at No. 4. A song about the alphabet, sung by a boy still in grade school, now ranked above both of them.
A few weeks later Michael got to sing it on The Ed Sullivan Show. That was the same Sunday night show where 73 million Americans had first watched the Beatles six years before. When the brothers had first appeared there, Ed Sullivan reportedly told the crowd, “The little fella in front is incredible.” Here’s Michael singing the song that knocked the Beatles from the top.
Little Michael sings “ABC” on The Ed Sullivan Show
And here’s the song he pushed aside. It had only come out as a single that March.
The Beatles song Michael knocked off the top
Looking back, the timing of it all was strange.
On April 10, 1970, about two weeks before “ABC” hit No. 1, newspapers around the world carried the same story. The headlines said Paul McCartney had quit the Beatles. In England the Daily Mirror put it in big letters: “Paul Quits The Beatles.” Fans everywhere were heartbroken.
So in the very same month the most famous band on Earth was falling apart, five brothers from a steel town and their 11-year-old lead singer took over its place at the top.
“ABC” stayed at No. 1 for two weeks and sold millions of copies. It was the Jackson 5’s second No. 1 in a row, and two more were still to come that year. Today it sits in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Years later Michael would make “Thriller” and become the King of Pop. Long before that, he was a kid from Indiana singing about his ABCs on Sunday night TV.