Everybody knows the Jackson brothers. Fewer people remember there were sisters too, and the oldest of all nine Jackson kids is Rebbie. You say it ra-BEE. She came along before any of the boys, and for years she stayed home raising her own children while her little brothers turned into the biggest act in the world.
Then in 1984, right in the middle of “Thriller” fever, Michael did something for her.
He sat down and wrote her a song. And he didn’t stop there. He produced it too, and then he stepped up to the mic and sang backup on it himself. The song was “Centipede,” and it came out in September 1984 as the very first single off Rebbie’s debut album.
It took off. “Centipede” climbed to No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 and all the way to No. 4 on the Black singles chart. It sold half a million copies and went gold. For a big sister most fans had never even heard sing, that was a big deal.
Now here’s the part people miss.
Listen close to those backing vocals and yes, that’s Michael in there, blending in behind his sister. But he wasn’t the only famous singer standing at that mic. Two women were right beside him, and you have danced to their own record at a wedding or a party more times than you can count.
Put it on and try to pick the voices out from behind Rebbie’s lead.
Rebbie Jackson’s 1984 gold single “Centipede,” with Michael on backing vocals
They were the Weather Girls. Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes, the big-lunged duo behind “It’s Raining Men,” that 1982 party anthem that still fills a dance floor today. Rhodes also went by the name Izora Armstead. Two years after their own smash, there the pair was, singing backup on a Jackson family record and trading lines with Michael himself.
So the next time “Centipede” comes on somewhere, remember what you’re actually hearing. Three sets of hitmakers stacked on one track. Michael, his sister Rebbie and the two Weather Girls.
If you’ve never put a face to that famous “It’s Raining Men” voice, here’s the song that made them stars.
The Weather Girls and their 1982 hit “It’s Raining Men”
Michael even slipped a little joke into the record. Down in the credits on the back of the single he dedicated the song “to my mannequin friends.” Nobody’s ever really explained that one.
He kept an eye on Rebbie long after, too. In 1998 he wrote and produced another song for her, called “Fly Away.” The gold record came first though, back when the whole world was watching her little brother and he turned around to shine a light on his big sister.