March 25, 1983. Motown Records was turning 25. Director Don Mischer had one rule for every performer on that stage — Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, all of them.
“NO NEW SONGS. NO EXCEPTIONS”
Then Berry Gordy went to see Michael Jackson personally. He needed him. But Michael had one condition.
He would only do the show if he could perform Billie Jean. Billie Jean was not a Motown song. Berry Gordy looked at Michael, and Michael looked back without blinking
Mischer was furious. He knew the calls from other artists were already coming on Monday morning. But then Michael walked onto the stage at rehearsal in his black sequin jacket and sparkly gloves.
The bassline started, and the entire theatre changed. Mischer described it in four words. We just knew immediately.
MICHAEL JACKSON’S FIRST EVER MOONWALK
But nobody backstage understood the real danger yet. Because Michael had been hiding something from every single person in that building. In rehearsals, he ran through the spins, the footwork, the turns.
EVERY MOVEMENT HAD BEEN SEEN. EXCEPT ONE.
The moonwalk had never been shown to anyone.
Fans stunned after iconic moonwalk
On May 16, 1983, forty seven million people watched those 2.5 seconds split the history of entertainment in half. Fred Astaire called Michael personally the next morning.
Michael went backstage and cried. He told Oprah a decade later that he thought he had done poorly. A child outside told him otherwise.
That was the moment he finally believed he had done something real, something that changed the history of music and dance forever!