Sony and the pop star’s estate said Wednesday that three of Michael’s songs, a posthumous 2010 compilation, have been removed from streaming services amid ongoing suspicions that they forged vocals from the late Michael Jackson. Breaking News, Monster, and Keep Your Head Up appear on the album, which was released a year after the King of Pop died of a drug-induced cardiac arrest at the age of 50.
Some fans have long argued that the vocals on the tracks actually belonged to an American session singer by the name of Jason Malachi. Sony has denied these claims.
The record company and Jackson’s estate stated that they had decided to remove the song “once and for all as the simplest and best way to move beyond the conversation surrounding these tracks”. Their joint statement reads, “Nothing should be read with regard to the authenticity of the tracks in this action – it is time to move on from the distraction surrounding them.” Seven more tracks will remain available on the compilation track.
Upon release in December 2010, Michael was billed as unreleased songs, which were “completed using music from a recent original vocal track and composed by credited producers”. . Jackson is believed to have written and recorded them in 2007 with producers Edward Casio and James Porte.
But ardent fans and even some members of the Jackson family expressed skepticism and Sony was forced to issue a statement, saying it had “absolute confidence” that the vocals belonged to Jackson. According to reports, Malachi admitted in a 2011 Facebook post that the songs were actually sung by him. However, later his manager denied the post, calling it fake.
In 2014, fan Vera Serova launched a class-action lawsuit in California against Sony, Jackson’s estate, Casio and Porte alleging lying to consumers. An appeals court ruled in favor of Soni and the estate in 2018, dropping them from trial. According to TMZ, Serova then appealed to the Supreme Court of California. The judges took no stance on whether Jackson actually sang the songs, and the controversy has not settled.
(with AFP input)
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