Billie Jean

"Billie Jean" is a 1983 hit single from Michael Jackson's Thriller album. A number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, the song was also the number-one R&B single for nine weeks in the United States. The song was replaced at number one by another Jackson single, "Beat It" that April. It was voted best single of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll, and received two Grammy Awards in 1984 in categories: Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best New Rhythm & Blues Song. It was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, along with "Beat It".

History

As a song, Michael Jackson undertook the composition of "Billie Jean" quite personally, drawing upon actual circumstances. In about 1981, during a Jacksons tour, a woman known later to be a stalker had accused Jackson of not claiming the paternity of one of her fraternal twins. She went so far as to call herself "Billie Jean Jackson", and to claim she was married to the singer. The woman was later sent to an insane asylum. Later, in a 1996 interview, Jackson said that he had known a lot of figurative "Billie Jeans" who had been Jackson 5 groupies. "Every girl claimed that their child was related to one of my brothers", the singer said.

Related Topics:
1981 - Jacksons - 1996

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He started writing the first demo of the song in his home in Hayvenhurst in the fall of 1981. When he presented the song to his co-producer Quincy Jones, Jones had problems with the title. He thought when audiences heard it they would assume Jackson was referring to tennis superstar Billie Jean King. He also had complaints about the length of the song's intro, believing it was too long; Jackson replied that the long intro made him want to dance. Jackson won both arguments: he got to keep the title of the song and the intro.

Related Topics:
Hayvenhurst - 1981 - Quincy Jones - Billie Jean King

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The introduction of the character Billie Jean is foreshadowed by a two-line reference from the album's first track "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", another Jackson-penned song. It?s evident she doesn't have the singer's best interests at heart, "tellin' lies and rubbin' shoulders", but her dismissal is casual: "So they called her mouth a motor". However coupled with her appearance on the second side of the album, the listener is made privy to the earliest of Jackson's lyrics to deal with the subject of celebrity suspicion (some have labeled it paranoia) of those in their periphery (media, groupies, etc.). This marked a subtle but important occasional shift in the entertainer?s material toward somewhat more adult themes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jackson is said to have nailed his lead vocal performance on the first take. But it was Jackson's arrangements and orchestration in "Billie Jean" that helped make the song unique. Jackson had wanted to write "the perfect bass line" and has said he worked on it for a couple of weeks until he succeeded with what became the basis of the final product. He had also arranged the drum and synthesizer lines into perfect order, and with help from co-collaborator Jerry Hey on the strings and horns and Jackson's mastery at multi-tracking his voice for background vocals, completed the final production on "Billie Jean" only weeks before Epic's scheduled release of the Thriller album on December 1 1982. "Billie Jean" was officially the second single from Thriller on the start of January 1983.

Related Topics:
Multi-tracking - December 1 - 1982 - 1983

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~