Man in the Mirror — Born at a Barbecue — Michael Jackson

THE FACT

Man in the Mirror — the song many consider Michael's spiritual peak — was not written by him. It was written by twenty-six-year-old Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard in a single weekend, demoed at a backyard barbecue at Quincy Jones's house, and delivered to Michael on a cassette tape with a Post-it note that read 'For Michael — if you want it'.

WHAT MOST DON'T KNOW

Garrett had been hired by Quincy as a backup singer on the Bad sessions. She was a complete unknown. Glen Ballard — later famous for producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill — was the in-house engineer. They wrote Man in the Mirror in 36 hours, with Garrett doing the words on her drive home one Friday and Ballard doing the chord changes overnight. The demo, with Garrett singing lead, was played at one of Quincy's backyard parties; Michael was there and reportedly stopped a conversation mid-sentence to listen. He recorded his vocal — entirely in one take, including all the ad-libs — three days later. The Andrae Crouch gospel choir was added at Michael's insistence; he wanted the climax to 'feel like church'. The song became his second-biggest US hit ever (after Billie Jean) and was the song chosen to close his funeral service in 2009. Garrett went on to co-write hits for Madonna, Beyoncé and Tina Turner; she still maintains the original demo cassette in a safe-deposit box.

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THE MOMENT

Michael Jackson — Man In The Mirror (Official Video, 1988) — Written by a then-unknown 26-year-old at a Quincy Jones barbecue.

SOURCES

Man in the Mirror — Wikipedia ↗