Over the course of his career, Michael collaborated with many people. From his peers to the up and coming. Looking back, as a collaborator the “Thriller” era was perhaps one of his most creative and busy. He made uncredited appearances, background vocals, wrote songs, produced music and of course duetted on songs that would become massive hits in their own right. All of this contributed to the success of “Thriller” as well. It was more than just the album, the performances, the videos…it was everything he took part in that made Michael Jackson the huge force he was in the early to mid 1980s.

Below are some of the collaborations he had during this time.

Paul McCartney

Michael and Paul McCartney’s friendship started in the late 1970s. According to the Beatles legend, Michael called him and straight out asked “Do you want to make some hits?” Their first musical interaction was with the song “Girlfriend.” McCartney wrote it for Michael (even though he recorded it first with his band Wings). The song ended up the “Off The Wall” album and was released as a single in 1980 in the UK. But the two really started to collaborate in 1981.

In the spring ’81 Michael stayed with McCartney at his ranch in the UK. There they wrote and recorded two tracks. “Say Say Say” and “The Man.” The public didn’t hear them though for a further two years until McCartney released his “Pipes of Peace” album. However a year this recording sessions, McCartney met Michael in LA, and recorded “The Girl Is Mine,” which was released six months later as the debut single from “Thriller.”

“Say Say Say” went on to become a huge hit worldwide in 1983, and the three duets between the legends are now treasured songs. Famously the relationship between the two took a downward turn when Michael bought the ATV Catalog in the mid 1980s, which included a lot of the Beatles songs; advice McCartney had unintentionally given the young star.

• Say Say Say
• The Man
• The Girl Is Mine

Freddie Mercury

Michael was a big fan of Queen and used to attend their concerts and hang out backstage with the band. In 1980 Mercury openly said Michael was responsible for their big hit song “Another One Bites The Dust”. The lead singer said “Credit for the song should go to Michael Jackson in many ways. He was a fan and friend of ours and kept telling me, ‘Freddie, you need a song the cats can dance to.’ Once it was ready [we] played it for Michael. I knew we had a hit as he bobbed his head up and down. ‘That’s it, that’s the gravy. Release it and it will top the charts,’ he said. So we did and it did.”

In early 1980s Michael recorded three songs with the Queen legend. “State of Shock,” which was eventually redone with Mick Jagger. “Victory” for the Jacksons album of the same title and “There Must Be More To Life Than This. The latter was recorded with Michael doing lead vocals while Mercury played the piano. Michael made up the lyrics as he went along, with Mercury encouraging him to ad-lib. This version of the song eventually leaked online in the 2000’s, and a remix which put their two vocals together as a fake duet, was released on “Queen Forever” in 2014. “State of Shock” has also leaked online, while “Victory” remains the only song in the trilogy to go unheard to this day.

• There Must Be More To Life Than This

Paul Anka

In the early 1980s Michael and Paul Anka recorded a number of songs together. The collection of work wasn’t fully realized until after Michael’s passing. Eager eyes may have noticed that “Love Never Felt So Good” on a 1984 Johnny Mathis album was written by Michael and Anka. However it wasn’t until 2006 that a demo of that song, sung by Michael and with Anka on the piano, was leaked online. Eight years later the song was officially released on the posthumous “Xscape” album, both as a solo track and as a duet with Justin Timberlake.

During the same recording sessions with Anka, the two musicians also wrote and recorded “I Never Heard,” which was later released nearly three decades later under the title “This Is It” in 2009. This was another song you could have caught Michael’s name with Anka’s prior to 2009. The song was on an album called “I Wasn’t Born Yesterday.” It’s by a relatively unknown artist called Sa-Fire and she released “I Never Heard” on the album in 1991.

The song prominently features those lyrics and just so happened to match the name of the final concerts of Michael Jackson that were never to be, but announced just three months before his death. In 2013 Anka released a duet of the two singing on his album “Duets.” He performed the song as a duet in his concerts at the time as well.

The final song, which we don’t know much about, is “Don’t Matter to Me.” A sample of Michael singing it was used in a song by Drake in 2018. He kept the name of the track the same.

There seems to be a lack of clarity as to when this two week recording session with Anka took place, with multiple sources stating both 1980 and 1983.

• Love Never Felt So Good
• This Is It

Diana Ross

One of Michael’s closets and longest friendships was with Motown singer Diana Ross. She was marketed as the credit for discovering the Jackson 5 (which wasn’t true), and became a big inspiration to Michael both personally and professionally.

In the early 1980s, Michael put his name to two Ross songs. The first was “Muscles,” which was released in 1982, just a a couple of months before “Thriller.” Michael wrote and produced the song, which became a top 10 hit in the US. He also provided uncredited backing vocals. The song earned Ross a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

The second song came three years later in 1985. “Eaten Alive” was originally written by Bee-Gee brothers Barry and Maurice Gibb. However when Michael heard the demo, he suggested ways to improve the chorus both melodically and lyrically. His contribution fundamentally changed the song. Michael also provided the background vocals for song, and at times is co-singing lead with Ross in the chorus.

• Muscles
• Eaten Alive