Talking about Michael, the legendary record producer says that the late musician stole songs because he was 'greedy.'
- February 8, 2018
AceShowbiz -
Quincy Jones has a lot to say about his famous collaborators such as Michael Jackson and The Beatles. In a wide-ranging interview with Vulture, the legendary record producer accused Michael of stealing songs.
When asked about something that people don't understand about the late musician, Quincy answered, "I hate to get into this publicly, but Michael stole a lot of stuff. He stole a lot of songs." Quincy specifically cited "Billie Jane", suggesting that it was really similar to Donna Summer's "State of Independence". "The notes don't lie, man," he said. "He was as Machiavellian as they come."
Quincy went on explaining that Michael stole songs because he was "greedy. 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough' - Greg Phillinganes wrote the c section. Michael should have given him 10 percent of the song. Wouldn't do it."
In another part of the interview, the 84-year-old producer described The Beatles as "the worst musician in the world" as he recalled meeting the English band for the first time. "Paul [Paul McCartney] was the worst bass player I ever heard. And Ringo [Ringo Starr]? Don't even talk about it," he said, calling the band "no-playing motherf***ers."
"I remember once we were in the studio with George Martin, and Ringo had taken three hours for a four-bar thing he was trying to fix on a song," he recalled, adding that they had to call a jazz drummer named Ronnie Verrell to help Ringo.
"Ronnie came in for 15 minutes and tore it up," he continued. "Ringo comes back and says, 'George, can you play it back for me one more time?' So George did, and Ringo says, 'That didn't sound so bad.' And I said, 'Yeah, motherf***ers because it ain't you.' Great guy, though."
Many people were furious following the interview. Among them was T-Pain, whom Quincy accused of not paying attention "to the details" when working on Michael's "P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing)" remake. Taking to his Twitter account, the rapper responded to the remark by saying that he was forced to do the record by his manager and was equally unhappy with the result.
For the record I told my managers (at the time) and I told @QuincyDJones in his face “I don’t want to remake any of your past records because I know I’m gonna fuck it up. I’ll never be able to reach the greatest of MJ†it took them hours to pump me up to even go in the booth 1/2
— T-Pain (@TPAIN) 7 Februari 2018
And I still hated it when I came out of the booth. Then the song came out and it was even worse than it sounded in the studio. This is legit one of the reasons I don’t work with the managers I had anymore because if I said I was uncomfortable doing something they didn’t care 2/2
— T-Pain (@TPAIN) 7 Februari 2018
"But also to be real. It just seems like @QuincyDJones is pissed off at the whole world," he said. "I have nothing but respect for the guy so I don't know why we didn't hold the song or tell me exactly what he wanted when I kept taking the headphones off beggin for direction from the God."
But also to be real. It just seems like @QuincyDJones is pissed off at the whole world. I have nothing but respect for the guy so I don’t know why we didn’t hold the song or tell me exactly what he wanted when I kept taking the headphones off beggin for direction from the God
— T-Pain (@TPAIN) 7 Februari 2018
