RAPHAEL SAADIQTHAT BOOGALOOI was five years old when I first discovered Michael Jackson performing with his brothers on television. I remember watching the Jackson 5ive cartoon on Saturday mornings and grabbing the 45 of “I Want You Back” off the back of my Alpha Bits cereal box. From the moment I saw Michael singing up front and bouncing around, I knew I wanted to be a performer. Michael made music look fun to me. I started playing music then joined my first band when I was seven years old.

As a vocalist, I’m a tenor and Michael was a tenor. Growing up I would sing certain words or certain inflections like him. He has a really high voice and for all the greatest reasons as a musician, his melodies stuck with me. His approach to the microphone, too — it sounded like he was Bruce Lee or something when he sang. The way he attacked every line. He had that boogaloo. That’s what I call the energy he brought to his records. And he had a lot of power behind him. When he was younger, he had James Jamerson playing bass behind him. It sounded like James Jamerson was singing with Michael Jackson. The Funk Brothers of Motown really gave him that boost that he needed when he got to his later records like Off The Wall. That’s my favorite album — the sequence of the songs, everything. Off The Wall was definitely a template for my whole career once I started being a solo act.

He’s inspired me in so many ways. His heart as a writer, his drive — next to James Brown no one worked harder — and his live shows, of course.

I met Michael a few times, a couple in passing at Westlake Studios in Los Angeles where we were both recording. But the funniest time was in 1997 when the Jackson 5 were being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was there with Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys to induct the Bee Gees. Afterward I walked off the stage to the press booth where the Jacksons were having their picture taken. Jermaine saw me, waved me over and asked me to take a picture with him and his brothers. He put me right next to Michael who looked at me and said: “Raphael, you cut your hair off”. I was blown away. I thought, ‘Wow. Michael knows my daily’. In the photo I look like a deer in headlights because Michael was one of my idols.
I was in Tokyo when I heard about Michael’s passing. My first thought was it’s not true, it’s just a rumor. Then I walked up and down the streets and I thought about him. It was very personal, just my memories of Michael and me. In my mind I went back to the beginning. Watching him on TV as a kid. And I smiled.Performing live in Paris, France, in 1997, Michael demonstrates his vocal style of attacking every word.Sucking on a lollipop to soothe his vocal cords, Michael on the set of “Scream”, his 1995 collaboration with sister Janet.“With such confusions, don’t it make you wanna scream?” Michael meditates (above) and then lets rip (right) during the recording of “Scream” in 1995.