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Michael Jackson helped define the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. For that reason, he will forever be known as one of the greatest geniuses in the history of pop and R&B music. However, the King of Pop watched another singer from the same time period in awe. He was lucky enough to watch this singer record one of the most acclaimed albums of all time. 

A 1970s star told Michael Jackson to paint pictures using sound

Jermaine Jackson was a member of The Jackson 5. In his 2011 book You Are Not Alone: Michael, Through a Brother’s Eyes, Jermaine discussed his feelings toward Stevie Wonder. “Stevie was, and remains, a big friend of the family after working with us on many unreleased Jackson 5 tracks (and we did the background dooda-waps on his hit ‘You Haven’t Done Nothing’),” he explained. “We all shared the same precision: building up a song, seeing it as a piece of intricate art that only came together layer by layer, detail by detail, instrument by instrument.

“It was, Stevie always said, ‘about painting a picture using sound,'” Jermaine added. “One sound was one color. Blended together, music formed — and this was how a blind man approached his craft.” Michael would duet with Wonder on the track “Just Good Friends” from the album Bad, while Jermaine worked with the “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” singer on the track “Let’s Get Serious” from the album of the same name. 

Michael Jackson was there while Stevie Wonder recorded a classic 1970s album

The “Thriller” singer has especially fond memories of one of Wonder’s albums. “[Wonder] was a regular visitor to Hayvenhurst, as was Michael to Wonderland Studios, Hollywood, where he was allowed to observe Stevie put together his outstanding work on Songs in the Key of Life,” Jermaine wrote. “‘It was like being a fly on the wall of the greatest composer of all time,’ said Michael.”

Songs in the Key of Life‘s reputation has remained stellar. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked No. 4 on the magazine’s list of the best albums of all time. That’s higher than Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Charts Club Band! Songs in the Key of Life sounded good in the 1970s and it sounds even better today. 

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How ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ took over the world

Songs in the Key of Life became a huge hit. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for 14 weeks. That was Wonder’s personal record. It spent 82 weeks on the chart in total. 

Songs in the Key of Life produced two No. 1 singles: “I Wish” and “Sir Duke.” The former was No. 1 for a week while the latter was No. 1 for three weeks. The songs each lasted on the chart for 17 weeks. 

In the United States, two other songs were released as singles from the album. One was “As” and the other was “Another Star.” “As” reached No. 36 while “Another Star” reached No. 32. While these songs didn’t hit No. 1, it was extremely impressive for an album to produce two No. 1 hits in the 1970s. It’s still impressive today!

Michael had an incredible career and that included getting to watch Wonder work on one of the best albums of all time.

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