The Start of a Rivalry Between Two Music Giants
Michael Jackson and Prince took different paths to reach the top. MJ was successful as a child singer with his brothers in the Jackson 5. He smoothly transitioned into an even more successful adult singer when he went solo and released Off the Wall in 1979. He followed that up with the best-selling album of all time, Thriller. Prince took a grittier path, with a series of underground albums, before he had his first hit single. By the early 1980s, when Prince was about to take off, MJ was already a music giant. In 1983, Michael Jackson was at the top of the world after the release of Thriller. Prince was not in the same league, but was about to take off thanks to hits such Little Red Corvette and 1999.
Talk that Prince might become the next MJ did not sit well with the King of Pop. Both revered and were influenced by James Brown. At one of his concerts that year that was attended by MJ and Prince, the funk legend invited MJ onstage to sing and dance. MJ killed it. He then whispered to James Brown: “Call Prince up – I dare him to follow me“. James Brown did not yet know who Prince was, and asked “who?” After MJ repeated it a few times, Brown told the audience that somebody named Prince would join them onstage. Prince was delighted to share the stage with his idol, did a decent Jimi Hendrix impression, and performed some promiscuous dance moves. Then things went spectacularly bad for him.